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Assignment Q 3 There are hardly any other types of people's activity, where the importance of an effective teamwork could be more crucial than it is in the field of professional sports, namely hockey. Jack Todd's article Winning Finns Turning Hockey World on its Ear can serve as a very good illustration to this fact. In it, he tells the readers of National Post about an unexpended win by the Finnish hockey team over Russians with the score 4 - 0, during the Olympic games in Torino. It was clear to everyone that the young Finnish hockey players were less experienced and some observers also used to say that they the lacked aggressiveness. Nevertheless, it is the fact that Finland's team played as one single organism that allowed it to beat the Russians. Show the way the Finns played team defence in a five-man unit seemingly connected with invisible bonds that moved as one up and down the ice says author.
It has to be remembered that a few days, prior to this game, Russians left no hope to the Americans, beating them with the same result 4 - 0. This, of course, made Finns' task even harder to accomplish, as they were being put into position of psychological disadvantage. Todd qoutes the forward of Finland's team Said Koivu, who admitted that most of the players had their doubts whether they had any chances at all, while facing the teams, consisting of professional NHL players: We knew we could not go head-to-head against the Russians or the Canadians. The way this team is working, giving help to our teammates, it's probably the best I've ever seen. Step by step we " re getting confidence, and now the puck is going in for us. But the reality proved to be more favorable to Finns, due to the fact that during their game with Russia, they cared more about their team, as a whole, rather than about their personal success score.
There were also a few episodes, in the game, when the fight was about to break out between Russians and Finns, but Russians never risked an open confrontation, because they felt that Finland's team acted according to the principle all for one, one for all, therefore, messing with such team would not be very wise. The victory over Russians allowed Finland to be able to compete for the Olympic medals. But, in my opinion, the biggest accomplishment of the Finnish team is the fact it was able to substantially raise the ranking of Finnish hockey in the world, with its sensational victory. There are all of the classical elements of succesful teamwork can be found in Todd's article. The most important of them is mutual support, practiced by the teammates. It can only be accomplished if all members of the team think of some common good as the priority.
The victory of Finland's hokey team over Russians effectively proves this statement. Also, we can point out to the eagerness to win, displayed by Finns. If applied to the different types of teamwork, it will stand for the genuine interest in attaining the positive result, felt by the teammates. Although, it needs to be said that this can only increase the effectiveness of the teamwork, if it is shared by everybody that are involved in the project. Our description of the important elements of effective teamwork, found in the article, will not be complete without mentioning the role of team's coach. Todd is absolutely right when he says: Finnish coach Era Westerlund has to get some credit here: He clearly achieved what Pat Quinn conspicuously failed to do with Team Canada, which was to convince a bunch of individual stars that you have to play as a unit to win at this level.
It is important to understand that the team can never become truly effective is it not built on the principle of strict hierarchy, where the word of the team's leader is the law for the teammates. The practice shows that the team can rarely archive any success, if it practices too much democracy, within its ranks. The Finland's hockey players were able to win the game, because they have a really good understanding of the notion of discipline. There was no a single time when player would be noticed arguing with the coach, while it is a common practice in Russian team. Bibliography: Todd, Jack Winning Finns Turning Hockey World on its Ear. 25 Feb. 2006. National Post. 19 Mar. 2006.
web Was, David Finland Blanks Russia, Faces Sweden for Gold. 24 Feb. 2006. Washington Post. com 19 Mar. 2006. http: // web content / article / 2006 / 02 / 24 /Ahtml
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