Today's
Blog comes to us from Social Foundations of Coaching student Bennett Jackson, a
junior, and corner back for the Notre Dame Football team.
As
leadership develops, so does the character of a team. Each person on a team
becomes more intertwined with one another’s everyday lifestyle, allowing them
to learn more about their teammates. As individuals learn about their teammates
they build relationships that create team chemistry. The chemistry of a team is
the main factor that creates great teams.
When
you compete with your teammates and share similar emotions, feelings and times
together, you grow as a team. As the relationships amongst a team grow, so does
leadership. When I say leadership grows, its not necessarily one person
stepping up and being that individual who pushes the team forward in the right
direction. Team leadership builds as teammates begin looking out for each other
and keeping one another in line.
Real
leadership begins with the coach. The coach is the one who lays down the plan
and the players are the ones who follow it. The coach must be consistent with
his or her description of the plan. Players will need to be taught how to
follow the plan by simply growing as a team and being coached to make the right
decisions by their coach. Eventually the players learn what is right and what
is wrong, they know the plan at task, and they know how to stay on the right
track.
Once
the coach does their job of providing the guidelines to becoming a successful
team, the players take responsibility in their actions; they respect the plan
because its what they put all their hard work into. As competition picks up the
team will go through tough times, and these times will build the character of
the team. Teammates will lean on one another for support, and this is where
true leadership will occur. When a teammate puts all his or her confidence in
the player next to them, and isn’t let down by disloyalty respect builds amongst their relationship.
When
teammates respect each other, they will listen to what one another have to say.
I know from a personal standpoint, when I didn’t respect my teammates, and
looked at my team’s possible outcomes from a personal, individual outlook, the
team never had that extra edge we needed to succeed. Being a part of a team
where each person has respect for the one next to them gives you something else
to play for. You play for the person next to you. When you see one of your
teammates step forward to set an example, or a group of your teammates step
forward and put in that little bit of extra effort needed to keep the team on
the right track, leadership is in the air. A team with great leadership will be
a great team no matter the outcome of their battles, but a team with poor
leadership will never truly help develop a player into being a successful
person in our world today.
