Have you ever had a goal or dream that seemed too far away? Maybe inventing something new, or changing a political issue. It looks like it will remain a dream forever. At least as long as you work on it alone. Why don’t you find a partner or a group that has the same goal and join forces? With teamwork a lot is possible. But what is teamwork?
That question is pretty easy to answer. It is, as the name says, the work in a team. You can work on professional problems, like the invention of a product, or on a private goal, like to win a soccer game. As long as you work together with someone on the same project, you can call it teamwork.
As I said, it is easy to define teamwork, but it is way harder to work well as a team. Only with practice and guidance, you can become an effective team. The first and most important part to become such a team is, to understand and realize, that you work better as a team. The second part is, to plan your project. Since everyone might see teamwork differently, it is important, to make a compromise of how to work together. There are two types of teamwork. You can either divide the tasks so everyone can individually work on one part of the project, or you can work together on every part. The first one is faster, the second one has a better outcome. So it depends a lot on what you are working on. For homework for example, everyone wants to be done as fast as possible, so you chair the tasks and instead of doing five, you only do one and copy the other four from other classmates. However, the risk is pretty high, that you just copied something wrong from one of your classmates. And now lets see which type of teamwork is better for handball. On the one hand, you have the speed, the stamina and the stretchability, that you can improve on your own by stretching and running regularly. But this is only the smallest part of a good handball team. Way more important is the skill to pass and to play the different tactics. A great team is able to know where the teammates are, without looking. If you practiced together for years, you can show of no look passes, and fast plays, that will win against every team, that only practice their running skills. It has a reason why handball is called team sports. There are a lot of advantages of teamwork. First of all, a team gives motivation. Even if you miss a goal or make a mistake in one of the plays, a great team gives you a high five and motivates you to make it better next time. If this mistake happens more often, it is nothing the team is mad of, but something you work on during the next practice.
Second, it is normal to have a fight every now and than. This is normal in a marriage and in a handball team. It shows strength to work together on a solution. Third, a great team, does not only work together in their professions or hobby. A great team also goes out for a drink after a game. In the best case, you are not only teammates, but also friends. It helps to understand the other person and to find common solutions. Last but not least, working in an effective and high performing team can make you dream bigger.
As captain or coach of a team, it is your responsibility to cultivate team spirit. There are a few things, that you can do:
First of all, you need communication in your team. It is hard to get 15 different characters to like each other, so communication is very important. Make sure that things that bother someone are talked about.
Create a positive interaction. Everyone makes mistakes. Instead of being mad, you should motivate the person to do it better next time and if necessary also help the person to improve. After a good training, or a won game, you can praise the performance and, as I said before, go out with your team.
To succeed in your league, your team has to work together. One outstanding player can not win against 7 players, playing to win for the team instead of for themselves. The most important thing in handball is to have fun. And nothing is more fun, than winning a game and than celebrate your success with a bunch of your friends. And don’t forget to dream big, because teamwork makes the dream work.
Teamwork makes the dream work.
