{"id":168403,"date":"2018-08-10T08:12:39","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T08:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=168403"},"modified":"2018-08-10T08:12:39","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T08:12:39","slug":"the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Being a Good Teammate"},"content":{"rendered":"

As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a common passion, you don\u2019t get to pick anything else about these people who make up such a big part of your life. Personalities of all types must exist together through long training sessions, sleepless nights in noisy hotels, endless travel days hampered further by broken air conditioners and traffic jams, and also – some of the most thrilling racing and emotionally intense moments of their lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being a good teammate is about being able to sacrifice for the good of the whole, and that rings especially true for women\u2019s cycling. In addition to less than ideal conditions at many races, lower sponsor support, and a relentless training schedule, these women have to compartmentalize frustrations about inequality within the sport to focus on working together and doing what they love. Especially for young riders, navigating the dynamics of team life can be a big obstacle to overcome. To better understand, we spoke to two riders from Maaslandster International Women’s Cycling Team about what it takes to make a team work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Maaslandster International Women’s Cycling Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It takes humility to succeed<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Amy Hill, who is 23 and has been racing competitively for almost a decade, learned the number one rule at a young age. She told us that \u201cyou have to be willing to do anything for that lead rider, without giving it a second thought.\u201d As most of the tactical decisions in road racing stem from leveraging the effect of wind resistance to increase the overall speed of the group, no one can be in pursuit of personal glory. Communication is also key, and Hill explained that \u201cif you are in the lead, you need to tell your teammates how you\u2019re feeling without shouting when all they are trying to do is help.\u201d And as always, the golden rule applies, \u201cyou realise that how you treat your teammates, is how you will be treated in return,\u201d she readily admits.<\/p>\n

It requires a lot of mental discipline<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to the rigorous physical training, that kind of flawless communication takes serious brain power. One of the most important lessons for Bronwyn MacGregor, who also rides for Maaslandster, was that you \u201cneed to work on your mental ability in order to make sure you are prepared for the various ups and downs that inevitably come with the sport.\u201d You can\u2019t be there for your teammates if you\u2019re letting every upset get under your skin.<\/p>\n

\n
\"womens-cycling-by-the-numbers\"\/<\/a><\/div>
\n Road cycling<\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n \n

Women\u2019s Cycling: By the numbers<\/span><\/h3>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/article>\n<\/div>\n

A teammate doesn\u2019t have to be a friend<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Part of this process is acknowledging that you probably won\u2019t become friends with everyone on your team. Compromise plays a big role and you have to pick your battles, especially when you\u2019re living with teammates you might struggle to get along with. Hill explained that, \u201chaving lived with some difficult teammates in the past, I\u2019ve realized that in some situations – it is best to just bite your tongue. With many riders living away from their family for the first time when joining a team, Hill acknowledges that it\u2019s important to be understanding, \u201ceveryone was brought up differently and doesn\u2019t follow the same rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be comfortable being a teacher and a student<\/strong><\/h2>\n

MacGregor, who describes herself as a \u201cpeacekeeper\u201d among the group, explained that being there for everyone can take a toll. That being said, she believes it is important to do more than just tolerate, because when a team really coalesces – all riders will have the largest learning opportunity. In describing how she helped out a teammate with her climbing in exchange for guidance when it came to sprints, MacGregor explained that being on a team is about helping each other develop not just as riders, but as people.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u00a9 Profimedia, Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the end of the day, it\u2019s worth it<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When asked about whether her teammates have made her a better person, Hill replied with an enthusiastic \u201cyes, even the ones I found very difficult. We help each other, and I\u2019ve learned how to deal with different personalities.\u201d MacGregor agreed, explaining that the best part of being on a team is the ability to share collective accomplishment and meet other incredible women: \u201cThe best is when you achieve something together and you know you have played a part in attaining that goal. I have also made amazing friends and gotten opportunities from girls on the team that I never would have had otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re glad to hear these women are sticking together. As Hill nicely summarized, \u201cthere is a progression in the promotion of women\u2019s cycling and it is becoming more equal. But women need to understand that it won\u2019t change overnight, but we will get there, there are people who want to help and people who want to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":168440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[333,334],"tags":[2182,2183,2181],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-168403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-socialising-and-culture","tag-amy-hill","tag-bronwyn-macgregor","tag-maaslandster-international-womens-cycling-team"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Art of Being a Good Teammate - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a common passion, you don\u2019t get to pick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Art of Being a Good Teammate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a common passion, you don\u2019t get to pick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-10T08:12:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Flottorp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Being a Good Teammate - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-10T08:12:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a common passion, you don\u2019t get to pick\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Art of Being a Good Teammate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Art of Being a Good Teammate - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a common passion, you don\u2019t get to pick","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Art of Being a Good Teammate","og_description":"As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a common passion, you don\u2019t get to pick","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2018-08-10T08:12:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Flottorp","Est. reading time":"9"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/","name":"The Art of Being a Good Teammate - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp","datePublished":"2018-08-10T08:12:39+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"As any athlete in a team sport knows, the relationships between teammates are unlike any other. Aside from sharing a common passion, you don\u2019t get to pick","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/08\/profimedia-0381464027-1.webp","width":900,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/08\/10\/the-art-of-being-a-good-teammate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Art of Being a Good Teammate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168403"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168458,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168403\/revisions\/168458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168403"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=168403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}