With an open mind you can find inspiration anywhere
“WE MAY NOT ALWAY REMEMBER THE INDIVIDUAL BUT WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE GREAT TEAMS”
IF you keep an open mind you can find inspiration in the strangest of places. The film ‘ The Jungle Book’ lured me to the cinema last week, as I wanted to reminisce about the days of my childhood. If anything, I was overzealous at the thought of singing along to ‘ The Bear Necessities’ but it was ‘ The Law of the Jungle’ poem which lingered in my mind as I drove home afterwards.
“Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky. And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back. For the strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”
The last line really packs a punch. It means that in order to prosper the team needs the individuals and the individuals need the team. In truth, one cannot function effectively without the other. These words are accurate whether it’s in relation to sport, work or family life. You need to stand united with those around you. You need to ‘ buy’ into the team ethos and the team needs to support you in return. Each element of the formula needs to play its part in order to achieve anything. Renowned American Football Coach, Vince Lombardi, was fully invested in the idea that: “Individual commitment to a group effort is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work”.
Take the National League Football Final last Sunday. As a group of individuals, Dublin certainly have stand out players; heroes of the sporting world. However, as a unit they create much more of a legacy. Heroes get remembered but legends never die.
The story of the team will live on longer than those of an individual. Each member of the team has strengths and individual characteristics necessary to succeed, but by working together they harnessed their skills, pooled their resources and became a force to the reckoned with last weekend.
They are not four-in-a-row National League Champions for nothing. However, when they do not work together they are exposed, just like any team.
Cast your mind back to the famous Kerry team of the 1970’s. Certainly there were formidable players present in the green and gold of that stellar era - Jack O’ Shea, Pat Spillane, Mikey Sheehy, Bomber Liston, John O’Keefe. All in their own right were household names in football but together they created magic.
It is that Kerry team’s collective ability that still sparks discussions and debates more so than the attributes of those specific players.
Milford Camogie Club has to be one of the most successful underage teams in Cork Camogie history. We had many talented and intelligent players on our teams growing up. Some that would be worth the entrance fee alone, just to see them in action. However, it took us 10 years before we won our first senior county title.
We were always within reaching distance, at times so close we could almost touch the ribbons tied to the cup but three times we came up short.
In March 2012, Frank Flannery stepped onto the green sod of Milford. During the training session he declared if we believed in the team ethos he was going to create, then we would win the All-Ireland Club title. No you are not mistaken, I said All-Ireland title, not county.
He broke down old structures and mentalities and rebuilt the team dynamics from scratch. No one player was bigger than the team. Every player had to buy into what we were trying to do and how we were going to do it.
From number one to 31, each had a responsibility to be the best individual they could for the team and, in turn, the team would support each person to the bitter end.
Three All-Ireland titles later and I can only now fully reflect back on the one we left behind.
What went wrong that day? Perhaps we reverted back to the old system where individuals arrived that day at Nenagh instead of one united team; management and players all fighting for the same thing.
We forgot what we stood for, collectively. Just like the song says, ‘united we stand, divided we fall’.
We learned from our mistake last year, regrouped and came back hungry to avenge the defeat but we must never forget the reasons underpinning our success.
The famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle who was born in 384 BC knew even then that working together was better in order to achieve sustainable results.
“The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts,” he wrote an it still rings true today.
IN ORDER TO PROSPER THE TEAM NEEDS THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS THE TEAM