Abstract
Collective team collapse occurs when multiple players of a sport team experience a sudden and extreme underperformance within a game and are unable to return to their initial performance level. The occurrence of such a team collapse event commonly leads to the loss of the game or championship. A recent study investigated athletes’ perceptions of the phenomenon and proposed a process model of causes of collective sport team collapse. The main goal of this study was to apply this process model to the data collected from coaches and sport psychologists. A further goal was to explore differences in perceptions of causes of team collapse among athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists of various professional German sport teams. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate seven coaches’ and four sport psychologists’ perceptions. Following an abductive approach, a deductive content analysis was used to explore if the data supported the process model of collective sport team collapse. Perceived antecedents and critical events causing team collapse were similar among the three participant groups. Coaches and sport psychologists differed from athletes in their perception of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes of team collapse. Coaches tended to report behavioral factors, such as immobility or the blaming of other players, as critical factors maintaining team collapse. Sport psychologists reported cognitive factors, such as individualization or a lack of accountability between the players, to be relevant for team collapse maintenance. Overall, the data of this study supported the general structure of the process model of collective sport team collapse; however, minor amendments to the temporal cascade of causes of team collapse are introduced. Future research is encouraged to examine this model, to provide guidance to teams, coaches, and sport psychologists in dealing with collective sport team collapse.
Highlights
Collective sport team collapse is a widely known phenomenon, research investigating its causes is lacking
In an initial case study, Apitzsch (2009a) investigated causes of collective team collapse in nine male handball players of the same team and found that inappropriate behavior, failure of the role system, negative communication, a change in the opponents’ tactics and goals scored by the opponent were factors that played a role in the specific collapse that was described by players of the handball team
Psychological momentum is defined as “a change in cognition, affect, physiology, and behavior caused by an event or series of events that will result in a commensurate shift in performance and competitive outcome” and can be either positive or negative (Taylor and Demick, 1994, p. 54)
Summary
Collective sport team collapse is a widely known phenomenon, research investigating its causes is lacking. In an initial case study, Apitzsch (2009a) investigated causes of collective team collapse in nine male handball players of the same team and found that inappropriate behavior, failure of the role system, negative communication, a change in the opponents’ tactics and goals scored by the opponent were factors that played a role in the specific collapse that was described by players of the handball team. He further reported that negative thinking, negative emotions, and negative emotional contagion should be dealt with in order to prevent a team collapse. The third goal was to explore whether coaches’ and sport psychologists’ perceptions would support the process model of causes of collective sport team collapse, that was developed based on athletes’ perceptions of team collapse
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
