Determinants Of Social Cohesion At “Alpha Sport Team” Basketball Club

Abstract

Basketball is characterised by dynamism and complexity, relying on the strong interaction between the team members. Thus, achievement is closely linked to social cohesion, to the so-called “team spirit” in the absence of which individual performances cannot be valued. For these reasons, training must go beyond the physical and technical-tactical aspects and focus from early ages on developing the relationship between the team members, their orientation towards a common goal, understanding of each other, common knowledge and acceptance. At the same time, the specificity of the game relies on mutual trust in key moments, speed up reaction and good verbal and nonverbal communication between the team members. Encouraging leadership contributes to good communication and, implicitly, social cohesion within the team. Based on these considerations, the research aimed to identify determinants of the “team spirit” within the “Alpha Sport Team” Basketball Club Sibiu, in particular, and study the link between nonverbal communication, leadership and social cohesion. The results confirmed the hypotheses, demonstrating a very strong connection between these variables meaning that players who assumed leadership roles, thus demonstrating credibility, accountability, communication skills, were the most preferred by the teammates, being responsible for the group cohesion. We strongly believe that a study aimed to diagnose and optimise these variables can be a real support in achieving superior performance.

Keywords: Social cohesionteam spiritleadershipnonverbal communication

Introduction

The objective of this study is to understand the complexity of basketball game that develops, from a very early age, special communication skills, leadership and team spirit. All of these are in interdependence and represent not just a gain for those practicing this sport, but also essential factors of success that are required to be seriously considered by the members of the technical team.

Problem Statement

The starting point in choosing this theme was the belief that, in the professional athletic instructive activity specific to basketball, identifying and improving special skills, like leadership skills or communication skills, has important implications for the improvement of the training process, for increased social cohesion and implicitly high performance.

Under these circumstances, with no claim of having exhausted this vast theme, the research identifies and focuses on certain determinants of social cohesion in interdependence from our point of view, namely leadership and non-verbal communication. The study also aims at shaping a profile of the basketball leader, identifying specific attributes of leadership on the field, in order to provide solutions on how leaders can develop themselves to create an organizational climate appropriate to performance enhancement.

From birth, the human being is able to learn. As a cybernetic energy-informational system, the individual is “programmed” from the moment of birth for such information processing. Thus, learning and adaptive learning mechanisms are based on the acquisition of information and energy, on negative, positive, corrective and prospective feedback settings, being the basis of psychic structures. (Stoian, 2016)

As many authors claim, children can learn and develop many social skills generally by attending team sports and especially basketball, skills such as leadership, communication and socialisation skills, team-building skills that will be very helpful throughout their entire lives, in school, in their future jobs or in personal relationships (Sopa & Pomohaci, 2015).

Research Questions

From our point of view, basketball players need all of the qualities mentioned above at increased dimensions. In this context, we asked ourselves to what extent the coach and the entire technical team could contribute to the development of leadership skills and nonverbal communication abilities and, in the end, to increased social cohesion.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of the research is to improve and increase knowledge in the fields studied by applying the management and management psychology to the specifics of the basketball game, and, on the other hand, to find solutions to concrete problems.

Research Methods

The complexity of the issues studied determines the need to use a research methodology which incorporates a wide range of methods, techniques, tools and procedures such as: the study of the professional literature, observation, inquiry, the statistical-mathematical method and the graphical representation method, interdisciplinary methods linking sports, managerial, psychological and social concepts. The study combines quantitative methods with the use of qualitative methods, the semi-structured interview for in-depth analysis of leadership in the studied field, respectively in the studied age sector. Qualitative research methods are used to understand a phenomenon, analyse it in depth to capture all its subtleties. (Roux, Pras, & Evrard, 1993; Cătoiu, 2009)

This scientific and pedagogical experiment was addressed to the members of the Alpha Basketball Team U12, specifically 16 players aged 11 years. Tests and interviews were conducted between January and March 2018, during the training sessions.

Findings

The sociogram

In the group assessed by us, there are several mutual relations, either of attraction or rejection, which shows that the group dynamics is very strong and the power of influence and interaction is high.

The results of the sociogram can base the coaches’ decisions in building up reliable relationships during the game. In addition, the experiment has revealed that newcomers are not fully integrated, even if the training is carried out in good conditions and there are no significant differences between the children. Socialisation in club activities is also considered satisfying, so the main problem, in our opinion, is the credibility and reliability during competitions. Our conclusions were confirmed by the coaches, who considered that some of the players counting many rejections did not have the ability to control their emotions during official games and be trustful. On the other hand, within the experienced group, very low scores had sanctioned individualistic or too critical behaviour. As shown by the sociogram correlated with the analyses below, high scores were definitely relied to leadership abilities, credibility and good nonverbal communication within the field expressing encouragements.

