A Good Teammate is like Redwood

Active Coaches and athletes alike thrive on the thrill of competition. Understood.

But when the career halts, in talking to players and coaches who have moved on from the Game, it’s their teammates, coaches and the atmosphere of Togetherness they miss the most.

They discuss the Walk Off or the last second Touchdown, when asked.

But one of the main highlights of what they miss most, and mention the most is the Locker Room-or the bus ride-or the meetings-the preparation-the celebration-the adversity……..and being surrounded by people who had the same goals and same passion to achieve those goals.

Being a good Teammate is alot like being a Redwood. Let me explain.

Redwood trees are the tallest trees in the world.

By a mile.

Most trees, in fact, nearly all trees have a root structure equally magnificent under the ground to what you see above the ground.

Tall trees must have deep roots.

They need them for balance and to live long enough to build the strength to stand up to the wind and the rain and the storms they must endure to grow all the way up.

Because of this, nearly all trees dig as deep as possible to anchor themselves to the world, but not Redwoods.

Redwoods are different.

Despite being so large, Redwoods have very shallow roots. The Hyperion tree is over 300 feet tall, and its roots are only 6 feet deep.

How has it stood for 2500 years?

Each Redwood tree intertwines its roots with the Redwood next to it, and the one next to that one, and the one next to that one, and the one next to that one......and the one next to that one.

The Redwood Forest, then, holds itself up.

So, you can be a large tree with deep roots and stand alone.

Or, you can be a large tree with roots tethered to the other trees around you, and you can make the whole forest more magnificent for you being there. 

--Jeremy Melton, 2019