My favourite anecdote from Todd Spehr’s book about Dražen Petrović and how he established the team culture for the first Croatian Olympic Basketball Team:
Radja admired Petrović most for his work ethic. Invariably, when Radja would show up for national team practice, there would be Petrović, before him, already working out. There were constant reminders to Radja and the others that Petrović’s devotion forced the others to evaluate their own efforts. There was a practice session during the first Coratian team training camp that had ended what Petrović perceived as too early. He promptly went to the team’s physician, Dr. Ivan Fattorini, and asked if indeed [Head Coach Petar] Skansi had ended practice, as if a mere two hours was incomprehensible. Fattorini went to Skansi, who confirmed, yes, practice was over for the day. With that Petrović hurriedly left the gymnasium and made the short walk to the hotel, where he rented a bicycle. Fattorine remembers the sight of the other players lying exhausted in the sun on the grass outside the gymnasium shortly after practice when Petrović furiously pedaled past on the bike. He ended up leaving Slovenske Konjice town center and riding to nearby Konjiska Mountain, before riding back into the town – a sixteen-mile roundtrip. The next day, when practice finished, Petrović once again rented the bicycle, but was joined by two teammates. The day after, Fattorini note, there were five players. On the fourth day of practice, a new team-wide activity was born. They had received Petrović’s message.
Be a leader and push teammates to do more.