A common question asked in job interviews these days is, “Do you work well in a group?” Employers are looking for potential employees who are able to work well with others in a team setting. In the workplace, it's very rare that you’ll be able to work alone on all of your projects and assignments; especially if you work for an engineering industry or for a business firm, where virtually all of your large scale projects will require a team of many working together for weeks at a time. I participated in two team sports in high school, and doing so has provided me with experience in working with a team to reach a common goal. Many people take for granted the challenges associated  with team work, but it truly takes a lot of work and focus to bring together a group of separate individuals and work like a well-oiled machine. For example, my first few years on the basketball team, the upper classmen had a problem with egos and self-interest. Almost every player who received significant playing time on varsity on my freshman year was incredibly talented, and we were ranked 10^th in the state preseason. Any outsider looking at the pure talent and skill level we were able to put on the court that year would have said we had a chance to go deep into the state playoffs. However, they had no idea the level of disharmony and disconnectedness we had as a team. Sure, we were incredibly talented as a bunch of individuals, but our team dynamic was severely lacking. All 5 individuals on the court at one time put their individual stat line and success over what may have been best for the team as a whole, and our performance suffered. We were still the top team in our region, but we were losing some games we had no business losing. When playoffs rolled around, our team was as divided as ever. We coasted through our first two games (since we were a very high seed, we played two of the poorer teams from our district). When the semi-finals in the District playoffs came, we were facing a team we had beaten by 35 points just a few weeks earlier. We came out as we usually do, but our opponents had a new approach. The played an essential zone defense, and took away all of our individual one-on-one options. Any basketball player knows that an effective way to beat a zone defense is good ball movement, which equates to unselfishness and good team work. Our players became frustrated, for they were unable to score and beat the defense as an individual. We lost the game by 10 points, and I attribute this loss to a poor team dynamic. In life, working as a team is inevitable. Being able to work in that setting and promote the best from others in that situation is a crucial skill that employers value very highly. I watched a lack of team work ruin a team, and from that year on the players and I made sure to foster a close relationship with our team mates. We found success in this, and I feel very prepared for when I’m asked in an interview, “Do you work well in a team setting?”