The Good Teammate

When you're little, sports are supposed to be that fun thing you do to exert energy and be a part of a team. Your parents drop you off at practice (probably excited to get you out of the house for a little) and you're excited to run around for two hours. It's like a giant play-date with twenty other girls. But...there's always the one girl who takes everything too seriously and is constantly trying to show off. This girl is otherwise known as the "ball hog." Her parents are probably overbearing and there's a good chance they're not only watching every practice, but yelling from the sidelines and encouraging this "ball hog" behavior. It's like the crazy soccer mom...but for lacrosse.

A few years later, you grow out of rec sports and you get too high school. It gets a little more intense but there's always still those one or two ball hogs that you can't stand. They start to learn their lesson but they really don't care about anyone but themselves.

Then, you get to college. There is no longer such thing as a ball hog. It's just not possible at the collegiate level. In Division I Women's Lacrosse, if you were to try to be the only superstar on the field, you would get demolished. Your coach would yell at you and probably sit you on the bench. It's critical to work as a team and act as a unit. Whether it's one pass, one defensive stop, or even cheering on the sidelines, every individual has their role and each role is as important as the next. I know you've all heard it a thousand times, but it's true when they say, "You win as a team and you lose as a team." When our sideline is quiet, our field players don't play as well. When there is no leadership on the field, we don't play as well. There are so many little things that contribute towards a team's success. Last year, my team decided that we were going to have fun on the sidelines and do celebrations after every goal. Well, we soon began getting recognized by teams all over the country for these celebrations. Coaches would warn their players about our sideline when they were coming to play us. Our sideline celebrations never failed to bring energy to our games. In fact, our team started winning more. People wanted to score because they wanted to see what their celebration would be. I say this to emphasize how important it is for each team member to understand that their role is incredibly important to the rest of the team, whether they realize it or not. Attitude, positive energy, and a hard work ethic goes a very long way in sports.