I think that from the time you start playing sports as a child you see that your responsibility to your team is to play the best that you can play as an individual... and yet, not take anything away from being part of a team.

Gretzky frames team sport as an early moral education: from childhood onward, athletes learn that individual excellence is not opposed to teamwork but is one of its obligations. The player’s duty is to develop and deploy personal skill at the highest level—because the team benefits from each member’s best performance—while also resisting ego-driven play that undermines collective strategy, trust, or shared credit. The ellipsis in the quotation signals a balancing act: self-assertion (playing “the best…as an individual”) must be tempered by awareness of roles, cohesion, and mutual dependence. In effect, the quote argues that true team play is not self-erasure but disciplined individuality in service of a common goal.