Psychological factors in leading sports activities Level 3 Sport

Why as a sports leader is it important to consider psychological factors? What may you need to consider Why is this important?

Cohesion A group of sports performers affect each other…. As part of teams think of personal examples of how you have been effected by others in a sports team – How and why were you affected? Was this positive or negative? What should the leader have done? Why would this have helped?

A sports leader should: Observe Manage Any situations that arise to make sure the team forms successfully, creating strong bonds between players. How could/should they do this? Shared goals Objectives Know each others strengths and weaknesses Provide roles

Cohesion therefore is how a group stays together and works together to achieve goals and targets There are 2 forms of cohesion: Task cohesion Social cohesion

Group cohesion Task cohesion Related more closely to sports performance The extent of how a group work together to achieve a common goal Group cohesion How much the team enjoy each others company – how well they get on. Enjoyment over winning or losing

What does a sports leader do to support cohesion? Targets and goals Observe and support Prevent isolation Opportunity to form bonds Deal with issues when they arise

Group Formation To form as a group you go through a set of developmental stages according to Tuckman (1965) Forming Storming Norming Performing

Forming? Sports leader? Get to know each other Decide if you belong Assess each others strengths and weaknesses Decide if you can / want to fulfil a role within the team Sports leader? directive role

Storming? Sports leader? Conflict Cliques Question authority Resist control Status Sports leader? Guidance role Make decisions keeping focus on joint goals

Norming? Sports leader Cooperation and solidarity Work towards common goals rather than focus on individual needs / wants Leads to satisfaction and therefor respect for others Sports leader Allow the group to become more involved in decision making Allow them to be more responsible for theor own behaviour

Performing Effective functioning as a team No conflict Achieving shared goals

Research 2 more Social Loafing – The Ringelman effect – accountability https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqJ79kAFVho Motivation – intrinsic and extrinsic