Being a good teammate is invaluable to an athlete’s success and the success of those around them. The emotional benefit of having an encouraging and supportive teammate can be immense. But the benefits of being a good teammate can also extend beyond emotional well-being.
In this article we detail 10 practices of good teammates and their benefits. Plus, we provide examples of professional athletes being great teammates, even when competing against team members for Olympic medals!
Let’s get started.
1) Good teammates are genuinely invested in the success of others
Gymnastics has supplied fans with plenty of examples of what it means to be a good teammate. In both examples below, gymnasts were genuinely invested in the success of their teammates and fellow competitors.
In 2019, Ellie Black became Canada’s most decorated female Pan Am gymnast in history after winning an impressive 5 medals at the 2019 Pan Am games. But it was her performance on the sidelines that gave fans a full picture of who Ellie Black is as a competitor.
During the floor event, Black had landed in third position, eyeing a bronze medal until fellow Canadian competitor Brooklyn Moors completed a gold medal winning floor routine that pushed Black into fourth place.
Was she pensive during the performance? Not at all.
Onlookers could see Black cheering on Moors throughout her performance and embracing her with a big hug, once her gold medal winning score was announced. When asked about her thoughts, Black dismissed any disappointment about missing out on the bronze medal. “I was really excited for Brooklyn,” Black said. “I wasn’t really thinking about myself, I was thinking about her.”
More proud of her teammate’s accomplishments
A similar moment of shared success was held between USA gymnasts Simone Biles and Aly Raisman at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
As we wrote about in our life lessons article about Simone Biles, the Olympic Champion and her teammate grew close during two years of training leading up to the games.
For Aly Raisman, the 2016 Olympics were the stage for her comeback after winning Olympic gold in team and floor events at the 2012 London Olympics. The former Olympic Champion was driven to make her comeback count, and when the 2016 games came to a close in Rio there was no doubt that she did. Raisman graced the podium three times and earned the all-around silver medal.
After winning all-around gold, Biles said, “I think I was more proud of Aly getting silver than me getting gold. She’s worked so incredibly hard during her comeback, she’s one of my role models.” These comments show us just how invested Simone Biles became in her teammate’s training and success. Despite dominating her sport, it was the feeling of shared success that Biles was most proud of.
In both of these cases, it’s clear that Biles and Ellie Black were deeply invested in the success of their teammates. In this way they were able to genuinely celebrate their achievements, making their teammates’ successes that much more special.
2) Being a good teammate is about holding yourself accountable
Supporting your teammates isn’t something that just happens at the awards ceremony. It something that starts during training. As LeBron James explains, being a good teammate includes focusing on your own performance.
During a talk with youth at the Five-Star Basketball Camp, James preached the importance of accountability for team success, specifically, “holding yourself accountable every day at practice, trying to work hard, trying to be the best at practice, and then going out in the game and doing it.”
The accountability that James talks about is key to creating an environment where everyone can succeed. When athletes hold themselves accountable and focus on their own professional growth and development, training partners and teammates benefit.
Not only can this accountability inspire others, it allows allows them to compete alongside the best, which pays dividends in their own practice.
3) Accountability revealing the game in a new way
NHL superstar Sidney Crosby preaches a similar mantra to LeBron James, with his own practicing habits. In a Washington Post article, former teammate Craig Adams explained that working hard in the NHL was expected, “It doesn’t make you special.” However, what he found fascinating was that, “If Crosby missed a scoring chance one night, he would replicate the situation the next day in practice.”
This pursuit of perfection could seem obsessive on one hand, but on the other hand, it helps Crosby and his teammates constantly see the game in a new way.
“Just the way he works on things after practice, it’s something new every day,” teammate Jake Guentzel said told the Washington Post. “But he’s usually one of the first ones on and one of the last ones to get off the ice. I think everyone notices that. He’s the guy we all look up to.”
It’s clear that Crosby’s accountability not only helps the perennial All-Star lead by example, it helps his teammates see one small aspect of the game in a new way every day. A funny bounce off the end boards one day, becomes a repeated scoring chance the next day at practice.
