How to Be a Good Player
Develop your fundamentals., Learn the responsibilities of your position., Practice hard., Stay healthy., Stay hydrated during workouts., Listen to your coach., Communicate on the field., Push through the pain.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Develop your fundamentals.
If you want to be a good team player, you've got to work first on being a good all-around athlete, spending time building the fundamental skills necessary to your sport.
If you want to be a great basketball player, that means spending time dribbling, developing your defensive skills, and learning to make crisp passes.
If you want to be a great soccer player, you've got to learn to control the ball, shoot accurately, and move to space.
It's fun to just get out there and play the sport you play, but doing drills is an essential part of practicing.
Instead of just shooting hoops, practice some of the dribbling drills you do in practice, or working on other defensive training drills that you learned from the coaches.
Working on building the less-fun skills will help you to stand out and become a stronger player. -
Step 2: Learn the responsibilities of your position.
Playing a team means filling a specific role.
Unlike being a tennis player or a golfer, playing as a part of a team means filling a role.
It's not every football player's job to score touchdowns, and it's not every soccer player's job to shoot goals.
Being a good player means learning the specific responsibilities and role of your position, and studying how best to fill that role.
Learn where you need to be on the field and what your specific job should be.
If you're playing defense, figure how you select an opponent to mark up against.
If you're controlling the ball, how can you best distribute it around the field? When you're first learning how to play a sport, most of us want to go for the glamorous positions: quarterback, striker, point guard.
A great team, though, is a team made up of role-players who play the positions for which they're most suited.
If you're a great defender, don't waste energy being envious of the offensive positions.
Embrace your role and commit to improving your skills. , Showing up to practice and giving every single workout your best effort is a critical part of being a good team player.
Practice hard and you'll improve your skills and your knowledge of the game, setting you and your team up for success.
Show up on time to practice and be prepared to work.
Have your gear ready and plenty of water.
Start stretching out and getting ready to work.
Have a good attitude about practice.
Some athletes have lots of talent, but look like they'd rather be at home playing video games than building skills with teammates.
Be a better player than that.
Leave all your grit and effort on the practice field.
If you pull up and take it easy when you're supposed to be lifting weights, running laps, or doing drills, you're going to be slower, weaker, and less talented than your opponents.
Bring it to practice. , Even if you're a great athlete, you can't be a good player if you're spending all your time healing from injuries and recovering on the bench.
It's very important to take care of your body and stay healthy and in-shape to compete in games and give your team the best chance of winning, game in and game out.
Warm up before you practice and cool down afterward, every time.
Never run onto the field without stretching and warming up your body for hard work.
Good players should also take several minutes to stretch out after practice, to avoid cramping and soreness.
Get enough rest between workouts.
If you've got to practice tomorrow, you shouldn't be staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing Xbox and chatting online.
Get enough sleep, at least 8 hours, and allow your body ample time to recover and rest before putting it to the test again tomorrow. , A study of NFL players found that almost 98% were dehydrated before workouts, which can lower performance levels by as much as 25%.Sports drinks and plain water are an important part of maintaining electrolytes and hydration, giving you the energy to perform at your highest level and stay healthy.
Before working out, drink 15 or 20 ounces of water, and try to drink about 8 ounce of water every 15 minutes during practice.
Drink slowly to avoid upsetting your stomach during intense workouts. , Good players need to be coachable, which means you've got to learn to take criticism and apply new lessons to getting better and improving your skills on the field.
Coaches aren't there to tell everyone that they're doing a great job and that everyone's going to end up going pro.
Coaches are there to make you a better athlete and train you to win.
Sometimes, that might mean you'll hear some suggestions and criticisms.Bad players fold up and get frustrated when they receive criticism and good players will listen and take lessons from it.
If your coach calls you out for your sloppy squats during a workout, you could get moody, or you could say, "Yes, coach!" and sweat a little harder.
Never argue with your coach, especially in front of the other players.
If you've got a problem with strategy, or something the coach told you in practice, set up a private talk about chat about it alone.
Good players should never question the authority of the coach in front of the team. , Teams need to be organized and coordinated to win.
Silent teams lose and talkative teams improve their chances of winning.
Cheering for other players, calling for the ball, and communicating clearly about players and strategy is a critical part of team success.
Make it your goal to be louder than the other team at all times.
It's important to talk to your teammates, but try to avoid trash-talking the other team.
Unless it's absolutely necessary to talk some smack as a way of motivating your teammates.
Then, go for it, but be gentle. , Training isn't always fun, and games can be crazy-exhausting.
But good players–great players–learn to push the pain of training into the back of their mind and fight through it.
When you're exhausted at the end of the game and the ball springs free between you and the goal, you could jog toward it tiredly, or you could dig deep and sprint.
Good players sprint.
Find ways to stay motivated and fire up for games so that you'll be energetic and enthusiastic to fight for the whole game.
Play some loud music that gets you pumped, or fire yourself up with a sports movie, or other team-building exercise that you enjoy. -
Step 3: Practice hard.
