TEAMWORK

THE CHEMISTRY OF A GREAT TEAM

1. Must be worked at--take nothing for granted.
2. All seasons are different--none the same.
3. Founded on respect.


Commitment is the thing. soldiers in the ranks have rarely, over the ages, fought for king, country, feedom or moral principle. More than anything else, men have fought and winners have won because of a commitment--to a leader--and to a small brotherhood where the ties that bind are mutual respect and confidence--shared privation--shared hazard--shared triumph--a willingness to obey and determination to follow.

An anonomys Marine once wrote:

"And then in one of those great thundering jolts in which a man's real motives are revealed to him in an electrifying vision, I understand at last, why I jumped hospital that Sunday 35 years ago and, in violation of orders, returned to the front and almost certain death.

It was an act of love. Those men on the line were my family, my home. They were closer to me than I can say, closer than any friends had ever been or ever would be. They had never let me down, and I couldn't do it to them. I had to be with them, rather than let them die and live with the knowledge that I might have saved them. Men, I now knew, do not fight for flag or country, for the Marine Corps or glory or any other abstraction. They fight for one another.

Any man in combat who lacks comrades who will die for him, or for whom he is willing to die, is not a man at all. He is truly dammed."

SAMARAI PRINCIPLES

Revere your fellow Wariors because it is through them that you will be motivated and sustained through the difficult battles. --Motto of the Redskins Football Team.


TEAMWORK
You can pitch a no-hit game,
But it's just another loss
If the errors of your teammates
Put opponent's runs across.
You might be a brilliant runner,
Pass and kick with easy grace,
But you'll miss the winning Touchdown,
If a teammate's out of place.
In the sporting world of business,
In the office or a mill,
Nothying can produce a winner,
Like a little teamwork will.
-Unknown

TEAMWORK

The world is full of problems,
There's much to cause distress;
We all are bowed beneath the cares
That daily round us press.
There's only one solution.
"Tis simply stated thus:
"A little less of you or me,
A little more of us."
The rule of each one for himself
Most foolish is to follow;
It brings no savor to the game,
Its victories are hollow.
But the other plan has neve failed
To bring satisfaction, plus:
:A little less of you or me,
A little more of us."
A flake of snow is very small,
"Tis lost to sight quite quickly;
But many flakes combined will fill
The roads and pathways thickly.
United we can face the fight
Without distress or fuss;
"A little less of you or me,
A little more of us."

TEAMWORK

It's all very well to have courage and skill and its
fine to be counted a star, but the single deed with
it's touch of thrill doesn't tell us the man you are;
for there's no lone hand in the game we play, we must
work to a bigger scheme, and the thing that counts in
the world today is how do you pull with the team?
They may sound your praise and may call you great,
they may single you out for fame, but you must work
with your running mate or never you'll win the game.
For never the work of life is done by the mabn with a
selfish dream, for the battle is lost or the battle is
won by the spirit of the team.
You may think it's fine to be praised for skill. But
a greater thing to do is to set your mind and your
will on the goal that's just in view; it's helping
your fellow man to score when his chances hopeless
seem, it's forgetting self til the game is o'er and
fighting for the team.

TEAMWORK

Definition: Work done by a number of associates, all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. -Webster's Dictionary
TEN THOUGHTS ON TEAMWORK
1. Teamwork is the sure short cut to a good season in sports--the difference between an in-betweener and a real champion.

2. Teamwork teaches people to sacrifice personal feelings in the interest of a group--his teammates. It's a quality not for showoffs or big-heads.

3. Teamwork makes for execution in a team--something fans enjoy watching; something they'll back and support.

4. Teamwork upsets the best laid plans of opponents. They can stop an individual star, but can't uncover a scheme to stop a group of players working as a team.

5. An ant by itself seems to be an insignificant insect, but as a horde it terrifies even a giant elephant. So does a well balanced team working in unison.

6. The man sitting out a game on the substitute's bench is as important in a good team as one in action on the field of play. For it is his rooting, his enhusiasm that makes the men on the field fight all the harder.

7. When facing adversity or defeat there is nothing more assuring than men pulling together in a common cause. It may not always win ball games--but it does make for life-long friendships and memories.

8. Teamwork requires self-control and self-discipline-elements good atheletes must posess to make for a winning team and season.

9. Although teamwork accomplishes victories, it is essential to ward off bitterness of defeat--by group determination to practice plays and conditioning that much harder to assure future wins.

10. Teamwork between coach and players--between children and parents--between students and teacher depend on respect for one another, a common goal, ability to make sacrifices, loyalty and above all, LOVE .