In this way, Crosby accumulates an array of unique skills to capitalize on during the game (see above video). Ultimately, this sort of passion is something that keeps the game fresh and inspiring to his team.
4) Good teammates trust the preparation of others
In professional sports, trust is earned with hard work. Once it’s given, good teammates learn to trust the preparation of their peers.
Michael Phelps became famous for the intensity he displayed before a competition. When Sports Illustrated asked Phelps’ former competitor and teammate, Nathan Adrian, about this intense preparation, he chuckled and said Phelps, “is a great teammate.”
Adrian went on to explain that everyone has their own method of preparing for a swim. With all of team USA’s accomplishments in the pool, Adrian trusted everyone’s individual process. He said, “we all just come together as a team and we walk out there, and we know that each one of us has done everything we need to do in order to swim fast, and have a good split for the relay so we can end up winning it.”
This trust and preparation lead to unprecedented domination in the pool at the Olympic games for team USA, showing that when teammates trust each other, the entire team can excel.
5) Good teammates support individuals at their own level
In the same way it’s important to respect another team member’s preparation, it’s important to respect their skill level. Being a good teammate means supporting an athlete’s training and performance at their own level.
There’s a reason why gymnast Simone Biles can easily win a gymnastics championship even if she falls. It’s because the skills she performs are significantly harder than the rest of her field.
As a result, training alongside Biles would be an impossible endeavor if she and her coach expected the same skills from another athlete. But, that’s not what great teammates do.
Instead, Biles, like many of the greats across the sporting world, respect their teammates’ skills and strengths and support them at their own level. By supporting teammates where they are, superstar athletes can more effectively encourage others to improve at their own pace.
6) Take the pressure off yourself to be a good teammate
One of the best ways for an athlete to support their teammates is to take the pressure off themselves.
Derek Jeter is a Baseball Hall of Famer, and five-time World Series Champion. During this career, the 14-time All-Star collected a trophy case full of awards and earned the nicknames “Captain Clutch” and “Mr. November” for his play in high pressure situations late in the season.
Clearly, Jeter understood what it took to perform under pressure, but his view on handling pressure may surprise you.
In a 2017 interview he elaborated on how he viewed high pressure situations. In the video below, he explains, “Everyone always talks about pressure, pressure, pressure, but if you’re not thinking about yourself; you’re thinking about how you can help the team win, and you think about wins and losses, I think it takes a lot of that pressure off.”
In turn, one of baseballs greatest players was able to re-frame his experiences to perform his best. By putting the team at the forefront of his mind, he took the pressure off himself and consequently, played his best to help his team.
7) Good teammates put the team’s success ahead of their own
It’s one thing to have a mindset like Derek Jeter’s in order to perform your best. It’s another thing to practice a team-first mentality when an individual award is on the line.
On May 2, 2015, soccer legend Lionel Messi was battling for the Golden Boot. This trophy is awarded to the leading goal scorer among all professional soccer league players across every European league. After scoring two goals in a lopsided game against Cordoba, he had pulled ahead of his rival Cristiano Ronaldo by one goal.
Late in the game, Messi’s team, FC Barcelona, was awarded a penalty shot. It was an easy opportunity for Lionel Messi to score his third goal of the game and give himself a two-goal lead in the Golden Boot scoring race.
Instead, when Messi was handed the ball from teammate, Neymar Jr, he handed it straight back. Messi saw that his teammate was having a difficult game. Neymar Jr was in a scoring rut and had missed some great opportunities. Instead of seeking his own success, Messi wanted to see Neymar succeed for the good of the team.
Neymar eventually accepted the ball, took his penalty shot and scored.
After the game, Neymar said, “Messi is the best in the world and he could have easily scored a hat-trick and yet he let me take the penalty. I am so very grateful for that gesture.”
He went on to recount that Messi was teaching him so much, not only about how to be a good player, but a good person as well. From this example, it’s evident that the benefits of being a good teammate can extend beyond the field. Gestures and practices like these can make a lifelong positive impact on an athlete’s attitude and future actions.
