There is a very popular story that comes from the life of a pretty famous basketball player. When young, the basketball player hogged the ball so much that he tried scoring every hoop all by himself and that pretty much got on the nerve of his coach. The college team coach spoke to his star player by saying that, “There is no “I” in a team”. The young hot-head player simply shot back saying, “There is one in WIN”. Of course, there is the simple matter that the player was none other than his ‘Airness’ himself- Michael Jordon.

This is not to say that players can get away with the kind of ball-hogging skills that an early Jordan exhibited. It was not until MJ learned to play a as part of the team that he manage to win those amazing 6 NBA titles in 10 years. In a team sport, the individual amounts to nothing without the rest around him. But the rest also need the focal point to play supporting cast around. There has never been an-all time great time that just was made up of a team of good players. Without the touch of greatness and the spark of individual brilliance, even the best teams fall apart.

Some of the greats of world sport have come from team sports. The list is star-studded with names like Pele, Maradona, Jordan, Zidane, Tendulkar and others. The fact still seems that this list looks very limited and comparatively less bright if you put it up against names like Ali, Tiger Woods, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer, Rod Laver, Michael Phelps, Lance Armstrong, Jesse Owens and scores of others. So why is it that great individuals from team sports are harder to find than when you look at individual sports?

Team sports involve a certain amount of team work that goes beyond the individual sports. In team sports great athletes often play against more than one person as the opposition expends more energy on them. At the end of the day, few men perform well enough that they rise above their team and stand tall even when the team is in ruins. An athlete playing an individual sport has to worry only about himself, while a team player has more on his mind than just his own performance.

Then there is also the simple fact that individual greatness in team sports allows for mediocre players to look better than they really are. Jordon draws away defenders while others can make open shots, Pele and Maradona attract more than one opponent to block them leaving ample open space for others, opposition expends so much energy on Tendulkar that others are forgotten! That is the greatest asset of having a brilliant individual in the team. The greatness of genius handles the burden while the others play freely.

That is exactly why individual greatness in team sports is hard to find and harder to sustain. Very few men have had the ability to lift themselves and their team with him. Being a genius in your chosen craft is far more difficult that being good at it. Being a master means that you sometimes do not understand the difficulties of your more ordinary teammates. Yet, few have made it through the turmoil unblemished. That is exactly why players like Pele, Maradona, Jordan and Tendulkar stand ahead of likes of Muhammad Ali, Federer, Schumacher and Phelps. Team players not only are gifted, but understand how to share that very special gift!