As a high school athlete, it is demanded of you each and every day to be the best teammate possible. My most cherished sport throughout the majority of my life was fastpitch softball. Leadership is one of the most driving qualities of this sport because it is not an individual win or lose game, it is a team-win or a team-loss. My senior year of high school, my team made it to the district championship game against a team we had faced once previously in an exhuasting, high intensity game. It was my responsibility, alongside my three other senior teammates, to lead the rest of our team by example. This was not the time to give up, to cave in, to pick on each other’s flaws, but rather put all of our personal struggles aside in order to move forward as a team.
I consider this ability to push our team to their very best a quality of a good leader. I say this because a good leader must be able to not only put aside their own personal struggles or opinions, but also lead by example which was seen in this situatiuon. Leaders who can put aside their own struggles and opinions open their minds to the views and opinions of their peers. To lead by example means that an individual is able to set the path for success in which other can follow in their footsteps to mold their own path of success. Both of these qualities in turn help to build not only people as individuals but provide for the betterment of a group or team.