15 Notes on Partnership from the World Cup

Coming from Argentina I had to find a way to insert the World Cup in this subject (!). These days the eyes of the world are upon South Africa, and so it would be –for a very different reason  – in a few months during Lausanne III in Cape Town. But now we are in the Cup and so let’s go back to football and partnership:

1. A team is much more that the sum of individuals (no matter how gifted those individuals might been).

2. Small partners may outset the big ones.

3. Opportunities for scoring (succeed) are taken by those who are proactive, remain alert and are in the right place.

3. To cooperate within a team is better that to compete.

4. In a good team there are not substitutes, all are first players.

5. When someone in the team score, the whole team celebrates as their accomplishment.

6. The good morale and relationships (“indoors”) is crucial for the team performance in the field.

7. Good teams are a mix of younger members and experienced ones.

8. A good coach has the capacity to unleash the potential of each member for the good of the team.

9. Great fame or many victories during the preliminaries does not guarantee succeed when the real thing begins. (Theory is tested when the “rubber meets the road”).

10. Never underestimates your oponent (adversary).

11. Do not resort to unfair play when other surpasses you.

12. When mediocrity is the rule, there is not a great effort to be outstanding.

13. We have to keep on in spite of losing, and we have to keep on even if we are winning.

14. When we have success, we need to be humble; when we failed, we need to be humble.

15. Failure is not the end, but a new way of learning how no to do something. (Grace gives another oportunity).

Daniel Bianchi