I had the pleasure of coaching soccer with my two sons growing up. It provided opportunities for quality father/son activities in an environment that focused on teamwork and common goals. Although winning was always one of the goals, the main reason for volunteering to coach was to teach my sons the importance of working with others to achieve success that was greater than individual efforts.

There was one team back in those days that was difficult to beat. It seemed that all the superstars were on that team. Every contest took the utmost concentration and maximum effort just to be competitive. We often came close to winning but typically fell short. Even though, year end and year out, the team did not give up.

What was extraordinary was that the kids on our team were not superstars. They were ordinary kids from ordinary families, picked to join the team because of the friendships that existed between them and their families. They were an extraordinary team because of their commitment to each other, their hard work and dedication to improvement, and their love of soccer. It was a recipe for success.

As you can imagine this has a story book ending. During the last game, the last tournament and the last time this team would ever be together, we were matched up with the very team that had given us so much trouble all those years. And yes, the winner of the game would be the champions of the tournament.

After all those years of being ordinary, but doing it day in and day out with commitment and dedication, they became extraordinary that day. On that day they became great.

I use this story to remind me that building effective teams is not about bringing in superstars. It’s about ordinary people doing great things together.