There’s a reason I love sports. Sure it’s about the action, the rivalries, the hitting, the mental aspect of figuring out plays, the camaraderie, and of course, winning championships. But more than that, I love that TEAMS cannot win if they are not exactly that, a team. The quarterback can’t complete a pass if he doesn’t have a running back or wide receiver to throw it to. The shortstop and second baseman can’t get the double play without each other. Almost all goals are scored with assists. The fact is, sports bring people together. Players need each other, and a good coach knows that. He leads his team to success by creating unity, as they put their teammates before themselves, sacrificing their pride and glory for the sake of the team. To quote one of my favorite baseball movies, “it’s 9 guys playing as one.”
One of my favorite trilogies is the Mighty Ducks. Yeah, it’s full of early 90s bad haircuts, the early days of Emilio Estevez and Joshua Jackson, and cheesy one-liners. But do you really know why “ducks fly together?”
*”When you see geese heading for south in the winter flying alone in a “V” formation, you might be interested in knowing that science has discovered why they fly that way. Research has revealed that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the birds immediately behind it. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. (People who share a common direction and sense of community get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on one another’s thrust.)
Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go at it alone. It quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the “V” and another goose flies to the point. (It pays to take turns doing hard jobs.)
The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
And finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunfire and falls out, two other geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help protect it. They stay with the goose until it is able to fly again or dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation to catch up with their group. (If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.)”
This is the picture I’m praying over the R-Squad this year. That we will soar together, use the group’s momentum, and pick each other up when we fall.
R-Squad, we’re going to fly together!
* Taken from John Maxwell’s book Developing the Leaders Around You
