By Matt Stratton
Americans love winners – people who find a way to win when it looks like all is lost. And, in spite of our rugged individualism, we really love it when our teams win. We love it when a group of individuals comes together for a common goal and gives all they have for the team.
Perhaps the best example of good old American teamwork happened on Sunday morning at the 1999 Ryder Cup. Don’t tell me golf is boring. The United States trailed Europe 10-6 on that Sunday morning, and there wasn’t a golf analyst anywhere who thought they had a chance of winning the cup.
For those of you who don’t follow golf, being down 10 to 6 on Sunday at the Ryder Cup is like being down by about four touchdowns in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. (For those who don’t follow sports at all, it’s a little like having a D in macro economics going into finals week and needing an A to graduate.
What’s special about the Ryder Cup is that it’s a rare opportunity (every other year) for players who normally compete as individuals against each other to come together as a team. So, when Sunday morning dawned, each member of the U.S. team knew that when he played his match against a member of the European team he was playing not just for himself, but for the entire team, and, in fact, the entire nation.
They also stepped up to the first tee knowing that no team in Ryder Cup history had ever come back on Sunday from more than a two-point deficit, much less four points. To take home the cup, the USA had to win at least eight matches and halve (tie) or win at least one of the other four. The European team didn’t even have to win a single match as long as they halved at least nine of them.
Think about it. Their lead was so big, they could have won the cup with three losses and no wins! In golf, not having to win is a huge advantage. When a tie is enough, you can play a much more conservative game while your opponent is forced to take chances and play aggressively in an attempt to make birdies. If you’re a golfer you know that aggressive play can spell disaster. Just ask Phil Mickelson. It was, to say the least, a challenge for the United States.
On Saturday night, Ben Crenshaw, the captain of the U.S. team, gathered the 12 golfers and calmly told them that he believed in fate and he believed they would win. All he asked of the players was to believe it as well – to believe they would do what no other team in the history of the cup had ever done.
Of course, you know they did it or I wouldn’t be telling this story. At the end of the day, the U.S. team had made Ryder Cup history by winning eight matches, losing only three and halving one to take home the cup with a 14 ½ to 13 ½ victory. “I never stopped believing,” Crenshaw said after the victory.
I like to think this bond we call the credit union movement is a lot like that 1999 Ryder Cup team. Like golfers, credit unions compete day to day as individuals, and the expansion of community charters is creating even more heated competition in many markets.
But, when the bankers of the world come together and challenge the movement, those individual credit unions always pull together for the good of the whole. It’s inspirational, and we must never lose that.
However, if we can draw inspiration from the success of that 1999 U.S. team, we can also learn from the shortcomings of the last two U.S. Ryder Cup teams. In 2002 and 2004 (the 2001 competition was postponed because of 9/11) the United States team entered the matches with what was widely considered to be the best individual players..
Man for man, those two U.S teams clearly outgunned the European teams. But, for some reason the U.S. players struggled to shift gears from their focus of “me against the field”. The European teams did a better job of playing as a team rather than as a group of individuals, and the cup has resided on the other side of the pond for four years.
Bankers are trying to kill the team spirit of the credit union movement – pitting federal charters against state charters, small against large, community against occupational. They want us to focus so much on our individual needs that we neglect our commitment to the team.
In September we’ll find out if Tiger and Phil and the boys can come together again as a team and bring the cup home. I sure hope they can.
Meanwhile, I smile every time I see a story about credit unions pulling together and pushing back another attack by those who think they can divide and conquer. And, like Ben Crenshaw, I never stop believing in our team.
Matt Stratton is SVP/marketing at $1.36 billion Tinker Federal Credit Union, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.
