Teamwork Is A Beautiful Thing

Teamwork Is a Beautiful Thing

Legendary Duke Blue Devil head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski once said of working as a team, “To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.”

As I gathered my first- and second-grade Kangaroos together at halftime, I told the girls how proud I was of them. This was the first half of our next-to-last game of the season. It was also the first time that they had embraced passing the ball to one another. Now, I didn’t break out quoting Coach K, but I did tell them that they were acting selflessly when they would pass up a shot and pass the ball off to their teammate. I contrasted that to playing selfishly, where all a player cares about is getting her own shots. For the Kangaroos that day, the results going into halftime were profound. We had scored at least eighteen points in the first half, with all the girls getting a shot at the basket.

The concept of teamwork is extremely important to the success of any team. All coaches talk about working as one unit. Teamwork and selflessness create the backbone of a great team, and without them a team cannot realistically compete. You can have a group of superstars, but if they do not work well as one unit, chances are they are not going to be as successful as you would think.

I love how Philippians 2:3-4 puts it: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”

You see, humility is the key to playing as a team. We naturally look at our own interests, but elevating others is an intentional choice. Do this at home, at work, and at play, and watch the victories begin to pile up.

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

Philippians 2:3-4