I found the following quote from "The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork" by John Maxwell:
“Every single soldier must know, before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole.”
-Bernard Montgomery
People on the team need to know why they’re fighting.
It is not enough to designate players to roles on your team. They must know what that role needs to accomplish to be successful and how they go about executing that role.
But even more important is how that role leads to a successful team. It is also paramount that a coach takes the time to praise those in their roles when they do execute.
A prime example for our team is our motion offense. Certainly as the end of a successful possession is a player that gets (and hopefully makes) a great shot. But in our motion offense, we refer to those as "team shots." There was more than likely a good screen set to free the shooter. The feeder had to deliver the pass at the right time for the shooter to be effective. Often, we have to other players involved away from the action cutting and screen and this is critical to occupy the help defense.
All five players were involved in us getting the shot.
We make sure we diligently go over this at practice and especially in video sessions. We want a player to know that even though she didn't tough the ball, her ability to cut or screen or maintain good spacing was critically important.
As Maxwell stated above, "People on the team need to know why (and how) they are fighting."
