Leader's behavior in sport competitions and why does Spain reached gold in Eurobasket

2015

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

GESTUAL BEHAVIOR IN SPORT

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BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

GESTUAL BEHAVIOR IN SPORT

CONTENT

Leader's behavior in sport competitions and why does Spain

reached gold in Eurobasket 2015 ............................................................. 4 Spanish Selection’s case ............................................................................. 5 The leader is created or transformed?................................................... 12 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 17

HOW WE

INFLUENCE

GESTURES

Leader's behavior in

sport competitions and

why does Spain reached

gold in Eurobasket 2015

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Leader's behavior in sport competitions and why does Spain

reached gold in Eurobasket 2015

In all team sports it is undeniable, but also essential, the existence of a leader meant to guide the

team to victory.

The leader is someone who, not only in competition terms, is able to give the team a collective

sense of victory belief. It is who carries the responsibility for success and failure.

Its importance is so, that even other colleagues with leader responsibilities in different teams fall

into secondary roles by his side, leaning on him and following him unconditionally.

The leader sets the guidelines and is a true reflection of the intentions of his team. If the leader is

feeling fine, the team is motivated and active. If the leader is feeling bad, the team will show

himself up nervous and hesitant. This is because of the communication between team and

leader even without words.

As evidenced in the study by Philip Furley of the German Sport University Cologne (Germany) and

Geoffrey Schweizer at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), nonverbal signals during the

different stages of the game can be interpreted as eloquent signs for finding out who is the

leader and who is lagging behind.

When we talk about communication, we must consider that there is a very powerful channel to

which sometimes do not pay the necessary attention as transmitters of messages, but which

conditions us consciously and unconsciously as receivers: the not verbal channel. Non-verbal

language, ie the set of signs (gestures, expressions, smell, touch ...) which have straight effects on

our emotion, is much more complex than verbal and have more voluntary and involuntary

content.

Several studies show that body language has an influence on emotion recognition, especially in

situations of ambiguity or lack of other emotional expressions, being this influence as potent as its

context (Kret & de Gelder, 2010) and it's, besides, comparable to the communicative strength of

facial expression (Coulson, 2004).

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If the leader, through his nonverbal behavior, sends the team signs of fear, defeat, exhaustion

and / or sadness, the team will own all this set of negative emotions and will affect their

efficiency. By the other side, when the leader, still feeling all these emotions, is capable of

transmitting calm, safety, desire to succeed, fighting spirit or joy, the whole team will be not only

strengthened, but also confident with itself against his rival.

The stimulus, both internal and external, cause an increase in testosterone, making increase

dominant behaviors, and these behaviors can further raise testosterone (Archer, 2006; Mazur and

Booth, 1998).

Anticipating a competitive situation and as a result of a victory, testosterone level rises while it is

reduced after a defeat (Booth, Shelley, Mazur, Tharp and Kittok, 1989). These changes influence

the desire to compete again (Josephs and Mehta, 2006).

Spanish Selection’s case

A prime example of the above effects can be found in the recent male Eurobasket 2015. In this

championship, from the beginning some favorite teams (France, Serbia, Greece) were visible,

with big names comparing to other teams (Spain, Lithuania, Italy) that although feared by his

rivals in other occasions, this time did not have as many opportunities according to bets.

However, using the example of the winning selection, Spain, we can see a clear example of a

motivated leader, capable of bringing the team the necessary stimulus to activate, at every

single moment, the appropriate reaction to reach the victory.

To see the emotional reactions, we will analyze the answer in the facial expression and the body

movement linked to an emotion of the team behavior.

Spain started as one of the weakest teams, so doubts increased soon, as they did not reach the

expected results in the first matches, when they had to play ultimately for the phase qualifying

against Germany, after defeats with Italy and Serbia.

In that game, Pau Gasol, their leader, began with his exhibition, not only scoring but also of

leadership.

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In a tough game, Gasol set the tempo both in attack and defense phases. Once qualified, they

played with Poland and Greece, in memorable games, reaching the semi-final against the host

nation, France.

At this point, we will stop to evaluate leaders' behavior and the reaction of both teams.

From the beginning, teams reacted differently.

On the one hand, the French team showed itself full of doubts and fears with their leader apart

from the rest.

As seen in the picture, everybody is looking at Parker, but they don’t look confident.

Parker's answer is an eye falling and evasive look that gets a boost from the team as a response.

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Parker finds himself split from his team, isolated, and makes his mates to duck and to show their

fears.

By the other side, the constrast of the Spanish team.

All team members gather around the leader who takes part in the talks.

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The leader talks them and explains what to do. Shown active, prepared for the "combat" and his

teammates are paying attention.

Philip Furley and Geoffrey Schweizer's research shows that athletes become more confident

when they see submission or anxiety gestures in their rivals before starting the competition.

Persons are able to perceive these situations in the sport environment, even in individual or team

games.

But these are not the only signs of battle and strength during the match.

While the French leader, Parker, shows doubt, the Spanish leader, Gasol, is strong and fighter,

optimistic.

Along the game, even when the Spanish team’s score was below French’s, Gasol demonstrated

cambat signals and Parker showed paralysis.

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In the picture above we see Gasol in a capture of the match shouting to his teammates. Rudy

Fernandez, on the left, spread of dedication. Parker, on the right, shows himself passive, static,

with his arms dangling.

All the Spanish team is motivated and feeling like fighting for the match.

Meanwhile, French team does not rise their heads, ducking like the leader.

The final result is desperation and accuracy loss at the final part of the match.

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In the picture above we see Batum shooting the first free throw that could give the tie with 15.5

seconds left. He missed. We can see head turned, looking back, and hunched trying to shrink

and disappear. It is the prototypical action looking for a way out.

