How Teamwork Led to one of the Greatest Achievements in Sports History
If you follow soccer at all you would have heard by now that Leicester City Football Club, a soccer club in England, has won the British Premier League, one of the most well-known soccer leagues in the world. If you don’t follow soccer, you might not understand the importance of this victory. Leicester City showed how teamwork can be more important to success than incredible individual talent on one of the greatest sporting stages in the world.
Joshua Webber
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- Barack Obama to play cricket for England: 5000-1
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1. Set smaller, achievable goals but don’t rule out the impossible. Leicester’s coach, Claudio Ranieri, continually said during the season that their goal at the time was not to win the league but avoid being in the bottom three and being relegated to a lower league. This allowed the team to make small steps toward staying at the top of the pack while not being buried by the pressure of having to be the best all of the time. Don’t expect the impossible out of your team but don’t rule out the goals that seem impossible. Give your team small goals to strive toward and encourage them to achieve those goals with high quality and to the best of their ability.
2. Consistently work toward your team’s strengths and don’t dwell on their weaknesses. During their games, Leicester played to their strengths. Their main strategy included taking their time, playing good defense, and conducting a quick counter-attack as the opportunity arose. They used this tactic in every game and this method became a major strength for the team. They didn’t put as much emphasis on possession of the ball which is what most teams tend to do. Instead, they focused all of their energy on quickly and masterfully passing the ball forward and shooting goals in short windows of time. Focus your team on what you believe are your shared strengths and don’t waste energy worrying about what seems to work well for other teams. Don’t dwell on your weaknesses – be consistent in your strengths.
3. Believe in your team. Coach Ranieri continued to depend on and believe in each team member in the starting line-up even if some of them made mistakes. He had the least amount of changes in the starting line-up in the entire league. Because of this, each player knew his position well and was comfortable with the other players’ positions. Don’t punish or dismiss a team member immediately because of a mistake. Everyone will make mistakes but long-term success can be tied in with learning from those errors and becoming better people and closer team members.
