Sports have been an important part of my life. I have always played a sport and watched many sporting events with my family/friends. I play in golf tournaments for “fun” during the summer months. Golf often is an individual sport but during some tournaments I play in, they are partner tournaments. This means that it is yourself and another golfer playing together against other pairs. I am also a runner that participates in marathons and I am part of the club cross country team at Penn State. Having experience with playing team sports, I know how important team cohesion is for a team to function effectively.
As described in the textbook, team cohesion is defined as a dynamic process that is reflected in the tendency for a group to stick together and remain united in the pursuit of its instrumental objectives and/or for the satisfaction of member affective needs (Gruman, 2016). It occurs as a team is working towards a common goal and they remain united. Consequences can occur due to team cohesion that can be negative or positive. The importance of team cohesion is that if team cohesion is occurring, the team is working well together which leads to improved performance. Team cohesion can improve the performance and motivation of a team (Gruman, 2016).
Team cohesion is very important on sports teams. As the Winter Olympics have just ended, the aspect of team cohesion on Olympic teams is an interesting topic to evaluate. As stated before, the unity of a team can have either negative or positive consequences. Thinking about Olympic sports, one sport I recall that lacked team cohesion was the United States men’s basketball team during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio (Waggl, 2016). The team consisted of many talented players but they did not appear as a united team. Although the players possessed many skills individually, they failed to be able to work together. The team members lacked communication with one another (Waggl, 2016). Rather than cooperating, they played as if each game was a competition between the other team and their teammates as well. Thankfully, the team did unite together to win the gold medal. The US men’s basketball 2016 Olympic team is an example of how a lack of team cohesion can have negative consequences as the team was not united which caused them to struggle (Waggl, 2016).
An example of the unity of a team having positive consequences was for the United States women’s gymnastic team during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio (Waggl, 2016). The gymnasts on the team are not only competing against other countries but they are also competing against each other since gymnastic events are individual events. Although the sport is individual events, the team still demonstrated team cohesion. The team remained united as a team as they expressed happiness and enthusiasm as one of their teammates performed well. Rather than becoming jealous of each other’s achievements, they remained supportive. Even though they were competing against each other, they remained supportive of each other and were happy for each other’s achievements even though one teammate may have beat the other (Waggl, 2016).
Team cohesion is an important aspect for team sports to be able to function effectively and be able to play to the best of their ability. Team cohesion can improve the performance of the team and also the motivation of the players. The motivation of the players can influence the team’s ability to win a game or not which is why team cohesion is important. Consequences can occur due to team cohesion that can be negative or positive (Gruman, 2016). As stated before, an example of lack of team cohesion having negative consequences was for the United States men’s basketball team during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and an example of a positive team cohesion environment was the United States women’s gymnastic team during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio (Waggl, 2016).
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9781506353951
Waggl. “Team Cohesion: The Real Star of the 2016 Summer Olympics Game in Rio.” Waggl, 21 Aug. 2016, www.waggl.com/blog/2016/08/21/team-cohesion-the-real-star-of-the-2016-summer-olympics-game-in-rio.