Team player or member of team

I have never been a big sports fan. I was for my children and am now for my grandchildren, very supportive of their participation in any sport they choose. I can see many sports-derived benefits from physical strength and coordination to mental tenacity and awareness. I think it's also important for children to learn good sportsmanship- not that the lesson always sticks! It's sad how many adults get over-reactive to results of GAMES! Another life skill developed in playing games is learning how to work together with others, how to work as a team. Unfortunately, this ability has been twisted in some areas by some people to being a "team player" rather than being a supportive member of a team. A "team player" implies that you are willing to give up everything, including your moral standards if necessary, for the "good" of the team to win or succeed. "Team players" do not criticize or expect better things from teammates. Their main focus is to do whatever the boss of the team wants them to do.
On the other hand, if you are a valuable member of a team, you not only do your very best in whatever your part is, you also cheer on your team members to succeed and improve, too. I have been thinking recently about the attitude some people have about having expectations placed on them. I have had several people close to me express the opinion that it's wrong to expect people to change, even if it means progressing or improving. The saying is something along the line of, "I wish everyone would just accept me the way I am". Personally, I don't think it's at all helpful and supportive to simply accept people for the way they are. We all have lots of room for improvement. I prefer the attitude that goes more like, "Because I love you and can see incredible potential in you, I will cheer you on to run a better race". A good team succeeds because they all expect good things from each other, not just accepting whatever happens. When things don't go well, there is an friendly but honest analysis of what went wrong with the understanding that, if certain changes are made, it could go better in the future. I think that works for any team, family, or community. You can say, "It's okay. I know you did the best you could." But if you don't have a basic belief in yourself and others to improve, that's the level you will get stuck on. We all have bad days and good days; times when we are better at things than others; days when we are better people than at other times. I sincerely believe that we are capable of improving and I sincerely believe that we are more able to do that when we have the support and encouragement of people who care about us. We don't ever have to settle for "the way we are" unless we choose to. But when we really love ourselves and others, we hope to improve and believe that we can. Just as in a sport, when a teammate, or coach, points out a fault or offers a suggestion for improvement, the whole team benefits if that team member accepts the advice and makes a diligent effort to improve, recognizing that the advice is for their personal benefit as well as for the betterment of the interaction of the whole team. Taking offense just causes bad feelings and deterioration of the value of the team. My son used to use a team analogy to encourage his kids to cooperate in the family. He taught them that the family (team) all benefits when each member does their best. He was right.