All week I have been reflecting on an experience I had last Saturday that reminded me of the power of a team.  My daughter and 7 of her lower school schoolmates decided, after several months of playing chess at lunch on Wednesdays, that they would enter an all-girls chess tournament.  They formed a last minute team to represent their school in the beginner's category.  There were 10 other teams from around the city and state, most of whom had coaches, more experience and official team attire.  Through five rounds of games, we watched the scores come in, both individually and overall team rankings.  By the end of the 3rd round, we were in 2nd place.  By the end of the 4th round, we'd dropped to 4th.  Between games, the girls got together and shared their game experiences, asked questions of teammates and practiced game strategies with each other.  The encouragement these girls were giving each other was fun to watch. 

After the 5th and final round, awards were given.  Individual awards were handed out first.  All of our girls received a medal for participants who earned at least 1 point.  Many other girls got trophies for their higher individual scores (4 or 5).  Our chance at ranking in the top 4 teams seems a distance dream since none of our girls received a trophy.  As the team awards were announced, our girls began to feel discouraged.  They had not won 4th place and were surely out of the game.  As the next awards were announced, their lower school head kneeled down to give them words of praise for their willingness to jump in and give this tournament a try, never having done anything like this before.  Suddenly, we listened to the 1st place announcement.  We could hardly believe our ears when they named our team as the winning team!  We all almost fell off our chairs, stunned and thrilled with the news!  Who knew a chess tournament could be so exciting?

So how could this be, they asked?  We had no "star" players, no individuals with perfect 5 scores or even 4 scores.  It was not only exciting but a wonderful lesson on the power of team. Star players can't carry a weak team.  Solid teamwork can win the game!