The True Meaning of Team

This past weekend while at one of my dear daughter’s cheer competition, the true meaning of ‘team’ was taught.

Now we all know that a team is composed of several individuals with a like interest, such as baseball, basketball and in our case it was cheerleading.

We always teach the girls that there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’; that if something wrong occurs it is not one person’s fault and same with winning.  They all win as a team and they all lose as a team.

Well, this past weekend, our girls were very excited to participate in the National Cheer Competition with very high hopes, because they were undefeated.  They had practiced and practiced their routine and were very excited to participate.  Unfortunately, approximately 10 seconds into the routine, one of the team members had a freak accident.  She actually broke her arm during the routine and being the trooper that she is, tried to continue and even tumbled on the broken arm which resulted in her breaking another bone.

So, needless to say, this child all of 8 years old..tried to continue the routine but was in agonizing pain…and was carried off the stage.  I happened to be rooming with her and her mother, so I was actually sitting next to her when this incident occurred.  I literally had to sit on her to keep her from jumping onto the stage.  After calming her down a bit and reassuring her that she was going to be fine, I brought her to the back where her daughter was taken.

Meanwhile, the music was still playing and the team continued with their routine, not knowing what had just occured.  This team of now 20 girls, continued with tears in their eyes and total confusion on their faces.  The way they held their composure was amazing!  Thinking back to that moment, makes me extra proud of those girls.

After the judges finally allowed them to stop their routine, they walked off the stage in complete shock.  They were so confused and they were crying, but still tried to hold it together for their teammate.  They were then allowed to perform again that same evening because of the circumstances.

Of course, these girls were completely distraught and their concern for their teammate was quite evident.  Every other team and parents of those team members were very proud of our girls; they exemplified the true meaning of ‘team’.  The injured child returned from the hospital in time to see her team perform without her and was given a standing ovation for her braveness.  With 2 broken bones, that child never shed a tear and was more concerned for her team then herself.

I can truly say that I am so very proud of our team.  Each and every one of those girls is a little hero, not to mention the injured one who still attends practices and plans to compete with a cast!

As adults we can learn from our children, and this was definitely one of those memorable moments that taught us all the true meaning of ‘team’.

The Chronicles continue,