Abstract

As a construct, me-in-team is an attempt to capture the experience of “teamness” during which all team members actively co-create a unique entity (team) that is mutually empowering for all members. As proposed in this paper, me-in-team is relevant to sport participation because sports is a particularly important venue for learning through being an active part of the associative life. The perspective of dynamic team engagement is outlined through incorporating the distinct and yet related small group and organizational communication concepts of interdependence, co-orientation, socialization, and individualization. From this approach, what becomes central in the complexity of sport team experience is the duality of formal and informal role performance undertaken by all team members. Drawing from situated learning theory along with phenomenology and existentialist psychology, ideas for embracing the full possibility of self and team development through sport participation are presented in which learning to be a competitor in a sport involves becoming a member of a community of practice and that lasting performance improvement comes through the often anxiety-riddled process of growing in knowledge of the embodied self. This holistic approach to sports seems merited in light of the societal resources allocated to sports in contemporary American society.