There is no "I" in the word "TEAM"

    
     If you've been around athletics at all in your lifetime, or if your job involves working on a team, I'd be willing to gander a guess that you've probably heard the phrase "There's no I in TEAM". Basically, meaning that if you are going to be a part of the team whether it is an office group assigned to a project or if you are on the volleyball team in your school the goals are based on what will benefit the whole over anything related to what is best for you individually. So, as a coach of team sports, one of my primary objectives is to get each individual athlete to want the collective group to be more successful than just what benefits each member of the team singularly.
      Interesting concept, but what about wrestling? I have spent well over 30 years coaching the sport of wrestling which spotlights each individual wrestler out on the mat uno a uno while everyone else is watching. How does the, no "I" in "TEAM" equation fit in this scenario you ask? Thank you, let me explain. Wrestling is what I have always referred to as an individual team sport. Golf, tennis, cross country, and track are other examples of sports that have an individual aspect while competing also as a team. The way I explain it to my athletes is that your performance, your attitude, and your outcomes all do more than just effect you, what you do on the mat has a ripple effect on the other members of the team. If you go out on the mat and give a lackluster performance, that sucks the energy out of our team. They look at you and what they see will have a negative or positive impact on them mentally, physically, and emotionally. If you go out to compete and get disqualified for doing something wrong in your match like poor sportsmanship, it isn't just you that is hurt by your actions. Your decision results in our team losing “team” points, those points could be the difference in our team score at the end of the match. The difference in beating someone by points instead of pinning your opponent has a direct impact on the team points awarded at the end of each individual match. Those points although small in number could be the small difference between a victory for our team or a loss. I always finish this lesson by hammering home the whole idea that if we win, we win as a team, if we lose, we lose as a team. There is no "I" in "TEAM".
     I see so much of the "I" mentality in our culture today. What impacts me is more important than what happens to the collective group because of my "me" self-centeredness. Marital conflict, "I don't like the way she is treating me", have you ever stopped to ask yourself how do you treat her and how are you supposed to treat her? (Ephesians 5:25) Life issues, "Poor me, nobody has had as many _______ problems as I have had to endure." (Fill in the blank: health, work, financial, relationship, drugs, etc...) Or even how about "I don't want to wear a mask, I don't think it is going to help at all" does that one resonate with someone you know during this pandemic? Well, in each of the preceding situations, self is always going to come before anything that impacts the whole. 
    May I pose a question right here? What if Jesus had taken the "I" first approach when He was there in the Garden in Gethsemane? His prayer would have been something like this, "Father, I'm not sure what they are gonna do, but how about getting me outta this situation really quick?" It would have been humanly understandable if Jesus had said, every man for himself, or what if Jesus had said "You know those nails in my hands and feet are going to be pretty uncomfortable, I don't think I'm going to go there." How ashamed we should be for putting ourselves as the only one that matters when it comes to this life that we have been given to live.
     I have been on a roll lately repeatedly proclaiming the life you live isn't about you. Apply it to whatever situation or circumstance you want, but at the end of the day it applies to all aspects of life in general. Jesus lived a life, all flesh and bones. He hurt when he got a cut, and his mind could be distracted by His humanness, but Jesus didn't allow his humanness to control His decision-making. When He was there in the Garden at Gethsemane He cried out, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39. Yes this is going to be uncomfortable, yes this is going to be painful to the point of unbearable, but if that's the way you want it to be then so be it Father that's what I will do. There was no "I" in the word "TEAM" when Jesus walked this earth, and the spelling of the word TEAM has not changed since. 
     The collective unit is more important than the individual. If you don't understand that then you are who this week's post is directed. We have to place the value of the whole over our own self-centered, egocentric mindset. A life well lived is full of sacrifice, sharing, giving, even suffering for the benefit of others. If we want this world to come to a place where we can effectively move forward as a country, "WE" must replace "ME". If you are living a life that is more worried about how something is making your life uncomfortable, then it may be time to get out God's dictionary and look up the word "TEAM". I do not believe it will have the letter "I" in it. Nor should it. 
Praying for each of you! 
Coach Carter