Play as a team

01:00:00 – 5.5 miles

Wind sucks. The temperature reads 74, but you step outside and are almost blown over by 40 mph winds.

Carmelo Anthony of the NBA Denver Nuggets was suspended for one game earlier this week for not coming off the court when told to by the coach. The charge was deemed insubordination. We need more penalties like this in professional sports to demonstrate to younger athletes that you are not above the team. When I coach hockey, if a kid doesn’t come off the ice when I say, I’m right next to them guiding them off the ice. Now, that’s not realistic in NHL, NBA, NFL … but maybe it should be.

A team is a team. A team is not one person doing all of the work. With my hockey skaters being 5 years old, I have repeatedly included drills and talks that encompass this point. One drill involves having the kids race across the ice against the coaches. Once to the other side, one kid said “I was the first one!” ... learning opportunity: “it does not matter if you are the first one or the last one … what matters is that you start and finish as a team!”

Next game they skated together and nobody could near their goal. They won 20 – 5.