From the Archives: Five Ways to be a Great Team-mate

By Tom Sadler

Coach Sadler shares five ways for any player to be a better team-mate...

With the basketball season fast approaching here in Europe teams are starting to get an idea of how their rosters will look.  Unfortunately in this game  not every player is blessed with great talent, but every player regardless of ability can still be a great team mate and bring something productive to their teams..

• Be Unselfish: as a member of a team, your job is to always put the team first, and you must always be prepared to do whatever it takes to make the team successful. A great teammate will always put the overall success of a team before their individual success.

• Accountability: you should have high standards for yourself and your team mates, if someone isn’t pulling their weight you shouldn’t be afraid to confront them on it, don’t accept negativity, and always try and reach out to your team in a positive way.

• Always looking to improve: you should always be looking to work and improve your game, as you can never stop getting better. If you improve your game, you will raise the level of your teammates.

• Be a leader: You don’t have to be the best player on your team to be a leader. Every player has the ability to lead by their actions. Is what you do on a daily basis making your team better? Bring positive energy to practice, challenge your teammates during drills. You’ll improve and so will they.

• Compete on everything: Don't be afraid to compete in practice, ultimately your training to play the game. Individually and collectively your working towards improved ability in games, and the best way to do that is to go hard. pushing the limits of yourself as well as your teammates will allow for faster skill development making the game easier.

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