While recently watching the Jerry West documentary on Amazon Prime I found it interesting how much he talked about team chemistry being invaluable toward team success. Often when building a team, from pee-wees to the pros, the attention is directed toward simply getting the best players possible to maximize team success. While it helps to have talent, talent alone does not guarantee championships, and there are countless sports teams over the years that have had tremendous talent on paper, only to end up performing well below expectations. Herein is where team chemistry enters into the equation. Team chemistry is the quality of relationships, trust, and interaction patterns that allow a group to perform as more than just the sum of the parts. Team chemistry is tough to get right, but when teams are assembled using this goal in mind the chances for future success increase dramatically.
Understanding team chemistry
To begin, it is important to note that team chemistry isn’t simply about liking each other — it’s about trusting each other enough to perform without hesitation. Good coaches, regardless of sport or skill level, know that what is most important is that team members know and embrace their unique individual role on the team, unconditionally support one another, hustle and promote a positive attitude. Breaking this down even more and you realize not every team member can be the star, or have the ball in their hands the most. Team chemistry is at its highest when all team members, including reserves, understand what is asked of them and fully embrace their assignment.
While team chemistry may seem simple to develop, the reality is it takes work. Players naturally want to play in important roles, and athletes have egos, too. It’s also easy for team members to blame others when things aren’t going well, or allow their enthusiasm and support to waver depending on the level of team success experienced. And how do you keep reserve players feeling that they are an important part of the team, especially when they rarely play? Savvy coaches prepare for all of these issues and work hard to create a locker room of equality, opportunity, and relationships that develop not out of talent, but out of recognition that every player’s efforts count.
The components that enhance team chemistry, coming from a role perspective, include many different pieces with value toward team success. There are your star players, of course, but a balanced team also has players who excel in game knowledge and wisdom, defense specialization, and enthusiasm. When these pieces come together, and support and trust established, a balanced and equipped team is developed. Veteran coaches know that it’s not always easy to get certain players to buy in to their role (i.e. a reserve on the team to help with depth), so they create a team environment that allows every player — regardless of role or talent — to feel as though their place on the team is every bit as important as the next player’s role. This is achieved by first accepting that team chemistry is vital, and then working hard to empower, listen, support, and trust every player with the same degree of effort and sincerity.
Final thoughts
Jerry West, in addition to being one of the greatest basketball players ever, is also widely accepted as being one of the best sports general managers of all time (basketball and beyond). If Jerry West thinks team chemistry is the most important variable contributing toward team success. coaches should look at their own current teams and see how they score on this scale? Do all players feel important and respected? Is there a high level of trust on the team? And do players know and fully embrace their individual role? If you checked those boxes, you’re probably doing a pretty good job at coaching!
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