Peak Performance, Teamwork, and Leadership

As an athlete, don't just worry about your own performance. Be a good teammate and leader to help your team reach peak performance as a whole!

One of the most important factors of a team’s performance is teamwork. For your team to reach peak performance as a whole, you have to truly play as a team! You have to put the team goal of winning over your individual goals. Here, I will use football as an example to show how teamwork and leadership help a team as a whole reach peak performance.

If you are a quarterback, you need to be unselfish in order to maximize your team's performance. You need to distribute the ball and make the best football play each time. Don't worry so much about your personal stats. Don't worry about getting credit for your team's success. Don't be selfish and try to be the "star" or the "hero." Just focus on doing whatever it takes to help your team win. Be perfectly satisfied with handing the ball off to your running back 40 times if this is what helps your team win.

However, at the same time, you can’t be afraid to put your team on your back when necessary. If a hole opens up for you and it’s the best decision to help your team, then take off and run! If you need to throw to the same receiver five times in a row to help your team, then do it. You can’t always worry about making all of your teammates happy. Your number one priority should always be team success.

Being a good teammate isn’t just about playing unselfishly and strategically smart. It’s also about leading and encouraging your teammates. As a teammate, don’t play the blame game. Don’t worry about who gets the credit. Don’t secretly be happy when your teammate makes a mistake. You need to understand that you are a part of a team. When one player succeeds, everyone on the team succeeds. When one player fails, everyone on the team is affected by it. Always desire team success more than individual success!

If you truly want team success, you’ll be a good leader and will encourage, support, motivate, and criticize your teammates when necessary. As a quarterback, you are one of the main leaders of the team. You can’t always just focus on doing your job as a quarterback. You have to take more ownership of your team’s performance and help lead your teammates to better results!