Process of Illumination

This year, my team had a good season. We battled through some adversity early in the season, overcame a key teammate quitting late in the season without much distraction, and finished better than we have ever done before. We also killed some monkeys that had been hanging on our back for years. As good as all that makes me feel, there is one nagging thing that bothers me about Club season '05: we were eminently forgettable.
Not to say we still didn't hand out some beat-downs. Not to say that our cross-town rival didn't get owned this season with a purpose. Not to say that we as individuals did not improve and work hard for the gains we made this season. We set our goals as high as our individual talents would allow, but faltered when those talents came short of meshing into the team we should have been. Shortly after our elimination at nationals I told a teammate, "We should have changed something sooner in the game and adjusted." His response was quintessential for the person he is. "Yeah, we should have changed something. We should have changed something much earlier, like several months ago."
For all the gains we as players made this year, it's frustrating to have not improved congruently on our skills as teammates. It seems to happen often. There are always stacked teams who threaten here and there and post some great victories, but in the end? Who were they? Did they win the one that really counted?
We sure didn't, we barely showed up. I can tell you about how this was my best season as a player and how we won a sick game against so-and-so at this tough tourney, but so? Whoop-dee fucking do.