No two people have the same type of personality, meaning that everyone who takes part in sport is a unique individual.
Athletes generally choose a sport based on their personality type. For instance, an extrovert may be more inclined to play team sports, while introverts are likely to lean towards individual activities.
Personality is displayed by how people behave in different circumstances and reflect an individual’s most prominent characteristics.
Not everyone will react the same way when presented with a specific set of circumstances, highlighting the important role personality can play in sport.
There is not a coach we have worked with who has not experienced an athlete personality clash which has led to at least some poor levels of morale. The most important aspect of dealing with these clashes is to address them at the earliest possible time, i.e. before molehills become mountains. Managing athlete personality clashes and their resulting conflict effectively is mainly about setting a framework to understand how conflict starts, noticing it at the lowest level and then being proactive and honest in dealing with it.
When an athlete personality clash occurs or with other members of the team matter of fact, who is right? Quite often we are programmed to think that we must be right because this is the way we behave and it works for us. However, the other person involved in the conflict may have the same reasoning. At some stage, everyone involved in the conflict has had to subscribe to what is right for the team. This is the common goal and it is critical to set those foundations.
There are two main ‘approaches’ people take when dealing with events that occur in their life – trait and situational.
Someone who has a trait approach takes the same personality they possess in everyday life and transfers that to their sporting activities.
Personality has a huge influence on the sport, impacting the activity an athlete chooses to undertake and their performance thereafter. The same applies to officials or other persons who work in sport or a business of any kind.
A key element of how personality impacts sports performances is confidence – an athlete who believes they will succeed is more likely to do so than one who is wracked with self-doubt.
Being confident can help to boost motivation levels and make an athlete even more determined to excel at their chosen sport.
However, it is important to remember that someone who is over-confident may actually end up failing as complacency can creep into their performances.
I've had direct working relationships with at least fifteen professional head coaches in international football working with National teams of T&T and other international sides. The number of players I've worked with is far more. I can say from experience that once coaches become aware of their own behavioural style, and gain insight into their athletes’ behavioural styles, mutual understanding is built. Similar can be said for the player.
Another aspect of sports performance linked to personality is that of coping behaviour and strategies. This relates to the ability or techniques used by an athlete to deal with psychological stressors such as anxiety. Allen et al. (2011) have discussed how different trait dominance results in different coping strategies being displayed. This could be important from a coach’s perspective due to the fact that understanding their trait dominance and the coping strategy which is associated with bringing the best results for that trait, it is possible to individualise direction given to players regarding coping. In return, an athlete who is able to cope with the psychological pressure present in sport is likely to perform better.
Furthermore, as a coach you are in a position to see whether an athlete is adopting an undesirable coping strategy and can work to improve the coping strategy to improve its effectiveness and benefit subsequent performance. This applies not only to coaches but to anyone who believes they have a part to play or is trusted with a level of responsibility. Most times it is combined with respect and dignity.
Timing is everything. And there is a right time and place for it. Someone told me recently, "Old people have a saying... time longer than twine." It is an expression that reflects the wisdom of the people and their culture. Meaning, in one sense, that the things of the world always dwarf the things of man.
Editor's Note
Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Media. He is a former FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey The views expressed are solely his and not a representation of any organisation. shaunfuentes@yahoo.com