Team cohesion: a conceptual study on elite women's sports teams in New Zealand

Abstract

In elite competition, the skills, fitness, tactical sophistication and game awareness of opposing teams are often closely matched. In tough, high-pressure, must-win games, team spirit and team cohesion can be the difference between winning and losing. Cohesion, however, is a phenomenon that researchers have struggled to define, conceptualise and measure. For this reason, results of quantitative studies have proved inconclusive. In order to achieve an in-depth view of cohesion, coaches, captains and athletes were asked to share their experiences of, and ideas about, cohesion in New Zealand's elite women's interactive teams. This investigation offered a broad conceptual understanding of the process by which cohesion is built up and broken down, prompting a revision of existing cohesion theory. As a result, a new model of cohesion has been developed which extends Carron's model developed in 1982 (see literature review, p. 16). The revised model is dynamic, multi-dimensional and cyclical. In addition, this thesis offers some insights and practical recommendations for athletes, captains, coaches, managers, administrators, sport psychologists and other support staff who are concerned with building cohesion in elite women's teams.