Team chemistry means everything when you are playing a sport. Many professional sports teams nowadays strive to form super teams, when multiple good players in a sport sign with a team to try and win a championship with a stacked team. This strategy has proven effective with teams like the 2021-2022 Los Angeles Rams, who won the Super Bowl, or the 2012-2013 Miami Heat, who won back-to-back championships.
The super team strategy has also proven ineffective, when teams go all in on good players on short contracts, just for it all to backfire. For example, the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers and the 2020-21 Brooklyn Nets went all-in on superstar-caliber players only to fail to win a Championship. A big factor that many of these teams encountered when falling short of winning is due to chemistry issues. As proven by professionals, it is very important to build chemistry with your teammates to be successful. How does one achieve team chemistry in our own school sports teams nowadays?
Jackson Gammack ’24, a member of the JV boys’ hockey team, states that the team “has done a few team dinners. I’ve gone over to [teammates’] to go team build, and have fun, and do secret Santas. In the locker room before [games, we] play music, and, you know, jumping around and having a good time.” Gammack also plays soccer and says that “before practice, running around on the field, or staying after practice and working on shots helps build community too.” Gammack says that when playing with good chemistry, “you have a better idea of what [your teammates] might do, or you get to know them better and know what they are going to do with the puck, or off the puck. You also have more confidence in them when you give them the puck to make a play.”
Hakuto Higuchi ’24, who is a member of the varsity boys’ hockey team, also mentioned that the team did a “secret Santa where we gave each other stupid gifts, and that helped us be better friends, and communicate better with each other.”
Marina Battig ’24, a member of the girls soccer team, describes how “[the team has] gone to lunches or early dinners before to just talk about our goals with our team…and how our team chemistry was going to work out.” Battig thinks that goal setting lunches “builds more comfort in everyone, and that’s really important in soccer because you need to be able to be comfortable with your teammates if you want to succeed more.”
