Team Resilience in Competitive Sport
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Team Resilience in Competitive Sport by Paul Morgan A Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University July 2016 © Paul Morgan 2016 ii Abstract Competitive sport teams are required to perform in highly pressurised situations and although some teams are able to withstand challenging conditions, many experience damaging effects during setbacks and adversity. Developing an understanding of how athletes withstand the pressures of competitive sport and sustain excellence has recently been addressed in sport psychology through the study of psychological resilience (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2012; Galli & Vealey, 2008; Gucciardi, Jackson, Coulter, & Mallett, 2011). However, understanding how teams positively adapt despite encountering the demands of competitive sport has been largely overlooked. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to investigate the construct of team resilience in elite and competitive sport. The thesis is organised into seven chapters. Chapter one explores the challenges and pressures that competitive sports teams encounter and provides a brief overview of group dynamics in sport psychology research. Chapter two reviews the construct of psychological resilience, recent developments in sport psychology research, how resilience at the team level has been defined and conceptualised in general psychology and why it is important to extend team resilience research to the sport context. Chapter three provides the results of the first study of team resilience in elite sport. Specifically, the construct of team resilience is defined in the context of sport and the resilient characteristics of elite sport teams are investigated. Chapter four explores team resilience in the world’s best athletes using a case study of a rugby union World Cup winning team and a number of psychosocial processes underpinning team resilience are discussed. Chapter five presents the findings of a season-long investigation using ethnography to identify team resilience development strategies and techniques in competitive sport. Drawing on the findings of the aforementioned three studies, Chapter six describes the results of the first team resilience intervention in sport psychology. Specifically, a quasi-experimental design was employed to quantitatively assess between-group differences in a season-long team resilience intervention. Finally, Chapter seven presents a summary, discussion, and conclusion of the thesis. Overall, the research reported in this thesis has presented the first systematic set of studies of team resilience in sport psychology and has provided a framework to better understand how to mobilise the psychosocial resources that exist in teams to withstand the stressors they collectively encounter. iii Publications Arising from this Thesis Morgan, P. B. C., Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2013). Defining and characterizing team resilience in elite sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14, 549-559. Morgan, P. B. C., Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2015). Understanding team resilience in the world’s best athletes: A case study of a rugby union world-cup winning team. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 16, 91-100. Conference Presentations Arising from this Thesis Morgan, P. B. C., Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2012, July). A qualitative exploration of team resilience in elite sport. International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport, Glasgow, UK. Morgan, P. B. C., Fletcher, D., & Sarkar, M. (2015, July). Understanding team resilience in the world’s best athletes: A case study of a rugby union world-cup winning team. Symposium presentation at the 14th FEPSAC Congress, Bern, Switzerland. Workshops Arising from this Thesis Morgan, P. B. C., Sarkar, M., & Fletcher, D. (2015, July). Developing psychological and team resilience in sport: From theory to practice. European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC) workshop for European Network of Young Specialists in Sport Psychology (ENYSSP), Bern, Switzerland. iv Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. David Fletcher for his supervision and support during my PhD. I am particularly grateful for his commitment to part-time PhD students and for encouraging a wide range of opportunities within the wonderful sport psychology research community at Loughborough University. I have enjoyed being part of his team and I am grateful for such thorough training. I would also like to thank a number of other individuals who have supported me throughout the last six years: To Dr. Mustafa Sarkar for his friendship, advice and scholarly guidance during my PhD. To Dr. Sophia Jowett for her informative feedback as an internal reviewer during my PhD. To the research participants who gave up large amounts of their time and welcomed me during the research programme. Particular thanks to the coaches, managers, and team members who provided such extensive access to their team environments and allowed me to explore, investigate, and help contribute to their development. To my employer, Buckinghamshire New University for allowing me flexibility in my role to maintain progress in pursuit of my ambition to achieve a PhD. To my parents for supporting me and introducing me to the world of team sport and for their constant encouragement. And finally, I thank my family, Louise, Ethan and Thea. Thank you for the constant level of positive support, understanding, and sacrifices made to allow me to spend weekends, evenings, and vacations to work with the teams involved in the PhD. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page ............................................................................................................................ i Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Publications Arising from this Thesis ............................................................................ iii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. v List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... x Table of Figures ................................................................................................................. x List of Appendices ............................................................................................................. x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 1.1 Why Study how Groups Function During Pressurised Situations and Adversity in Sport? ................................................................................... 3 1.2 Understanding Demands and Stressors in Sport from a Team Perspective ..... 4 1.3 Psychological Concepts Relevant to Sport Performance in the Context of Stressors ....................................................................................................... 4 1.31 Mental Toughness and Competitive Sport .............................................. 5 1.32 Hardiness ................................................................................................. 6 1.33 Grit .......................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Psychological Resilience Research in Sport .................................................... 7 1.5 General Aims and Key Research Questions for the Thesis ............................. 8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................. 10 Part One: Team Concepts and Processes in Sport Psychology 2.1 Group Dynamics Research in Team Sport ..................................................... 10 2.11 Group Cohesion .................................................................................... 11 2.12 Collective Efficacy ................................................................................ 12 2.13 Coordination and Communication ........................................................ 13 2.14 Leadership ............................................................................................. 14 2.15 Structures in Teams ............................................................................... 15 2.16 Collective Collapse ............................................................................... 16 2.17 Social Identity ....................................................................................... 16 2.18 Group-Based and Collective Emotions ................................................. 17 2.19 Summary ............................................................................................... 18 Part Two: Defining and Conceptualising Psychological Resilience 2.2 Introduction .................................................................................................... 18 2.21 Adversity and Risk ................................................................................ 19 2.22 Positive Adaptation ............................................................................... 20 2.23 Conceptualisation of Resilience as Trait or Process ............................. 20 Part Three: Psychological Resilience Research in Sport vi 2.3 Introduction ...................................................................................................