Batum missed the second one. He remains unmoving. Is the prototypical action of not moving

and going unnoticed.

Batum finally missed the third one. It ended with a counterattack and final smash by Gasol.

The face of the players during the final free throws.

Teammates in the dock are staring, dry lips, eyelids and tense raised eyebrow. This expression is

prototypical of fear.

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Batum's face shows similar signals. Raised eyebrows, eyelids tense, nostrils for air, compressed lips.

It shows signs of fear and maybe some anger for the responsibility and at the fact of failing free

throws.

These expressions of fear contrast with the expression of anger and rage of Gasol throughout the

game, something that spread the rest of the team to keep it in the game, starving of victory.

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Was the French team inferior? The answer is “not in sport terms”. Les Bleus had splendid

consecrated and talented players. However, they did not have the human psychological factor.

The leader showed fear and spread to the whole team. Probably the pressure that Parker felt was

not different from many other nights, but this time, the fact that Parker did not launch nonverbal

signals of power, and however, Gasol was a repertoire of signs of a struggle that infected his

team, made Spain won the psychological battle that, in addition to the sport success, led them

to victory against France.

The end result was the victory of Spain, not only against France, but in the Eurobasket, with Gasol

as the axis and center of the selection.

The leader is created or transformed?

The body language gives us signals of the emotion a person is feeling but also marks certain

personality traits (Carney, Hall, & LeBeau, 2005). Therefore, despite the gestures can sometimes

be controlled, it is necessary to have a certain personality to keep control over the body for a

long period (for example, a sport event) while mental resources are dedicated to the rest of the

activities. That’s why it is very important to choose the leader of the group to train him well to a

single situation in which he would have to communicate, using gestures, the appropriate

emotions.

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The power is expressed through nonverbal signals using expansive gestures, postures which are

acquired by body opening, occupying the maximum space. By contrast, the positions of

contraction are gestures in which the closure is reflected, for example, members adjacent to the

torso minimizing occupied space by the body (Dana R. Carney, et al. Columbia University and

Harvard University). These two models related to self-confident people have been identified in

several studies (Carney, Hall, Smith and LeBeau 2005; Darwin, 1872/2009, de Waal, 1998; Hall,

coats, and LeBeau Smith, 2005).

Tilting the head up induces pride (Stepper and Strack, 1993). The leader player usually tends to

keep head higher and further behind than other players and often the chest inflated, even

outside the court (Vanessa Van Edwards).

Meanwhile, a stooped posture causes feelings of depression (Riskind and Gotay, 1982).

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It is evident if the athlete puts his hands to his head in despair, either for fear of failure or the

feeling of injustice. Put the fingertips on the temples is a sign of shame on mistake. When the

mistake is serious, athletes tends to cover them face or eyes. This is called "eyes blocking": we

unconsciously cover our eyes expecting to stop seeing the things that make us feel bad.

Such gestures does not help much the team as they generate distrust, uncertainty and loss of

control.

The movements of approach, such as touch, pull or nod, increase the interest in people and

persuasive messages (Briñol and Petty, 2003; Chen and Bargh, 1999; Wegner, Lane, and Dimitri,

1994).

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The gesture of tilting the torso indicates that a player wants to participate with another player.

Fists tightening increases the self-perception of power in man (Schubert and Koole, 2009).

This case, in sport, it usually comes with an anger roar or frown as a sign of battle. In this case the

perception we have is a motivated person that feels like fighting.

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Through contact and space management, camaraderie is confirmed. Pats on the back,

buttocks, head and torso are gestures of sympathy.

Finally, another common gestures of the leader, even if he has acted provisionally at any point of

the game or continuously, is the use of the index finger to strengthen its presence. This gesture is

meant to be a without words self-image and reaffirms that it is active and is in the field wanting to

win. It is common to do it after good work. This gesture should not be confused with standard

used in some sports such as instructions attack or defense.

However, keep in mind that the typical posture of victory that many athletes use immediately

after a victory is not due to a gesture of power, but to a universal gesture of triumph which is the

same in all the cultures.

The expressions of pride and shame are universal and are deeply rooted in humans (Dr.

Matsumoto, journal Evolution and Human Behavior). According to Dr. Matsumoto in his study

about victory signs in athletes, "the triumph has its own expression, strong and immediate,

automatic and universal in all cultures." This means that success is not just an emotion by itself, but

a universal emotion, shown in the same way in all cultures.

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However, it is noteworthy that not all the gestures are universal. It has been shown that there are

some universal gestures, derived from genetically transferred behaviors, but there is also a lot of

gestures only dependent of culture and other factors, which will have to be considered in each

case.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the team leader is not only an athlete able to contribute with its skills, but also

capable of bringing the intensity and emotion needed to involve his teammates so that the

whole team to be ready for victory.

Our emotional brain makes us react as primates who watch another group member. If he is

dominant, brave, he is confident and makes us feel safe, then we get carried away and he

passes us on the message that comes unconsciously. These primary roots were studied in politics

by Professor Roger Masters (Primate Politics, 1994) but it fits to any area.

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Doubtlessly, the component of nonverbal language is a basic element that can be and must be

identified and trained, same way to other physical and mental conditions, so that elite athletes

can achieve ever higher goals.

Authors:

Sergio Colado García. Dr. Profesional especialista en Comportamiento No Verbal (H.C.).

Director Nechi Group. https://es.linkedin.com/in/scolado

Hector Colado García. Especialista en análisis de comportamiento y detección de mentira.

Director Técnico Nechi Group. https://es.linkedin.com/in/hectorcoladogarcia

www.nechigroup.com