What makes a team successful?

An email had me thinking about team chemistry. For a team to be successful (where success is defined as the number of wins you have), does a team need team chemistry? What does a team need to be successful?

For a team to win, they need to score more points than the other team.

Offensively, a team must do this by throwing and catching the disc. If you throw a disc to someone, you trust them to catch it. If I don't trust my cutters, I will never throw to them. If I don't throw to them, I get stalled for a turnover. If you are cutting, you trust that the handler will throw it to you(if you are open). If the handler constantly looks you off when you are open, you won't cut as much for handler. If you don't cut as much, the handler won't have someone to throw it to.

Good offenses - The handler can accurately predict which way the handler is going to cut before they make the cut. The cutter knows what the handler is looking for just by looking at the current situation. If there are a lot of people cutting on the open side, they will go break. If there are a lot of cutters cutting for the break cut, you might need to make an open side cut. If there are a lot of people making in cuts, you might need to go deep. You trust that the handler is looking at these situations, and act on them knowing that they are looking for you to make the right decision.

Defensively, a team must stop the other team from throwing and catching as they wish. If I am the mark, I trust that the downfield defenders are taking away the open side by lining up on the open side. If I am a defender, I trust that the mark won't give up a break mark throw. In a zone, you have to trust that the other players are in their positions so that you are making the offense throw over the cup.

Good defenses - They trust that they can poach the lane knowing that their teammates will help you deep. A good defender can trust that his teammates will take care of his man if he goes and crashes a huck or if he helps out someone.

The word trust comes up a lot in both offense and defense. Trust is something that says you have faith in your teammate over the opposing team. You know your teammate is better than the other team's designated match up. Also, the better teams have more trust in their teammates. You can build trust with your teammates in a number of ways, which I'll discuss later. The more you trust your teammates, the more you will act on that trust.