TEAMWORK

GEESE

Geese don't get high powered press coverage like sea gulls, hawks and eagles. They are seen as dull, ordinary birds which only attract notice twice a year during migration...Like the Blue Angels, they fly wing tip to wing tip...you can hear the beat of their wings whistling throught the air in unison...and that is the secret of their strength...together operating as a flock...
When geese fly in formation, they
travel about 70% faster than when
they fly alone.
Geese share leadership. When the lead goose
tires, he (or she) rotates back into the "V" and
another flies forward to become the leader.
Geese keep company with the fallen. When a sick
or weak goose drops out of flight formation, at least
one other goose joins to help and protect.
By being part of a team, we too, can accomplish much
more, much faster. Words of encouragement and support
(honking from behind) help inspire and energize those on the
front lines, helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day
pressures and fatigue.
And, finally, show compassion and active caring for our fellow man
a member of the ultimate team: "mankind".
The next time you see a formation of geese, remember that it is a re-
ward, a challenge, and a privilege to be a contributing member of a team.

TEAMWORK

INDIVIDUAL COMMENTS ON THE MEANING OF TEAM
BABE RUTH
Major League Pitcher/Outfielder
The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.
JIM PALMER
Major League Pitcher and Sports Broadcaster
You can't win if nobody catches the ball in the outfield. You're only as good as the team you have behind you.

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR
NBA Center
I don't get a big charge out of being the leading scorer. The object of competing is winning. I just try to do what has to be done for us to winb. That might be anythin at any time--defense, rebounding, passing. I get satisfaction out of being a team player.

JACK HAM
NFL Linebacker and Sports Broadcaster
This is going to sound corny, but I really want to contribute my one-forty-fifth that goes into helping the team win a championship. I remember one year when I made All-Pro and our team didn't do very well--the All Pro thing didn't have much meaning. You can talk to your mother and your wife and kids about being All Pro, but that's about it.

CHARLEY TAYLOR
NFL Wide receiver
You can't do it alone. Be a team player, not an individualist, and respect your teammates. Anything you do, you'll have to do as a team. Many records have been made, but only because of the help of one's teammates.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Thirty-Second President
People acting together as a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could ever hope to bring about.

Y.A. TITTLE
NFL Quarterback
My job is to try to direct the team over the goal line in some way. It doesn't make a heck of a lot of difference whether it's 100 yards passing and 300 yards running or 300 passing and 100 running.

HOHN WOODEN
College Basketball Coach
The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.

TOBY HARRAH
Major League Third Basemen
Talk about batting averages, batting titles and hitting .300 means nothing to me. I don't even know what my batting average is. It took me a long time to break myself of the habit of checking my average on the scoreboard before every at-bat. Baseball is a team game. What really counts is the standings--wins and losses. Besides, statistics don't measure the full worth of a player. They don't show when he advances a runner, or when he drives in a player from third with less than two outs.

JACK WHITAKER
Sports Broadcaster
The sports world is aclassic example of the game of life. Much can be accomplished when nobody becomes too concerned with who gets the credit. Great plays are made possible by unselfish and disciplined individuals who are more concerned with the end results than with personal ones.

ROBIN YOUNT
Major League Shortstop
It feels great to get this type of praise, but I enjoy the wins more because that's what it's all about. We're out to prove we can beat anybody and prove we're the best in baseball. My goal never has been to break records. My goal, my only goal, is to help our team win a World Series.

VINCE LOMBARDI
NFL Coach and General Manager
Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

KNUTE ROCKNE
College Football Coach
The secret of winning football games is working more as a team, less as individuals. I play not my 11 best, but my best 11.

WALTER ALSTON
Major League Manager
Baseball's a team game. It's not just the nine guys on the field but all 25 of them. No one man or two men can do it all.

MIKE ERUZIONE
Amateur Center--Olympic Gold Medalist
We all cam together six months before the 1980 Winter Olympics with different styles of hockey and different ethnic beliefs...but we made ourselves a team. Individually, we could not have done it.

WAYNE GRETZKY
NHL Center
One guy can't win the Stanley Cup or the Boston Bruins would have won it seven straight years with Bobby Orr. The better the team plays, the better you play.

JIM CLARK
Race Car Driver
Preparation is a combination of a lot of effort by a great many people. The enjine manufacturers and our own mechanics, who strip the cars from the last race, test everything to make sure that we're setting up as good of a car as we can for the next race. I get a lot of the glory, but it is not a one-man effort. It is all these people working together very enthusiastically to make certain I've got the best car possible.

