samflamont:

As a player you would think the best compliment you can get is you are the best player on your team or you are the best player in the city, state, country, etc.  Well you would be wrong, the best compliment you can get as a player is “you make the players around you better”.  There are a lot of good players out there and there are a lot of players who help their teams win games or make their team better just by being in the line up, but it takes someone special to make the players on the team better.  You do so by playing hard all the time, back plays up, hustle on and off the field, run out ground balls and fly balls, and last but not least you perform on the field.  If you are the type of player who does everything the right way, people will notice, and when they do they will follow along with you.  If you can get people to follow you and you can get them to put extra work in or always hustle and play the game the right way, then you will make that player better.  Also, if you can do it by example and not with words it proves even more you are a player that other players look up to.  There is so much more than simply being a good player to make others around you better.  You have to demand so much from yourself that people take notice and want to give more of themselves to the team.  If you are a guy who takes extra swings, extra ground balls, gets in extra workouts people will notice and if they are true competitors they will begin to gravitate to you and want to put the same amount of work in that you are.  It is at this point you have made another player better, and if you can have that affect on one player you can surely spread it to more.  Remember, always ask more of yourself then you do of others.