What makes TFC/Mainline a formidable team?

From the Observer - by Art Arcilla

The simple answer, "cohesive teamwork."

Consider this for a second, the TFC/Mainline team consists only of nine or ten players. By their individual or collective physique alone, they don't appear intimidating or formidable. Their height appears to be even smaller than the average in the league.

True, they may have won several championships, and probably played longer than any team in the Palaro league. Still, at first glance you can't detect that this team has championship blood in them. Are they poised to do it again, this time at the 2008 Palaro?

Being one of the staff members of the Palaro committee, I don’t have the opportunity to watch them play their game in its entirety. However, for the few moments that I was able to see them play, one thing that I noticed is how they execute their plays like clockwork.

What does this equate to? What does it mean by playing as a team?

I am not a knowledgeable person by far to know the intricacies and the many play strategies of the game of basketball, but one thing I learned from this team is the significant and powerful meaning of teamwork. Many of them are just as good as some in the league, on individual basis. However, their combined performance could be lethal to many.

Their key is teamwork, and not just teamwork...but cohesive teamwork. An easy and simple fundamental attribute, but takes a huge degree of individual discipline and plenty of hardwork to posses and accomplish. One may have a large amount of talent that exudes in every game. But to ably be successful in a particular endeavor that requires more than one individual to accomplish, teamwork is critically a vital ingredient.

Teamwork requires that everybody must play their assigned positions effectively which at times involves some personal sacrifice and humility for the sake of the team. A perfect assist (pass) to an open team member is one of the many examples. A well designed set play is another one, and so on and so forth.

Teamwork requires pre-planning and lots of hours of practice to perfect. Success (a relative word) or failure can be predicted based on how much pre-planning was or were involved. Planning consists of many aspects but not limited to the following:

• identification of objective(s)
• preparation on how to attain it
• development of strategies such as methodologies and contingencies
• and finally, a disciplined execution.
  

Success? Objectives? For this tournament, they go hand in hand. Many may say that the five-hundred dollar worth championship trophy (not kidding) at stake in this tournament is the measure and ultimate performance indicator of success. Others may say that the personal enjoyment they attained is their measure of success. Some may say that the camaraderie and the community atmosphere that they experienced were the goals. In other words, differing objectives vary among many.

However, the common denominator in the achievement of the objective is the orchestration and execution of work through TEAMWORK. Then, you can reflect among yourselves if you were successful or not. Additionaly, you can even ask your team mate or opponent if he was.

Now, is TFC beatable? Absolutely, but you have to overcome their vaunted teamwork.