Every Sport Is A Team Sport

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships’’ ~ I found this quote from legendary former basketball player Michael Jordan to be most relevant to start this article. Well, it a unanimously acknowledged fact that the Sports which are played in teams need the cooperation and consistent performance of every individual team member to make the team win, but what the mass perception fails to acknowledge is that the importance of teamwork is not only limited to team sports, but it’s applicable even for individual sports or any other activity where the performance or achievements of an individual or a group is judged whether it be singing, dancing, acting, scientific research or entrepreneurship.

When we look at successful people from different walks of life, we attribute their success to their talent, passion, and hard work. Still, we fail to understand that behind every successful person, many people whose skills, dedication, and hard work contribute to making that individual successful. Whether he plays a particular sport or a team sport requires different people’s assistance and guidance to help him achieve his best performance. Hence, no sport can be rated as an individual sport behind every player’s account. A team of people whose efforts make the player eligible to play that sport with his maximum capabilities. A Sportsman goes through a very disciplined lifestyle with a complex routine to follow every day. The Sportsman’s nutrition intake, physical exercises, game practice, and other aspects of the sportsman’s training that enhance his performance are monitored by a different group of professionals working in collaboration.

Suppose we get an insight into the life of a sportsman. In that case, we will see a nutritionist who maintains their calorie intake so that their body can get the necessary fuels to harness the energy needed by them to accelerate their performance. In sports like wrestling, where the weight of the sportsmen acts as a qualifying factor and even a kilogram of overweight or underweight can restrict the player from participating in a tournament, the role of a nutritionist becomes even more crucial to maintain the desired weight of the sportsman with proper food habits.

The coach also plays a vital role in a sportsman’s training, and they help the sportsman attain a good physique and help them enhance their agility through generic exercises. The role of a coach is perhaps the most significant in a sportsman’s life for this very reason as we have the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award as the highest sporting National award for honouring labour an athlete, we also have the Dronacharya Awards to patronize the works of the coaches whose training produces such great athletes. In fact, in particular sports, multiple coaches train a single player, each of whom teaches a specific skill. Hence Sachin Tendulkar might be the God Of Cricket before whom every cricketer bows. Still, even God bows in front of his “Guru” that is Ramakant Achrekar, as it’s for people like Mr Achrekar whose contribution makes Players like Tendulkar reach the zenith of their potentials and achieve success, such godly status and global renown in their career.

To elaborate more on why even a single sport Is the outcome of collaborative teamwork, I will share an anecdote narrated by Nikhil Latey, a Physiotherapist and Sports Scientist who has worked with many Indian Olympians. In his enlightening virtual session organized by Go Alpha Kids, Mr Latey narrates an experience of  Mary Kom, the first Indian woman boxer to win an Olympic medal, whom he was accompanying for Olympic training in a hotel in Poona. Mary had to be within a certain weight to qualify to play the tournament, so she was prescribed to drink lots of fruit juices in her diet. The Hotel authorities specially arranged for a mini-refrigerator within Mary’s room as she loves to have chilled fruit juices. Not only this, but the management also made an exception to the hotel regulations and allowed Mary’s clothes to be washed in her hotel room’s bathroom and even made a special arrangement for a place where the clothes could quickly dry. All these arrangements were made as athletes sweat a lot during training and frequently require to change their clothes. This proves that how so many people who aren’t even directly involved in  Mary’s sport or her activity play an essential role in providing her with the necessary comforts and amenities to perform well. To reinforce this spirit of teamwork, Mr Latey gives the example of another popular Sports personality with whom he has worked, is badminton player Saina Nehwal. Even though Saina plays an individual sport, she has a team of people who help her play well. She has a nutritionist, a Physiotherapist, a Coach, a gym trainer, a mental trainer, even a manager who books tickets at the proper time for her abroad flights for international matches or makes arrangements for her to stay in comfortable hotels. The message that we deduce from these anecdotes if said in Mr Latey’s own words is that “There is a team that works behind making a Champion and no one can win in isolation.”

We Indians have always celebrated Bollywood movies so let me give the example of a very well-made and popular Bollywood movie that fits the context of the topic discussed in this article. Most people must have watched Dangal based on the life of Wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his daughters Geeta and Babita Phogat. When Geeta became the first Indian women wrestler to win a gold medal in the 2010 commonwealth or when Babita won the gold medal in the 2014 commonwealth games, everyone who witnessed those matches must have praised the two ladies playing skillfully. Only after the movie was released did people know that those medals that the Ladies won were not an outcome of their remarkable effort. Still, it was because of their father’s more significant efforts against patriarchy rules, Societal norms, financial hardships to pave the road of success for the two daughters from a small village in Haryana to the victory stand of the Commonwealth Games.

As Mahavir Singh Phogat, there are many such unsung heroes behind those great Sports Personalities whom we idolize. It’s the efforts of such people who help the sportsmen achieve what they have, and hence they deserve an equal share of the credit. 

To conclude this article, I will like to quote what Dr Nikhil Latey said in his session again that “There is a team that works behind making a Champion.” Hence it can be concluded that every sport is a team sport. It’s every individual’s effort to invest their labour to achieve a common goal that integrates to bring out a successful outcome and blossom a dream into reality. Individually, we are mere drops, but together we are an ocean.

Watch the session with Nikhil Latey:

Image Source: Unsplash

Written by Rangit