8) Good teammates treat each other like family
At the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, Patrick Chan was looking for redemption. He was a three-time world champion figure skater without an Olympic gold medal. In his first event, the short program, he faltered and stumbled into the third position.
Suddenly, he wasn’t chasing a gold medal, he was fighting to secure a bronze medal. Nothing was guaranteed for the world champion, and just as important, he needed to make sure he put up a strong performance to contribute to Canada’s cumulative figure skating score.
According to the Globe and Mail, fellow Canadian skaters knew Chan was frustrated and swooped in to support him. Eric Radford told the Globe and Mail:
“I know Patrick and the thought was probably going through his head that he really needed to do a good job and he was probably putting more pressure on himself. So, I just told him, ‘You owe nobody anything. You just go out there, you pretend you’re at home and you just have the best skate that you can, and we’re going to love you no matter what.‘”
Radford, an accomplished world champion in pairs skating, knew that the best way to help Chan was to let him know he had a family of skaters behind him. This support helped Chan battle through his nerves and skate a strong long performance to secure a bronze medal in his men’s skating final.
In the end, that strong performance helped the Canadian team land an Olympic gold medal in the team event. For Chan, he finally won the elusive Olympic gold medal. And he did it as part of a strong, supportive team.
9) Good teammates are compassionate competitors
In 2019, tragedy struck Keegan Messing’s family. His younger brother Paxton Messing was involved in a fatal motorcycle accident. It was a loss that was mourned by the entire figure skating community. And it was life altering event that made the Canadian Olympic figure skater question his future involvement in the sport.
In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Messing said, “It was the question of: Why am I doing this? In the grand scheme of life, it was: Should I still do this? Can I still do this?” These were big, difficult questions but he didn’t face them alone.
Messing credited Canadian pairs skater Piper Gilles, and fellow Canadian men’s competitor Nam Nguyen for supporting him throughout the difficult times.
Nguyen would be competing against him for a Canadian Championship title and the only men’s singles spot on the World Championship team, but that competition was irrelevant to both skaters.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re competing against each other, we always have to be there, support each other. It doesn’t matter who gets to go to worlds, we’ll always be there,” Nguyen told the Globe and Mail.
With the support of his fellow competitor, Messing made his way back on the ice and began training again in the sport he loved. Less than four months later the two competitors lined up against each other at the Canadian National Championships and both collected a medal.
Despite being competitors on the national stage, Nguyen and Messing proved that even competitors can be amazing teammates when they show compassion and support.
10) Being a good teammate is the most important legacy
When 2-time NBA MVP Steve Nash retired from basketball, he was asked what legacy he wanted to leave behind. He responded by saying, “I just would like to be remembered as a competitor and teammate, a great teammate and a great competitor. The rest of it is all stats and numbers….”
The 8-time all-star left a big impact on the game over his 18-year career. Yet, for Nash, the most important thing was how he’d be remembered as a teammate and competitor. This clearly reveals the high value that professionals place on being a good teammate.
In the end, that value makes perfect sense, because when the game is over your greatest teammates and competitors can become some of your greatest friends. And great friends are worth more than any medal or trophy.
Conclusion: Being a good teammate leaves a lasting impact
These examples show the clear value of being a good teammate. Just like the pros, recreational athletes can easily embrace these practices too. By doing so, they’ll also be able to share in the successes of teammates and competitors, create the best environment to improve their skills, and learn to see the game in a different way every day.
Most importantly, the trust, respect and support they’ll feel will help athletes create friendships that extend beyond the game and last for the rest of their lives.
At Uplifter, we’re focused on streamlining club operations. When operations are streamlined coaches can spend more time training athletes in the values of teamwork. When coaches and administrators can concentrate on an a team’s performance and development, athletes can flourish.
That’s why our team designs athlete assessment and club management software to automate time consuming tasks. Want to learn how clubs can save 24 hours a week with Uplifter? See our case studies.
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