Importance Of Teamworking In Sport

Importance of teamworking in sport

Working as a team is an essential and inseparable part of any collective sport. Many times it is said ‘union is strength’ to refer to the importance of working together to achieve a common goal: victory.

Even so, you don’t always work as a team properly. This method requires certain conditions to make it effective and positively influence each of the team members. All coaches, captains and athletes must be aware of the importance of working as a team. In addition, it is necessary to leave individualities and conflicts aside and think about what is best for everyone. That is why the advantages of teamwork will be discussed in this article.

Synergy is the most important quality of teams

To have a first approach to the concept of synergy, it could be said that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’. This means that the final result of the group is greater than the sum of individual contributions of each member. Synergy is like a magical quality that adds value to the set.

In the same way that the person affects the group, the team affects the person. The synergy of the group also causes an increase in athlete’s performance. The physical capabilities of each – reveal, flexibility, resistance, etc.- They are enhanced as a consequence of being part of a team.

The team meets emotional needs

A sports team is not only a group of athletes who come together to train. During training and competitions, very strong affective ties are formed, to the point that the team is often considered as a family.

The group helps the person to meet those needs of relationship and emotional expression. Companions become sources of support and compression in which the athlete can trust. In addition, these emotional ties are usually very strong. This is because the events through which sports teams are very important, such as winning or losing a competition. These situations with such emotional load generate very strong and narrow emotional relationships.

Group cohesion as the main performance indicator

Cohesion within a sports team is like the glue that keeps the group together. Psychologists have studied this concept applied not only to the sports field, but to all the contexts in which they work in a group way.

One of the main psychological indicators to assess equipment performance is the group cohesion index. Cohesion can be calculated in a very simple way by questionnaires and its value is used to know to what extent there is union or sub groups within the equipment. Group cohesion is positively related to performance. In a study published in the International Sports Sciences Magazine conducted with soccer players, it was obtained that group cohesion is positively related to other variables such as cooperation, efficacy and group performance.

The team brings identity to the athlete

Sports teams are more than a set of people. These have unique values, rules and ideas that affect the person and become part of their identity.

The feeling of belonging to a group is a basic need for an individual. Not only because groups allow to meet emotional needs, but also because they provide identity. Apart from the personality features, we can define ourselves based on the groups and teams to which we belong.

Working as a team is of vital importance in sport

Collective sports have a complexity superior to individuals. This is because the team is greater than the sum of the individual parts. In addition, we must also take into account group processes and interaction between people.

The relationship between athlete and team is bi-directional. The athlete, with his actions and his way of being, is able to affect the group. In the same way, the group influences the person, the mold and permeates their values and ideas in it.