The Power of an Encouraging Teammate

“If You’re Not Going, Get Somebody Going”

There are certain rare situations in sports sometimes, where everything just happens to fall into place at the right moment.

You know that moment, right?

When a game, match or race boils down to the last second and it all falls on the shoulders of one particular player. When you need to make that last play; and if you do, consider yourself lucky! There is something that happens to an athlete when the play is executed and the ball goes in or you score the point. The athlete will experience the power of having at least half of a stadium get on their feet and hear the roar of the crowd.

Now, what if I told you, that you can have a similar feeling like that every day at practice? In most sports besides a small few, there is usually a particular number of players in a game at any given time. Everyone else, therefore is given the chance to cheer somebody on.

The common attributes of a winning team include trust, communication, and willingness to work for one another. However, there is one factor that is always underestimated. And that is the power of an encouraging teammate.

Before those big moments in a game are ever created and the stands are empty, all you have day in and day out is your teammates at practice working with and for you. Furthermore, from a statistical standpoint and regardless of the sport, athletes spend 10x more hours practicing than in the actual game. But through all those hours of practice is where team bonds and comradery are developed. And in some cases can be the difference in winning or losing.

When you are giving your best effort, even while you are dog tired knowing your teammate is going through the same hurt; the best thing you can do is to help someone else by encouraging them to push through and get to the other side of that pain together. As the saying goes “iron sharpens iron”. In reality though, you’re going to have days where you don’t feel like doing what you have to do, for some more than others. But that is where the secret weapon of encouragement comes into play.

You never know when that day is going to come for you, when life is just getting the best of you or nothing seems to be going right. Those are the days that matter the most; will you still find a way to keep going regardless of your circumstances?

You never know when you’re going to need the encouragement, so always try to be that for someone else, especially those who are close to you.