Opinion: Being On A Team Keeps You Young, Proven By USA Men’s Basketball Team

No matter how old you are, being part of a team keeps you young, it keeps that 15-year-old self alive. Being part of a team means daring each other to eat weird things, like an entire packet of salt, when you’re out for team meals, pranking each other, team dance-offs and singing songs loudly in the car together (or planes if that’s how you roll) on the way to games. These ‘team’ activities transcend any age and this year’s Team USA basketball team is winning games and having fun doing it.

It may seem immature but in the big picture being yourself in front of your teammates makes you vulnerable and more relatable. A lot of the time teammates acting silly to pass the time brings them closer together.

The experience of being part of a team is different than anything you can experience in any office building or at home. Teammates are your peers and your family. Teammates of course don’t always get along. The Kobe, Shaq saga from 1999 – 2004 that saw two of the best basketball players of all-time take their team to four straight NBA finals appearances and three NBA titles, and they fought constantly. It was a team that just wasn’t big enough for both of their egos, and there were fights but at the end of the day the accomplished what they set out to do.

Locker room dance-offs are my favorite, probably because I’m a horrible singer. The YouTube video below was taken by Paul Pierce after a Celtics practice in 2010 and his teammates are all wearing masks and krump-ing. The talent in the video is Nate Robinson, Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, and Glen Davis. In 2010 the oldest player in the video was O’Neal and he was 38, Davis was the youngest at 24 years old. They were goofing off like they were in middle school, and no one questioned it because that’s what teammates do. Being part of a team keep you young at heart.

Sing-alongs for teams tend to span from Tupac to Kenny Chesney to AC/DC and everything in between. The USA men’s basketball team sing-along also included Ruben Studdard’s “Sorry 2004”. There is always the ring leader of the sing-a-longs and for the USA men’s basketball team it appears to be Jimmy Butler. The video that went viral showing Butler and Kyrie Irving are belting out “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton with a few teammates joining in, except Carmelo Anthony, he probably prefers T-Swift.

Player pranks are another thing teammates do that creates camaraderie. “Hey, remember that time when I locked you out of your room in 10-below?” Yeah…good times. Dwight Howard is known for being the team clown as he knocks on rookie’s rooms late at night.

Sometimes it’s just fun to have a laugh at your teammate’s expense, making fun of your teammate for doing something they knew they probably shouldn’t be doing and then get busted. Sorry Draymond Green, but maybe if his teammates bug him enough he won’t do it again. The jesting is all in good fun as his teammates are laughing about it during a Team USA warm-up.