Anybody can cheer the goal. Leaders are the ones who shout about the pass that set it up.

Attention naturally lands on the final visible act, which means most of the work that produced it goes unremarked. People who do the setup learn quickly that their contribution is invisible, and they either stop caring or start angling for the finishing role. Naming the assist corrects an accounting error that would otherwise reshape how everyone plays.

Pick out the contribution nobody else mentioned and say it out loud, specifically, soon after it happens. Do it for the quiet person rather than the obvious one. Over a season this changes what the group thinks is worth doing.