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Results and interpretation of the leadership analyses

Being asked about who the coach might choose as team captain, 12 of the 16 players, representing a percentage of 82, 75% responded that player A, while 6.25% considered the formal leader to be the player C, respectively D or E (Figure 02 ). We should notice that, from the three different responses, 2 were self-proposed. The coach has confirmed that player A is likely to lead the team, although the notion of captain has not been mentioned before. The coach’s choice is motivated by obvious leadership qualities, dominance, sociability, emotional stability.

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The second question, namely who they would choose as captain, wanted to establish the informal leader/leaders, considering that it is important to identify other players with leadership potential. The results have shown that, for half of the team members, the informal leader coincides with the formal leader, and even though other teammates have been proposed, there was not any other player to be recognized by the majority as an informal leader. So, we face an ideal situation, where the formal leader is, to a great extent, the same with the informal leader. However, it is important for the technical team to take into consideration the nominations of the children. For example, player K should be encouraged, as a potential leader, to assume this role, to inspire and mobilise his supporters.

The open talks with each player revealed their appreciation of the leader’s ability to encourage and unite the team, to convey confidence and approval both on the ground and from the technical bench.

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To analyse the relation between the scores obtained, namely leadership and preferential status index, we have constructed Figure 03 , which shows the common tendency of the lines to change directions, emphasising a strong connection. As we have presumed and demonstrated, there is a very strong connection between these variables, meaning that players who assumed leadership roles, thus demonstrating credibility, accountability, communication skills, were the most preferred by their teammates.

Conclusion

The research validates our assumptions and proves to be an important tool for coaches, a starting point for measures aimed to improve individual and team levels, as well as social cohesion. The sociometric studies enable us to measure, map and build relationships so that the invisible forces within the group are made visible and can be amplified. The sociometric status of players is another important instrument that can provide important information regarding the individual development process, as well as in that of integration into the team. The sociogram, highlighting mutual relations, either of attraction or rejection, is very relevant for the group dynamics and the power of influence and interaction. All these results of the sociometric studies can substantiate the coaches’ decisions in building up reliable relationships during the game.

The sociometric experiment combined with the qualitative analysis on leadership has revealed that the most appreciated players are the ones who show leadership qualities. Taking into account the profile of the leader, based on the teammates’ expectations, the coach can bring both individual and team upgrades through the following measures:

- Set communication goals. Even young players need to start understanding that they are constantly communicating with others, without even opening their mouths. Credibility is very important for teammates, therefore basketball players must be taught to have an awareness of what they communicate, so that they can transmit reliability, trust. The coach must give the players opportunities to demonstrate great body language, communication or enthusiasm, and then praise them for it each time they naturally do it on their own.

- Teach players to be selflessness and supportive. If the coach can train the players to stay focused on what the team needs, the results will be amazing for the group during tough training sessions and games. In order to achieve its goals, the group must be strongly kept together. The leader’s task is to build and maintain the team spirit and morale.

- Create a vision. The leader is the one who inspires teammates, both on the field and outside of it, to a common goal, a good evolution of the team that finally leads, in the best case, to victory. There are situations where the goal and objectives of the team are not very well understood and accepted by all athletes. We are often confronted with situations where the team spirit lacks, even in groups that have been working for many years together. This is due to an accentuated individualism and a different perception of objectives, values and expectations. For some players, a well-played match necessarily means victory, while for some others the same aspect is related to the number of minutes played or the number of points scored. If a player admits that the team has been defeated, but is satisfied with his/her good evolution, this demonstrates a lack of vision and common goals. Without a common vision, the team cannot evolve, and we cannot speak about real group cohesion. The coach must formulate and clearly communicate the vision and objectives with the help of formal and informal leaders. We cannot speak of team spirit without a vision and common goals.

- Teach players to be self-disciplined, hard-working and pay attention to details, being a model for others. Great leaders must know that, in order to have an impact on others, they first need to lead themselves, to become an example, to practice what is preached. Great leaders ask their teams to bring more energy, to communicate more and give up selfishness.

- Act with credibility. Be accountable. Leaders must be action- and result-oriented, transparent, so that all their actions are predictable and credible. They must behave in a reliable manner, demonstrate ethical principles, determination and put their values into action.

To conclude, we must not forget that trying to get an athlete to assume a leadership role, to lead his/her team on the court and assess high group cohesion is not about dribbles and slam dunks. As the famous Dick DeVenzio (2006) claimed, leadership in basketball is about how to get the talented players fully use their talent, how to get big egos to tone down, how to get lazy players hustle, how to make selfish people to sacrifice for the good of the group, how to get careless players pay attention to detail, how to get angry people to calm down, distracted players to stay focused, how to turn disappointments into motivation, how to learn from mistakes, capitalise on weaknesses and maximise strengths.

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