Sports Observational Report

Sports Observational Report

Introduction-Aim

Teams and people possess different characteristics, these characteristics reflect the influences that that have had place upon them throughout their foundational years. These characteristics can be understood through a variety of concepts such as social identity theory and Bruce Tuchman's five-stage group development model. This Sport Observational Report will contain a discussion of the observations made at junior sports game that I attended. It will also cover what observations I believed were interesting and an explanation of these through ideas covered throughout the subject to this point.

Method

Data for this report was gathered by going to a junior sports game (under 13's hockey) and observing a game. Whilst observing I made notes of interesting actions/behaviours of individuals and of the players as a whole.

Pre-game

Before the game there was only a short warm-up. In my opinion this was done to conform to the norms associated with the game. This was apparent as there wasn't skill based exercises being conducted, more of a hit-up to familiarise players to the surface they were playing on.

During the Game

All team behavior can be ridiculed via theories and ideas. One of the key ‘players' in any team is the leader and how they manage their team can play a big role in the success or failure of it. Nelson & Quick (2010) discuss an autocratic style of leader. This leadership style is uses strong and directive actions to try and control the group they are in control of (Nelson et al., 2010, p 189). During the game one of the coaches was very quiet and sat in the dugout whilst his team was winning and/or taking control of the game. When his team was not winning or a goal was scored by the opposing team he suddenly became verbally aggressive towards his team. This sudden change can be understood through autocratic leadership as when his team is winning he sees himself effectively leading his team, yet a threat such as a goal scored against his team causes him too automatically engage what he sees as effective leadership.

Throughout the game one player was observed to be involved in most plays conducted. This player was not necessarily the best player on the pitch but was always involved in some manner. This I believe is due to what he thinks of himself. He was always trying to push the rules also, seeing how far he could get without the referee noticing him. This player happened to be on the previously mentioned coach's team and this may have been a contributor to his actions. One explanation for this is the players struggle for power. This need for power can be both a positive and negative character trait of an individual (Nelson et al., 2010, p 77). McClelland differentiates