The Hard Hat: 21 Ways to Be a Great Teammate

Chapter 5Well Done Is Better than Well Said

No one, as a freshman, worked harder in the weight room than George. No one ran harder during conditioning drills. Everything he did was to the best of his ability. He was one of the most competitive players we had ever seen, but he wasn't driven by the need to be better than anyone else. He just wanted to be the best he could be and always drove himself to improve. He was one of the best young players we had, but he worked and trained like a walk-on trying to make the team. He set the example and led the way in everything he did—even with our team traditions.

Our team had a tradition that after the first captain's practice of the fall semester (NCAA rules don't allow coaches to be there), the team would take a run around campus. Freshmen love this because it's one of their first times wearing the Cornell practice gear and they have a chance to run through campus and be seen by the student body. The team ran in two lines, seniors in the front, followed by juniors and sophomores, with freshmen at the end of the line. At the end of the run, the players cross over a footbridge off of Forest Home Drive, about 30 or 40 feet above Beebe Lake. As the last sophomore crosses the bridge, the upperclassmen stop and surprise the freshmen, letting them know that it's a tradition for freshmen to jump into the lake.

Some freshmen immediately jump, ...