By: Gabe Langeland and Tre Cooper
Teamwork is important in every aspect of life, whether it be a group presentation at work, designing a project with coworkers, or a last-minute study session with your friends. But why is it important in sports, and more specifically, in volleyball?
Practicing teamwork will always boost a team’s success. Because they rely on one another to be successful, athletes are required to give it their all. Anything less would let the team down. Communication on a team, especially in volleyball, is crucial for the win. Once the ball crosses over the net, players have less than a second to respond and play their position. They must talk with each other and have practiced their roles thoroughly. Teamwork means that they will also be assured that each player will do her job as they’ve practiced. This combined effort furthers the success of the team, leading to better results in the game,
Practicing teamwork will also build an individual’s success. On a team, you have to learn to cooperate with others. You have to be able to accept criticism and grow from it. You have to realize that the group’s needs are bigger than your individual needs. Learning these things will carry over into other aspects of life.
Teamwork is a key element to success in life and can set the trajectory for your future. You need to know how to be a team player, know your strengths and weaknesses, and do your job. In volleyball, this is very apparent. The volleyball team says teamwork is important because “Volleyball is a team sport. You can’t win unless you get a good pass, set, and kill. Volleyball is a game that requires communication and cooperation with your teammates.”
As Hellen Keller once stated, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” This quote is especially true in volleyball. Without teamwork and communication, it’s as if everybody is playing their own game against the opposing team. Players need to have a team-first mentality in volleyball and not a me-first mentality in order to win.
The Hawkeyes had a good showing of teamwork this year as they finished 18-14-1. They did this as a team, picking up teammates when they were down after a mistake, sweating through tough practices all season, and showing up every day and working hard in order to get what needed to be done. And they did it together using teamwork.
In conclusion, teamwork is the most vital aspect in both sports and the real world. In order to succeed you must focus on the great things that can get done working together instead of focusing on how you can achieve things on your own. As professional women’s soccer player, Abby Wambach once said “I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from somebody else.”