In light of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, team sports add a string to their bow: psychological research! This is an approach supported by the project a team Sports. Its goal: to scientifically improve group dynamics to work as a team.
Article can be found in Inserm Magazine Issue 60
Reaching the highest level in your sport requires working on your fitness and technique, as well as your mind. However, if the mental dimension is still often linked to individual performance, team sports are beginning to be integrated as evidenced by a team Sport, has been funded since 2019 as part of France 2030's extremely high-performance sports priority research programme. This project aims to develop methods to improve group dynamics as a performance tool in five Olympic team sports: basketball, soccer, handball, rugby, and volleyball. To this end, five laboratories are collaborating to study this dynamic through identity processes, that is, the psychological mechanisms that make an individual feel like they belong to some degree to their group. We're talking about the dynamic between “we” and “me.” », describes its coordinator Mickael Campeau, a researcher in sports psychology at the University of Burgundy in Dijon and responsible for mental preparation in the French Rugby Federation. Data collection is almost complete and the first results are starting to appear.
Romuald the leper of loneliness Insrm Perception, action, and sensory plasticity CAPS at the same university demonstrated the effect of this positioning on endurance performance: “ Contrary to what we might imagine, individual physical performance is better when athletes “compete” for themselves, but the feeling of having a chance at success is greater when they follow team performance. » « This last point suggests a protective group effect with respect to poor performance. “, adds Mikael Campo. Results that could have a double impact on the ground. ” If you start the match on a very strong note, at the end of the first half, it is probably in your best interest to focus your speech on the 'we' to avoid collapsing under pressure later on.“, continues the researcher. Conversely, during very difficult physical preparation sessions, it would be better to put players in the “I” mode. »
Virtual reality, a source of emotions
On the emotional side Self-centeredness tends to reinforce their negative perceptionHe says. If a player finds that his anxiety is hurting his performance, he will believe that it is more harmful when he is in the “I”. » This result reflects the work of Florent Lebon also from the CAPS Unit. ” We evaluate the extent to which emotions affect an athlete's ability to stop their movement, which on the field may translate into not making a pass. », explains the researcher who also studies artistic performance. ” Mentally repeating the gesture several times allows the athlete to progressHe continued. So we want to check whether immersing them at the same time in different contexts, thanks to a virtual reality tool developed by the Image Institute of Chalon-sur-Saône, improves their performance more than if we just ask them to imagine these situations. “In addition, “This tool is very innovative, because it includes psychometrics [qui recueillent le ressenti de l’utilisateur, ndlr.]can also be used to prepare players emotionally for a variety of environments – fan chants, yellow cards, Olympic Stadium atmosphere, etc. – to prevent them from being surprised on the pitch. », specifies Mikael Campo.
In terms of technological innovation, the CEA-List Institute in Paris-Saclay has developed an automatic assessment tool, using video, of group dynamics. ” It took three years of work and development of four algorithms because not only do we have to differentiate between each player, including when they overlap, but indicators of good dynamics vary from sport to sport! » confirms Michael Campo, who developed a tool to measure mass pressure. ” It is used to prepare and debrief matches, but we also have almost real-time information. Ainsi, when the final quarter of the World Rugby Coupe, the first one in France's equipment at the score, on the other hand, the rapport of the psychological force, and that part of the ballon top, South Africa “He narrates, explaining that this is not the only reason for the defeat…
Team sports on the field
The issues of the Team Sports conference are published, confidential until JO is published, but they have been transferred to the federations at the beginning of the day, as the rugby cell line does not allow the sports staff to comply with the long history of their use for the equipment. from France. Thus, as Jerome Daret, Men's 7's coach, attests: “ I am very demanding of these scientific tools because rugby sevens is the “Formula 1” of rugby: the smallest ball is a branding opportunity that requires quick and accurate decisions, under high pressure. It is therefore important to be able to regulate emotions in a very short period of time. Finally, and on a larger scale, these tools allow us to better harness our emotions from the edge of the field and avoid making mistakes! »
Through team sports, French team sports have given themselves the means to take a step forward, but Mikael Campeau is angry: “ Exploiting this knowledge and transferring it to coaches takes time. And perhaps they will bear more fruit… at the 2027 Rugby World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games. »
- Team sports : Cy-Dreby (University of Burgundy); Perception, action and sensorimotor plasticity (Unit 1093 INSERM/University of Burgundy); Center for the Study of Transformations in Physical Activities and Sports (University of Rouen-Normandy); Image Institute (INSAM); CEA List (CEA)
- Michael Campo : Relational Psychodynamics and Identity Processes Laboratory (Psy-Drepi)
- Romuald Liberz And Florent Lebon : Unit 1093 INSERM / University of Burgundy
Author: FD-M.
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