The ingredients of team spirit are mutual respect, good communication, closeness, trust, acceptance, and encouragement. Team spirit is a powerful source of positive energy, and when it's there, every athlete seems to come alive. Athletes report that team spirit not only keeps them feeling pumped up and energized, but alos takes the pressure off. Athletes feel more relaxed, give more of themselves, and compete with more confidence when an atmosphere of team and togetherness is present.

There are a number of strategies for building your team that you can use that are very effective.

The more you understand about a person, the easier it is to accept his differences. It is easy to be critical and negative about a person you don't understand. Take the time and listen to the person with whom you are having trouble with. Try to see through his eyes. If you can do that, your feeling toward that person will always improve.

Give Positive Feedback

Give positive feedback to your teammates whenever you get the chance. Simply statements like, "Good hustle," "Nice try," "Great job," "Super," or "I knew you could do it," help build strong, positive relationships. Be positive and supportive verbally to your fellow teammates, and avoid the critical, negative comments. In other words, get into the habit of saying things to your teammates that build them up, and avoid saying things that put them down. Work extra hard to be supportive, positive, and constructive when a teammate is dealing with adversity. By helping them, you end up helping yourself.

Give 100 Percent

Give 100 percent effort in practice, and work hard on your weaknesses. Working hard to improve yourself and giving full effort is a powerful team unifier. When you are dedicated and committed, you encourage others to do likewise by example in building team spirit.

Be Contagious

Don't be fooled that a negative attitude is not affecting your team. Both positive and negative attitudes are highly contagious. Negativism can spread through a team like a disease. Carefully guard what you think and say. Start an epidemic of enthusiasm and excitement on your team by being optimistic and positive.

Be a Peacemaker

Resolve conflicts with teammates or coaches as quickly as possible. Don't let conflicts build up inside. Take action to resolve them. Express your complaint or resolve your conflict with the person who is responsible for the situation and can alter it. Don't gripe or complain to others, venting your anger - just spreads negative energy. If you respond to conflict responsibly and immediately, it will have little effect on your inner state and performance. The longer it persists, the more you endanger your inner state and, thus hinder performance.

Get Your Attitude Right

Get your attitude and disposition right before going to practice or competition. Once you arrive for the competition, it is often too late to make any adjustment to your attitude. The true athlete arrives with the right frame of mind, ready to compete at their best.

Go Out of Your Way

Go out of your way to help your teammates whenever you can. Being mutually interdependent on each other stimulates team spirit. When you can help someone, they feel closer and more responsive to you.

Light Yourself on Fire

Be your own best igniter. Don't rely on others to push you from behind to keep you going. Self-starters are extremely valuable team members. They often become the triggers for positive momentum. Be a model of positive energy.

Communicate

Communicate clearly, honestly, and openly with your coach. To achieve a high level of team harmony, the communication between you and your coach must be healthy. The better you understand each other, the better your chances are of performing well.

Have Fun!

Don't forget to have fun! Being able to laugh and to loosen up a little often breaks down the barriers and helps people to relax and feel closer. Remember, when you can enjoy, you can perform.

God's Performance Principle

It sounds strange, but most successful coaches will tell you that the performance potential of a team as a unit is much greater than the addition of each athlete's level of talent individually.

Have you ever played on a team where, although most agreed that there wasn't a great deal of talent, you accomplished some pretty amazing things? When that happens, and it often does, one thing is certain - team spirit and unity were high. The presence of team spirit draws people out and makes them feel a part of something much bigger than themselves.

The key to unity is love. The bond that love twinds is a team - a cord, that can not be easily broken by adversity. When asked what was the most important commandment, Jesus responded, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor (your teammate) as yourself." (Mark 13:30-31)

That is our charge from Jesus, our master coach, "to love our teammates as yourselves." An example of this kind of love comes from acouple of close friends in World War II.

An order to retreat was given. As the troops were running back, Jim noticed that Phillip had not returned with the others. Panic gripped his heart. Jim knew if Phillip was not back in a another minute or two, then he wouldn't make it.

Jim begged his commanding officier to let him go after his friend, but the officier denied his request - saying it would be suicide. Risking his own life, Jim disobeyed and went after Phillip. His heart pounding, he ran into gunfire calling out for him.

A short time later, his platoon saw Jim hobbling across the battlefield carrying a limp body in his arms. Jim's commanding officier criticized him severely, shouting that it was a foolish risk. "Your friend is dead and there was nothing you could do."

"No sir. You're wrong," Jim replied. "I got there just in time. Before he died, his last words were, 'I knew you would come."

Source: John C. Maxwell and Dan Reiland, The Treasure of a Friend, J. Countryman Books, (c) 1999.