Intrateam Communication and Performance in Doubles Tennis

Verbal and nonverbal communication is a critical mediator of performance in team sports and yet there is little extant research in sports that involves direct measures of communication. Our study explored communication within NCAA Division I female tennis doubles teams. Video and audio recordings of players during doubles tennis matches captured the communications that took place between and during points. These recordings were coded and sequential analysis computed using the Discussion Analysis Tool software (Jeong, 2003). Results indicated that most communications were emotional (i.e., > 50%) or action statements (i.e., > 25%). Winning teams exhibited significantly different communication sequences than losing teams. In particular, winning teams had a more homogeneous model of communication, which perhaps makes message interpretation more reliable. Finally, winning teams exchanged twice as many messages as losing teams.

[1]  David W. Eccles,et al.  Why an Expert Team is More Than a Team of Experts: A Social-Cognitive Conceptualization of Team Coordination and Communication in Sport. , 2004 .

[2]  Timothy D. Lee,et al.  Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis , 1982 .

[3]  Daniel K. Johnson.  Letting the social and cognitive merge: New concepts for an understanding of group functioning in sport , 2008 .

[4]  J. D. Fletcher,et al.  Training & retraining : a handbook for business, industry, government, and the military , 2000 .

[5]  J. R. Landis,et al.  The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. , 1977, Biometrics.

[6]  A. Carrón,et al.  Team building in an exercise setting. , 1993 .

[7]  Roger Bakeman,et al.  Analyzing Interaction: Sequential Analysis with SDIS and GSEQ , 1995 .

[8]  D. Feltz,et al.  The Preliminary Development of the Scale for Effective Communication in Team Sports (SECTS) , 2003 .

[9]  D. Lavallee,et al.  Applied Sport Psychology: Personal Growth to Peak Performance (2nd ed.). , 1996 .

[10]  Barbara G. Kanki.  COMMUNICATION AND CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. , 1993 .

[11]  S. Demleitner.  [Communication without words]. , 1997, Pflege aktuell.

[12]  J. Burgoon,et al.  Nonverbal Communication: The Unspoken Dialogue , 1988 .

[13]  B. Kanki,et al.  Communication indices of crew coordination. , 1989, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[14]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Distributed coordination space: Toward a theory of distributed team process and performance , 2003 .

[15]  Eduardo Salas,et al.  Analyzing Communication Sequences for Team Training Needs Assessment , 1998, Hum. Factors.

[16]  Allan Jeong.  The Sequential Analysis of Group Interaction and Critical Thinking in Online , 2003 .

[17]  Grover E. Diehl,et al.  Hidden agenda in course construction and revision 1 , 1987 .

[18]  R. C. Thornton,et al.  THE EFFECTS OF AUTOMATION AND TASK DIFFICULTY ON CREW COORDINATION, WORKLOAD, AND PERFORMANCE. , 1992 .

[19]  R. Martens.  Coaches Guide to Sport Psychology , 1987 .

[20]  Philip Smith.  Roger Bakeman John M. Gottman , 1987, Animal Behaviour.

[21]  Florian Jentsch,et al.  Crew Coordination Behaviors as Predictors of Problem Detection and Decision Making Times , 1995 .

[22]  Barbara G. Kanki,et al.  Communication Variations and Aircrew Performance , 1991 .

[23]  Stephanie Guerlain,et al.  A Team Performance Data Collection and Analysis System , 2002 .