Dear Teammates,
So, here we are, ready to start a new year, a new season, and a new beginning, but before we get started there are a few things I want you to know.
I am your teammate. “Well, duh,” you’re saying, but think about it. We have been put together, as a team coach has pulled us from all different places, hometowns, states, and backgrounds and we are all different. There are going to be days that those differences between us may cause an issue or we just get annoyed of one another. There may be days that we just can’t get along, but always remember (and I promise I will remember this too), that no matter how different we are or how opposite we may seem, we have one thing in common and that we play the sport we love and I don’t think we need much else.
I am your friend. If you’re stressed and need to vent about your day, life, boyfriend/girlfriend, professor, class, family, or whatever you want, you have my number. It doesn’t matter if you’re a upperclassman that I’ve been playing with for years or a new freshman that I have entirely learned your name yet, I’m here and I’ll always be here because I know what it feels like to have no one and I would never in a million years want you to feel that way.
I am your family. With my own siblings, I am allowed to pick on them, but no one in this world is allowed to do the same. I will mess with you, be sarcastic, and joke around, but if someone were to pick on you, put you down, or make you feel inferior, tell them they can talk to me or I’ll go find them for you. Also, treat each other like your family. No one likes to get the silent treatment or to be picked on, so let’s be a family, lift each other up and love each other because you don’t pick your family, but you’re sure glad you have who you have.
Anyone can be called a team. All you need are a few players to wear the same thing and be playing towards one goal, but it takes so much more to be a successful team. Let’s be successful, not just because we can win games, but because we truly did it together. A game can be won by a team without teamwork, it’s called playing for stats, so let’s not do that. Play for the girl standing next to you and she will play for you. I promise to be your teammate, friend, and a member of your family and I hope you can promise to do the same for me.
“We are not a team because we work together, we are a team because we respect, trust, and care for one another.” –Vala Afshar
