Making Those Around You Better #32
Relationship Math
There are 6 players on the volleyball court at one time. A total roster of 12-15.
I LOVE the math of these relationships. Because on a team of 13 like the one I am on now, that’s 78 individual relationships!! 1
Add in coaches, staff, doctors, strength coaches, scouts, and physical therapists and you have approximately 20 people. Between them, that’s 190 individual relationships!
And that’s just counting the more immediate support staff…the team around the team continues to grow… Bus drivers, janitors, gym staff, sponsors, friends, family, and fans.
All these relationships ARE THE TEAM. They are the strength, resilience, empathy, joy, and love that make up any group: be it a volleyball club or nation-state.
When the quality of even one of those relationships improves, it can have ripple effects on the rest of the group.
When these relationships get neglected or taken for granted, it can weigh a team down without anyone realizing what’s going on.
I’ve seen it at Princeton, where one has the advantage of staying with a similar group and growing together for four years (or more). In this time you not only grow closer with one another, but with all the members that make up the larger team around the team—a concept Coach Shweisky stressed and made a priority.2
I’ve seen it in Lüneburg where from season 2017/18 to 2018/19 we were able to keep 12 of 14 players together. We played a very strong season, making the Cup Final and finishing 3rd in the league, and having a whole lot of fun while doing it.
I’ve seen it and am living it in Berlin, where a core group of players and staff have stuck together for 3+ seasons and have now won multiple titles together. Great times and difficult times have only strengthened these bonds, both on and off the court, and it gives us power.
Every single one of these relationships matters. And more often than the glory of the championships or the victories, these relationships last.
And this is also why one person CAN make a BIG difference. Because they are responsible for another 20+ immediate connections. Hundreds and thousands more when you include fans. And in the age of social media, more than ever was previously possible.
If you put more deliberate thought and time into these relationships, you can be a powerful force for those around you, raising the level of success, health, wealth, happiness, and joy of all those in your tribe.
(12+11+10+9…)
Just one anecdote/glimpse into 4 years of this: Our Sports Information Director, Craig Sachson, gave our team the best pump-up speech of all time before the playoffs in our final year, having covered all the ups and downs of the seasons past. Not to mention the incredibly strong and meaningful relationships the team developed with our bus driver, anthem singer, gym janitor, and more…