Team spirit, this beautiful thing about sports, is not always what it’s supposed to be. It can take work, commitment, vision and a number of key ingredients. With a 2019 season shadowed by the loss of their star player, expectations fell on other team members to come to the forefront and change the fortune of the Washington Nats baseball team. The team’s 2019 century comeback is one of those magical sports fairy tales.
In this article we look at the three key elements to creating high performance within a team and how this can fuel individual workouts.
1 – Stepping out of the shadows
Following the departure of their team superstar, the opportunity was there for those in the shadows to step forward and show what they were made of. The Chicago Bulls and The Washington Nats are both examples of teams which, though in a very different manner, came together to achieve great results in the aftermath of losing a starplayer. Their secret ingredient? Team spirit.
In the case of Phil Jackson, the coach of the Bulls, he showed the team how to work together to enhance the skills of one special player, Michael Jordan. For the Bulls, it took the departure of Bryce Harper to allow the team to bond and create team belief. The combination of team spirit and the belief and buy-in of players in team collaboration was a key, if not the key, success driver for both teams.
2. Focus – Blending the new & the old
Valuing veteran contributions enables to gain competitive advantage by combining the energy of the younger/newer members with the guidance of the more experienced/established players. The key point here is active listening and appreciation of talents within the team.
In the case of the Washington Nats, the team’s senior average age was 4 years older than other teams in the league. They successfully leveraged on this by providing their new super rookies the platform to achieve and excel at closely contested games. Like in the case of the Chicago Bulls, experience and determination were key in pulling through the tight contests which kept the team in the run to the world series title which had consistently eluded them.
3 – Positivity
The baby shark movement, where the Nats’ outfielder Gerrando Parra decided to add some dynamic fun to the team, was so contagious that this light hearted moment became a rallying factor for people during tough moments.
Without the all star lineup, like the Chicago Bulls, the Washington Nats had to look at the very commodity that all teams must find to believe and excel. As we saw in our past article, positive thinking allows the brain to open up pathways to excel. Michael Jordan’s competitiveness and belief combined with Phil Jackson’s ability to build on a positive outlook to make each team member a star player built them into a team of high achievers able to leave egos aside.
As the seasons pass, the Nats continue to look to their player’s loof approach to teamwork. This fun moment thrived positivity, which in turn thrived confidence and allowed the mind to open without fear. When fear is eradicated, results happen, as with Parra, who was not rated as the best player, driven not by star players alone but by the attitude of teammates and their ability to inspire others, making them incredible team assets.
How does positivity from collective sports help you?
We are all animals in the end (whether we like this idea or not) and the sense of belonging is one of our most primal desires. It allows us to challenge ourselves in a more fun-loving way that helps us achieve our individual successes.
There are different human motivators: competition, belonging, spirit or well-being. This is why as BlueTigerEyeWellness we have set-up a challenge community to help bring some of that va va voom energy in team work.
With your fitness goals, as much as with your life goals, the key is to break it down into manageable pieces. To keep motivated and consistent (consistency is key!), challenges are a good way to energise these goals. Remember, the key ingredients to success (individually and in teams) are digging deep within yourself, fostering team spirit and adding some positivity magic as with the baby shark movement. When it comes to your training, adding some fun challenges with friends can help you keep your desires and goals alive and remaining on the path to success by spicing up your training with a bit of lightheartedness, a dose of friendly competition and surpassing some of your perceived mental and physical limits.
We’d be glad for you to hop in and join our Challenge Community, which will certainly be a ton of fun. Read about our past challenges and find our more on our community page.
Stay tuned for the next challenges! Follow us on instagram @bluetigereye_wellness and Facebook @bluetigereyewellness to find out more and watch all the videos
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