hockey ice

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind regarding what is the best and most successful formation for a field hockey team or soccer team. I played hockey ice for two years at Perth Academy in Scotland, and we won the Midlands Championships in these two consecutive seasons.

If your team is trained properly, and we trained and practiced twice a week, and if the team is coached with care and insight, and encouraged with the occasional word, this system will win time and time again.

One vital part of the formation, and one crucial part of the teaching, is very seldom taught today. Never ever foul! In 1980, a team of average athletes won the gold medal. The United States hockey team shocked the entire world by beating the Russians and Swedes, two teams of great athletes favored to win the gold and silver that year. The 1980 USA hockey team showed the world that a group of average athletes working well together make a great team and have the potential to produce great results. When team members commit to being average, giving up their need to be somebody and impress others, you get a more cohesive team.

Collective intelligence – After the competition, Galton gathered the 800 non-expert entries to determine the group’s average guess. He figured if most of the crowd were non-experts and had only a few expert guesses, the crowd’s average guess would be way off. The crowd guessed that the ox weighed 1197 pounds. In general, a crowd with average people working together will outperform a single expert.

Let go of ego – Simply put, egos get in the way of team performance. When average people work together to accomplish a task, you get great results.

Don’t try, just do – We only try when we don’t trust the forces within us. Sometimes being average is the best possible strategy.” Fear of failure and looking like a fool in front of others makes us cautious and choose to “try” instead of “do”.