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Individualism in Team Sports - Good or Bad?


Everyone has to be individual in their own right but in a team setting should that individualism be converted to selfish competition among team members? It is my belief that this type of behaviour breaks down team unity and causes tension among team members. What can be done to curb this behaviour? How can we stop this rivalry among team members and build cohesion to enhance overall team performance?

Is this type of individualistic behaviour engrained in us or does it develop out of our interaction with the various environments that we are placed in. Whatever the source, it is something that needs to be eliminated if a team is to function effectively. Not everyone possesses this competitive attitude and it takes away the enjoyment derived from sport participation and lessens the camaraderie associated with the interaction of people who share a common interest.

I personally believe that athletes should be assessed adequately before entering a team setting as we may be able to find ways to deal with such people and lessen the negative impact that they have. Individual may begin with an 'I' but as far as I'm concerned, there has never been or will ever be an 'I' in team.

~Dawn~

Comments

  1. Unknown11 September 2012 at 19:42

    They is no "I" in Team but its the centre of wIn. Individuality is a necessary component in team performance. The concept of synergy is where 1 + 1 > 2. Everybody has a set of positive and negatives that they bring to a team. Synergy occurs when the positives are summated and the negatives are negated.

    Once the team's primary goals are congruent with the individual's primary goals, it is left for the team to manage the differences between the secondary goals of both the team and individual members of the team. If we eliminate individuality, we run the risk of marginalizing that person's intrinsic motivation.

    That's why we need "specialist" to manage individuality within a team setting. Cricket was once described as an individual sport played in a team setting. If we look at the great cricket teams, they all had strong individuality but well integrated into a team goal.

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  2. Dawn-Marie Armstrong 12 September 2012 at 09:33

    But when 'wInning' is not apparent and success seems to be a thing often strived for but not achieved, isn't it time revamp this conceptualisation of individualism that we have? Surely, you must be able to see my point.

    When we focus on competing against each other rather than against our opponents, there's no wonder why we aren't successful. You are speaking of congruency, but when our only team goals are to 'win' as you say, and out-perform others for a 'selection', we continue to create that competitive environment.

    The individualism that I speak of has nothing to do with intrinsic motivation, in fact, intrinsic motivation is derived from the love of the sport and the positive experiences associated with sport participation. Persons who are highly intrinsically motivated can function in any type of environment, be it supportive or not.

    Knowing where a person fits into a team and the roles that they play will help them to understand more that it's not a competition, or teams bringing their 'best horses' to the races, but to show them that a team and the sport is bigger than all of us.

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  3. Una L. Valentine1 August 2018 at 03:53

    The first thing that stands out is that this is pretty weak overall. There are clearly more important factors affecting how much draft capital is spent on a given position than the collective amount spent on players at that position. most valuable mlb teams

    ReplyDelete

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