Team Unity through Matching Gear

             Have you ever walked into a tournament, and seen that one team were everybody is perfectly matching? I’m not just talking about wearing the same uniforms, but they all have the same headbands, every player is wearing the knee pad leggings, and they all are wearing matching socks and shoes. Yes, I am talking about that type of unity. Well when you do spot that team, which I have played against many times, what begins to run through your mind? I know for me it’s something like “Oh my god, we are about to get blown outta the gym!” And, yes even though that could easily be true, as the saying goes, looks aren’t everything.
             Flashback three years ago when my AAU basketball team was invited to play in a premier league outside of Chicago. We knew that every game we would be playing elite competition, but that didn’t stop us from judging how good we thought the other team was before we played. I remember that one of the teams we played, showed up 10 minutes before the game started, with mismatch jerseys, and their shoes untied. Sounds like they are a disaster waiting to happen, and that’s exactly what we thought, but boy were we wrong as we ended up getting beat.


Oregon never fails to have everything matching all the way
down to the same socks.

            Anyways, the idea that if you look professional and have that attitude about you, whether it is sports or the workforce, you will have an edge on your competitors which can have its pros and cons. Some pros I see is that yes you look more professional so you will give off that sense that you are more put together and have everything organized and prepared. But a downside to looking more professional than the rest, is that when your competitor sees you, they will realize that they need to step their game up, so you might end up playing a tougher game than expected. Also another downside I see to having team unity with everybody wearing matching clothes, is the cost. Some AAU clubs may put only the cost of just the jerseys and shorts into the fee that players have to pay to play and once you begin adding more miscellaneous items that are “required” like shoes and knee pads, it can begin to turn prospective players away because the cost gets too high. I think the best way to approach a situation like that is for the players to decide before the season begins to come together and decide as a group if they want to all buy the same shoes. Sometimes it can be hard to get every little detail all the way down to headbands to be all matching on a team, but I will say from personal experience, you look pretty sweet when you walk into the gym together.
           Team unity through clothing can bring the players together as they all feel like one and don’t feel like one player is any better or worse because they don’t have the “right” brand of shoes. But also on the flipside it can be expensive for different families of different backgrounds to pay the cost that is needed for that to happen. In the end having team unity with matching gear does look really nice, but it doesn’t determine how good the team is, they have to go out and prove it on the court.

Images courtesy of http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2014/03/14530246-standard.jpg