B.C. FORBES
American Publisher
Large-scale business today is spelled "Teamwork." The successful teamworker doesn't wear a chip on his shoulder, doesn't look for slights, isn't constantly on the alert lest his "dignity" be insulted. He puts the good of the house-the company or team-first. And if the whole prospers, he, as anactive, effective, progressive part of it, will prosper with it.

VINCE LOMBARDI
NFL Coach and General Manager
Teamwork is what the Green Bay Packers were all about. They didn't do it for individual glory. They did it because they loved one another.

LARRY GURA
Major League Pitcher
As far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't keep individual stats. Baseball is a team game. The only thing that counts is how many games the team has won.

PETE CARRIL
College Basketball Coach
In a team sport like basketball, every time you help somebody else, you help yourself.

RUDYARD KIPLING
English Poet/Novelist
Now this is the law of the jungle-
As old and as true as the sky;
And the wolf that keep it may prosper
But the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk,
The law runneth forward and back-
And the strength of the pack is the wolf
And the strength of the wolf is the pack.
BLANTON COLLIER
NFL Coach
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.
FRANK GIFFORD
NFL Halfback/End and Sports Broadcaster
I was a better football player because the team was better-the same is true today with Don and Howie.

KEITH HERNANDEZ
Major League First Baseman
The only statistics I pay close attention to are the number of runs scored and the number of RBI's because those are the production categories. They are the only ones that help the team win ball games.

ROY CAMPANELLA
Major League Catcher
I am proud of all my trophies, but truthfully when I was playing, I never thought of records. I just tried to do all I possibly could to help the team win.

BILL FOSTER
College Basketball Coach
There is no letter I in the word teamwork.

FRAN TARKENTON
NFL Quarterback and Sports Broadcaster
Quarterbacks don't win or lose footbll games. Teams do.

SIDNEY POWELL
American Clergyman/Author
Try to forget yourself in the service of others. for when we think too much of ourselves and our own interests, we easily become despondent. But when we work for others, our efforts return to bless us.

PHIL ESPOSITO
NHL Center and General Manager
In the game of hockey, it takes six to tango. You gotta stand up for your teammates.

TOM LANDRY
NFL Defensive Back and Coach
There's a misconception about teamwork. Teamwork is the ability to have different thoughts about things; it's the ability to argue and stand up and say loud and strong what you feel. But in the end, it's also the ability to adjust to what is best for the team.

BOB BERRY
NHL Coach
My coaching ph8losophy won't fill a book. Stated very simply, it's to be prepared for anything. There has to be discipline and strong defense. What I mean by strong defense is not only having good defensemen. It means all six men playing good defense at the same time. We are a group...a team.

DIGGER PHELPS
College Basketball Coach
A few mistakes don't worry me; what worries me is when you make the mistakes and then forget your role on the team and start to worry about your ego.

JOHN MADDEN
NFL Coach and Sports Broadcaster
There is one key point about picking the so-called "great athlete." It doesn't mean a thing if he doesn't perform with the team in mind.

RED HOLZMAN
NBA Coach
Work as hard as you possibly can within the team structure.

JIM ZORN
NFL Quarterback
I'm only a reflection of what our team is.

JULIUS ERVING
NBA Forward
When people tell me fans are cheated because they came to see me do this or that, I tell them that supposedly they ae coming to see the team win. The role of a player should be results first, effects second. I don't go in to dunk the ball or dribble behind my back for the effect of doing it. Those were skills that were developed in the course of trying to reach my potential as a player. My methods have created a reputation for myself because it has a certain effect on people watching the game. If they like it and dig it-hey, that's cool. But if they don't like me shooting a lay-up instead of dunking the ball, theyll have to realize that I'm out there to help the team win.

ALAN ALDA
Actor, Producer and Director
On the set, I like for everyone to eat together, share food and stories, and kid and joke because some of that comes over into the working day. The comfort you estalish among each other shows on the screen.

JACK PARDEE
NFL Linebacker, Coach
The finest compliment that anyone can pay to a person is to say that he is a complete team player. To deserve this tribute, your every thought , action, and deed should be one that you are doing for the team.

TOMMY LASORDA
Major League Manager
If you take 25 players, seven coaches, a manager and the front-office staff and put them all on one end of a rope pulling together, they will win. They can't be stopped.

You wonder how they do it
you look to see the knack
you watch the foot in action
or the shoulders or the back
but when you find the answer
where the higher glamours lurk
you'll find in moving higher
up the laurel covered spire
the most of it is practice and
the rest of it is work.
Grantland Rice