Astute, successful coaches intuitively recognize the importance of team dynamics in motivating and supporting their athletes to excel beyond the contributions of individual efforts. Descriptive terms such as “team spirit,” “momentum,” “winning attitude,” and “team chemistry” are frequently used but not well understood.
Webster’s defines teams and qualities of teams in a variety of ways. Interestingly, in the Collegiate edition, the first three definitions are about teams of animals! Only in the Universal Unabridged version do people take the forefront as a team: “a number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest.” Perhaps a bit more useful is “team” as an adjective: “to put together in a coordinated ensemble . . . marked by devotion to teamwork rather than individual achievement.” Teamwork is defined as “cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.” The Collegiate edition provides a more explicit definition of teamwork: “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.”
A team is far more than merely a group; it’s a coordinated ensemble that cooperates to achieve a common goal that overrides individual achievement. Also, a dedication to teamwork does not necessarily diminish individual effort. Individual efforts are seen as necessary to teamwork, but they are not enough. Team members (as opposed to teammates) include not only the performing athletes but also coaches and other professionals who contribute to team development and performance. Even parents, although there are critical boundary issues to consider, can be considered an important part of the team.
Another concept to clarify is that of the team itself. Not all teams have the same quality of unity or “teamness.” On a basketball team, a true team in the fullest sense of the word, all teammates are dependent on each other for the success of the team. No matter how many points an individual player scores, if his team scores fewer points than the other team, his performance, while perhaps outstanding as an individual, will not carry the day. Other sports, such as football, soccer, and volleyball, carry a similar degree of interdependence.
Ralph Vernacchia, a sport psychologist and professor at Western Washington State University, uses the term “individual team sports” to refer to teams for whom the cumulative performances of individual athletes determine team success, such as swimming, track and field, gymnastics, golf, skiing, and equestrian sports. For most of these types of teams, for which we use the shorter term “coacting teams,” individual performance is a primary focus, and depending on the team and coach, team performance is an equal or sometimes secondary focus. At times, these coacting team players become true teams, for example, when sprinters or swimmers form a relay team. In this case, they are no longer individual performers who contribute to an abstract cumulative point total; they win or lose as a team.
We first observed the importance of building team support for individual athletes in what can now be called a coacting team, the U.S. ski team. Building team cohesion can have a strong effect on individual performance and may be an even more important factor for coacting teams than might appear at first glance. In this experience, team-building workshops were aimed at developing a high level of cohesiveness and support in response to concerns about teammate conflicts and interpersonal tensions. Group sessions were scheduled to identify the sources of these tensions, examine how they affected individual performance and team morale, and develop a consensus on conflict resolution or contain the tensions when resolution could not be achieved immediately. Athletic performance success is a complex result of many factors, often the least of which is the intervention of the sport consultant. In this case, however, the fact that most of the key members of the ski team agreed to support each other despite significant teammate issues through the Olympic Games was an important factor, one that contributed to the team achieving the best level of performance to that time.
In working with a West Coast equestrian team, we placed a strong emphasis on riders watching and providing positive feedback for each other in competitions. In subsequent group discussions, the riders commented that they felt a boost to their self-esteem and confidence because of this supportive behavior, since there was no benefit to the other riders for taking the time and effort to help them.
The characteristics of various types of teams have different implications for the athlete and coach. The individual athletes have varying views about their roles and responsibilities to the team and coach. The coach needs to tailor his or her approach to each athlete since the perception of success varies from individual to individual. Naturally, the individual and group coaching process will necessarily depend on the overall team goals. The complexity and richness of team sports challenge our understanding of the multiple, interdependent influences on team development and performance. The internal dynamics of the team itself add even greater complexity to the situation. In turn, individual athlete behaviors, in terms of leadership, attitudes, and performance, shape the dynamics of the team.
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