Value of Sports

There are a lot of things that we can learn from sports and it is simply one of the greatest things that humans have created. It’s a powerful tool that helps improve mental/physical health and also helps build relationships with other people. In order to have a successful team cohesion is a must. Cohesion has been defined a process which is reflected in the tendency for a group to stick together and remain united in the pursuit of the objective (Gruman, Schneider & Coutts, 2017). The success of the team really does depend on cohesion because even if the talent is there but if there is no chemistry no team will be successful. There are a lot of things to consider when building a great team and this is the job of the coaches and leadership. They need to keep in mind that cohesion is both affective and instrumental in nature and they need to find the right balance in order to build a good team (Gruman et al., 2017).

Looking at the different way that teams develop is very interesting because for the most part they all follow the same path be it in sports or in anything else. Tuckman (1965) found that most groups will go through these same developmental stages which include forming, storming, norming and performing. Looking at different sports this is something that most people can definitely relate with. I feel like these 4 stages are something all teams go through and once everything is established the success depends on team cohesion. Especially when it comes to sports everyone needs to be on the same page and work together towards the final goal. Many teams have talent but if they don’t work together you can definitely see that and they will not be successful.

It is also interesting to see the impact that sports can have on individuals. It can teach us a lot of life lessons and make us better people in general. Someone mentioned the movie Remember the Titans recently and it really brought me back to the value that sports can have. At the beginning of the movie this people hated each other but as they worked together towards one goal they became family. This movie is a great example of Tuckman’s (1965) theory and it shows the impact that sports can actually have on individuals. It is important to get kids involved in sports at an early age and show them the value of leadership, teamwork, winning, losing, friendship and competition. These are life lessons that everyone could benefit from and that is why I believe that sports are more than just a game.

References:

Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. (2017). Applied social psychology: understanding and addressing social and practical problems. Los Angeles ; London ; New Dehli ; Singapore ; Washington DC ; Melbourne: SAGE.

Tuckman, B. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63 (6). 384–399. doi:10.1037/h0022100

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