Have you ever heard the name Jordan Taylor? What about a guy named Peyton Manning? My guess is that most of you know the latter of the two. Manning is one of the most decorated and accomplished quarterbacks of all time, and in 2015 he defied odds by coming back from injury and leading his team to the Super Bowl.
Truly, a great story.
But, even though Peyton gets the glory for his performance (and deservedly so), that season wouldn’t have been possible without Jordan Taylor. Taylor was a 23-year-old practice squad rookie at the time. Practice squad players make a fraction of what the typical NFL star does, and many won’t ever play in an NFL game. Taylor is crucial to the Peyton Manning story because he was Manning’s receiver during his rehab process. Every day, Manning and Taylor would practice for hours. Manning would sling passes to his 23-year-old receiver, and Taylor would run perfect, full effort routes, every time. Taylor did this all before his normal practices, sacrificing his time, energy and body because it was what the team needed. Manning credited Taylor as the reason he could come back from injury.
So, without Jordan Taylor, there would have been no 2015 Peyton Manning.
No historic season.
No playoffs.
No Super Bowl.
The media loves to highlight sports superstars, and with good reason. There’s a natural limelight that comes with sports, and the best player on a team is usually the one in the center of it all. While having great players is important in sports, some of the most crucial members of a team are never known by a media outlet, and some never even see the field.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from being a bench player on a college soccer team for the last three years, it’s that a team is like a clock.
Star players are like the clock face: they produce results and everyone sees them. The clock face is the byproduct of the work that goes on behind the scenes.
Behind the clock face though, are countless gears that are necessary to telling time. If you take away a gear, no matter how small, the whole clock stops working. In the same way, every member of a team contributes to the results on the field. Everyone works to push each other, and no matter how behind the scenes someone may be, the whole team is responsible for what happens on game day.
I think that too many people get caught up trying to be the best player on the team. It’s not a bad thing to want to be the best. I’ve been a back-up goalkeeper my entire college career. I still work at every practice like my goal is to be the best player on the team. The pitfall that people run into is developing selfishness in their pursuit of being the best.
Being a great athlete has nothing to do with yourself. The true reason for being a great player is that you can make your team better. With that mindset, every member of a team can strive to be great athletes without developing selfishness or hostility.
