How Sports Leaders Influence Group Dynamics

¶ … Group Dynamics in Physical Activity Promotion, by Estabrooks, Harden and Burke (2012). This article looks at the influence that group dynamics has in getting people to engage in more physical activity. The promotion of physical activity is an important area of sports leadership, in particular among children, so understanding the processes by which greater levels of physical activity can be encouraged in important. The authors found that there are no known causal mechanisms for what sorts of group dynamics encourage physical activity.

They did find that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the promotion of greater levels of physical activity tends to result in greater levels of physical activity. Different approaches were taken, and worked, with the result being that they conclude group dynamics can influence the levels of physical activity in a population, but that there is insufficient knowledge base with respect to how group dynamics influence the level of physical activity.

This, thus is a gap in the research and an area for future research, because these causal mechanisms are an important if sports leaders are to be able to replicate with reliability strategies to encourage higher levels of physical activity. This article relates to Chapter 11, which covers the topic of group dynamics. The chapter discusses the role of group dynamics in sport and what leaders can do to influence group dynamics.

The sports leader therefore has the ability to leverage group dynamics to encourage greater degrees of physical activity, but this requires a keen understanding of how group dynamics work and the role of the leader in the group. Thus, there is a direct connection between the article and the text. It is important for me, as a future sports leader, to understand the role that group dynamics play. I feel that group dynamics are a.