Many coaches of sports teams often emphasize the importance of team chemistry, but what does it actually mean? We know that to make a great team, you must have individual skills in players. But how does team chemistry play a role in building a better team?

Team chemistry is the ability to trust and believe in one another. It helps teams play seamlessly and more effectively. It allows teams to further enhance their ability to predict movements and ideas. This lets them have a better understanding of one another, which ultimately makes them play better together.   

According to a study from Northwestern University,  “They found marked improvement across each sport when prior shared success was included with the team’s overall skill compared to accounting for team skills alone.” This suggests that teams with shared positive experiences outperform those with greater individual talent.

Soccer is a team sport. It requires teamwork and individual performance. The Wilsonville girls’ soccer team is a good example of a team that has all of these things. So far, the Wilsonville girls’ soccer team has won the state championship four years in a row. 

Tammy Sue Bradley, the building and facilities scheduler at Wilsonville High School and also the girls junior varsity soccer team head coach, explains, “I feel teams with good chemistry overcome more obstacles and have a higher chance of winning success.”

Tammy has coached many teams over the years, and she has worked for Wilsonville High School. This means she has seen a lot of teams with good chemistry and some that fell short of it. 

For example, Tammy said in an interview that she coached a team with incredibly talented players all around. It was clear that the team should find success easily. But with that much talent also came a big ego. This caused an absence of team camaraderie. This ultimately led to their downfall. 

Individual skills only go so far in building a team. A current member of the Wilsonville High School girls soccer team, Bella Moultrie added, “We have to have individual talent, but without team chemistry, we can’t play together and pass the ball to score and win.”

In conclusion team chemistry plays an important role in building a successful team, which sometimes means instead of recruiting one very strong player, National Library of Medicine says “coaches should recruit (or focus on developing) a high-performing network of two or more players.”