Team Spirit

Team spirit encompasses the very being and working together of the participants in the Olympics, or any sport made up of teams for that matter.  And without it teams aren’t very effective.  Sprit is the vital principle or animating force within all living things, the immaterial part of a person, often called the soul.  We hear the phrase, “he played with all his heart and soul.”  It is also the overall disposition or mood of a person, his temperament, and energy which enlivens him.  This spiritedness, or the quality of being active, alive, and vigorous, is what helps contestants perform the activities of their sport.   But more than this, it is the state of a person’s emotions, a fundamental or activating principle determining one’s character or the inherent complex of attributes that determines a person’s moral and ethical actions and reactions that happen when people work together toward an end goal.  These actions account for the ability to work together, cheer each other on, and be good sports.  Shawn Johnson, a four time Olympic gymnast winner, is an example of someone who showed spirit at the 2012 Olympic Games.  Earlier this year she had this to say, “In 2008 I didn’t take it all in enough.  I was so wrapped up in the competition that I missed what was going on around me.  If I am give that opportunity again to go to the Olympics and be an athlete I want to take it all in because I feel this is my last shot at it I want to feel the team spirit.  I want to really live and breathe the USA.”  Shawn Johnson did not have that last shot in the way she envisioned.  She was forced to retire in June before the Olympics because of knee surgery due to a skiing accident.  Her knee couldn’t take the rigorous training.  However, Shawn showed team spirit during the practicing, and when she retired, she was determined to support the others and help them make the team.  She was determined to support them.  About the 2012 Olympic team Shawn said, “I have had the honor to train and compete with them, and am excited to join the gymnastics family and fans in cheering them on to victory.”   I will be there with every ounce of pride and energy to cheer on my girls and the USA.  So in a way she had her last shot at the Olympics, however, as a spectator and fan rather than a contestant.