When TEAM is the only Option, Why is it so Hard to be One?

Something peculiar happens when you travel to a foreign country with a team of guys you barely know but who have similar goals. Camaraderie and team chemistry are developed .

In 2008 I traveled with and coached a Canadian team of high-school aged boys + 1 American baller. We stopped off in Cardiff, South Wales, the place Princess Diana hailed from. And for many on the team, including myself, it was the first time seeing: castles, a Cricket match and a Rugby stadium.

Being from Southern California the only castle that comes to mind is an overpriced theme attraction we call “Medieval Times: Dinner and Tournament”. There you can eat a big piece of chicken while you watch actors joust and basically render a World Wrestling Entertainment type of experience. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it the one time I visited.

But enough about Buena Park, California. In England we traveled by bus, “Tube”, Train and by foot…together as an army would. It’s not hard to become someone’s brother when separation from the team would mean getting lost in an unfamiliar country. We needed one another and the need seemed to necessitate the camaraderie.  The team of strangers who boarded a plane in Calgary built relationships that extended onto the floor as evidenced by the diving for loose balls and peer-to-peer coaching.

The experience in England eliminated all of those false pretenses that pit teammates against one another – things like competing for playing time (Everybody played) or  showing off for people in the stands (Bleachers were often empty). Again, we marched together, one time in the rain with our luggage. We squeezed onto a Double-Decker bus with bags in tow frustrating the people already on board. We laughed when the only American on the team missed our stop and waved good-bye to us as the train left with us off of it and him headed to…somewhere else. Man, we became a team off the court because interdependence was an obvious requirement overseas. It’s not so obvious at home. But the fact remains that if you’re on a team, you need the team and without chemistry there is no TEAM. What’s the chemistry like on you team?