Sport And Exercise Psychology: A Critical Introduction

suggested that the longer athletes remain in sport, the less sportspersonship they display
and the more likely they are to condone cheating and violent behaviour on the field of
play! In a similar vein, Miracle and Rees (1994) found no support for the claim that sport
builds character in school or anywhere else. Although these conclusions are
controversial, they have played a valuable role in stimulating popular and scientific
debate about the advantages and disadvantages of youth sport involvement. Fortunately,
advances have been made in the development of coaching programmes that are designed
to enhance enjoyment and to promote moral and ethical development in young athletes
(see R.E.Smith and Smoll, 1996, 2002). In addition, progress is evident in the
measurement of the construct of sportspersonship. Thus Vallerand, Brière, Blanchard and
Provencher (1997) reported the development and validation of a psychometric scale to
assess this construct—which may be defined broadly as a general commitment to fair
play in sport as well as a respect for the rules, officials, social conventions and opponents
encountered in the specific game in question.
Although the link between sport and character development is tenuous, what of the
claim that athletic involvement can forge a sense of identity and cohesion among
competitors? As before, little or no research exists on this issue. Nevertheless, there is
some historical evidence to corroborate the idea that sport fosters cohesion. For example,
in Ireland, S.Moran (2001) showed how Gaelic games in the nineteenth century played a
significant role in strengthening people’s sense of identity in their struggle to establish
independent political rule. Unfortunately, problems can arise when this sense of identity
becomes rigid or entrenched. For example, in Northern Ireland, allegiance to various
sports and teams has a distinctive sectarian dimension (McGinley, Kremer, Trew and
Ogle, 1998). Indeed, a graphic example of the depth of this sectarianism occurred in
August 2002 when Neil Lennon, the Northern Ireland player, was forced to retire from
international soccer after he had received death threats from “supporters” of his own
national team (McIntosh, 2002). These death threats were believed to have been
prompted by Lennon’s affiliation with the predominantly Catholic team for which he
played at the time—Glasgow Celtic.
To summarise, it may be argued that school sports offer potential health, social and
psychological benefits to young people. For example, they can help them to discover the
benefits of systematic practice (A.P.Moran, 2001). But to achieve these benefits fully,
young sports performers need to be exposed to an enlightened coaching philosophy rather
than a “win at all costs” mentality that causes stress to athletes of all ages and levels of
ability.

New directions for research on team cohesion

From recent reviews of the empirical literature (e.g., Widmeyer et al., 2002), at least five
new directions can be suggested for research on team cohesion in sport. To begin with, in
view of formidable definitional problems in this field, there is an urgent need for
conceptual clarification of such key terms as “group”, “team”, “social cohesion” and
“task-cohesion”. Second, there is a need for empirical studies designed to test explicit
hypotheses about, and/or possible explanations for, group processes in athletes. This type
of hypothesis-testing research is preferable to descriptive, atheoretical studies. Third,

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