-
Step 4: Stay healthy.
-
Step 5: Stay hydrated during workouts.
-
Step 6: Listen to your coach.
-
Step 7: Communicate on the field.
-
Step 8: Push through the pain.
Detailed Guide
If you want to be a good team player, you've got to work first on being a good all-around athlete, spending time building the fundamental skills necessary to your sport.
If you want to be a great basketball player, that means spending time dribbling, developing your defensive skills, and learning to make crisp passes.
If you want to be a great soccer player, you've got to learn to control the ball, shoot accurately, and move to space.
It's fun to just get out there and play the sport you play, but doing drills is an essential part of practicing.
Instead of just shooting hoops, practice some of the dribbling drills you do in practice, or working on other defensive training drills that you learned from the coaches.
Working on building the less-fun skills will help you to stand out and become a stronger player.
Playing a team means filling a specific role.
Unlike being a tennis player or a golfer, playing as a part of a team means filling a role.
It's not every football player's job to score touchdowns, and it's not every soccer player's job to shoot goals.
Being a good player means learning the specific responsibilities and role of your position, and studying how best to fill that role.
Learn where you need to be on the field and what your specific job should be.
If you're playing defense, figure how you select an opponent to mark up against.
If you're controlling the ball, how can you best distribute it around the field? When you're first learning how to play a sport, most of us want to go for the glamorous positions: quarterback, striker, point guard.
A great team, though, is a team made up of role-players who play the positions for which they're most suited.
If you're a great defender, don't waste energy being envious of the offensive positions.
Embrace your role and commit to improving your skills. , Showing up to practice and giving every single workout your best effort is a critical part of being a good team player.
Practice hard and you'll improve your skills and your knowledge of the game, setting you and your team up for success.
Show up on time to practice and be prepared to work.
Have your gear ready and plenty of water.
Start stretching out and getting ready to work.
Have a good attitude about practice.
Some athletes have lots of talent, but look like they'd rather be at home playing video games than building skills with teammates.
Be a better player than that.
Leave all your grit and effort on the practice field.
If you pull up and take it easy when you're supposed to be lifting weights, running laps, or doing drills, you're going to be slower, weaker, and less talented than your opponents.
Bring it to practice. , Even if you're a great athlete, you can't be a good player if you're spending all your time healing from injuries and recovering on the bench.
It's very important to take care of your body and stay healthy and in-shape to compete in games and give your team the best chance of winning, game in and game out.
Warm up before you practice and cool down afterward, every time.
Never run onto the field without stretching and warming up your body for hard work.
Good players should also take several minutes to stretch out after practice, to avoid cramping and soreness.
Get enough rest between workouts.
If you've got to practice tomorrow, you shouldn't be staying up until the wee hours of the morning playing Xbox and chatting online.
Get enough sleep, at least 8 hours, and allow your body ample time to recover and rest before putting it to the test again tomorrow. , A study of NFL players found that almost 98% were dehydrated before workouts, which can lower performance levels by as much as 25%.Sports drinks and plain water are an important part of maintaining electrolytes and hydration, giving you the energy to perform at your highest level and stay healthy.
Before working out, drink 15 or 20 ounces of water, and try to drink about 8 ounce of water every 15 minutes during practice.
Drink slowly to avoid upsetting your stomach during intense workouts. , Good players need to be coachable, which means you've got to learn to take criticism and apply new lessons to getting better and improving your skills on the field.
Coaches aren't there to tell everyone that they're doing a great job and that everyone's going to end up going pro.
Coaches are there to make you a better athlete and train you to win.
Sometimes, that might mean you'll hear some suggestions and criticisms.Bad players fold up and get frustrated when they receive criticism and good players will listen and take lessons from it.
If your coach calls you out for your sloppy squats during a workout, you could get moody, or you could say, "Yes, coach!" and sweat a little harder.
Never argue with your coach, especially in front of the other players.
If you've got a problem with strategy, or something the coach told you in practice, set up a private talk about chat about it alone.
Good players should never question the authority of the coach in front of the team. , Teams need to be organized and coordinated to win.
Silent teams lose and talkative teams improve their chances of winning.
Cheering for other players, calling for the ball, and communicating clearly about players and strategy is a critical part of team success.
Make it your goal to be louder than the other team at all times.
It's important to talk to your teammates, but try to avoid trash-talking the other team.
Unless it's absolutely necessary to talk some smack as a way of motivating your teammates.
Then, go for it, but be gentle. , Training isn't always fun, and games can be crazy-exhausting.
But good players–great players–learn to push the pain of training into the back of their mind and fight through it.
When you're exhausted at the end of the game and the ball springs free between you and the goal, you could jog toward it tiredly, or you could dig deep and sprint.
Good players sprint.
Find ways to stay motivated and fire up for games so that you'll be energetic and enthusiastic to fight for the whole game.
Play some loud music that gets you pumped, or fire yourself up with a sports movie, or other team-building exercise that you enjoy.
About the Author
Samuel Murphy
Enthusiastic about teaching DIY projects techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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