Analysis of State High Suboptimal

Analysis of State High Suboptimal performance
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Analysis of State High Suboptimal performance
For a long time, the State High School were shinning in field events in men’s track. However, despite dominating the events, the school had was weak in distances which improved in the previous year after the school hired Coach Carrie. The school track team is led by Fielder, the head coach and among the track runners is Rick, an ignorant and troublesome personality. Coach Carrie has tried warning Rick but he cannot listen to him. As a result of his arrogance and notorious behaviours, Rick does not get along well with the head coach. After failing to listen to the head coach’s warnings, Rick is finally banned from running for State high school’ track team (Rosella, 1998). The ban comes despite Rick being the fastest runner in the school. Efforts to apologize to the head coach in front of everyone fails and Rick goes out of the track and one by one the other team members walk away leaving the school with no track team. This essay presents an analysis of the situation at State High School based on the suboptimal performance.
The suboptimal performance a State High school can be related to the stimulus theory in various ways. By stimulus theory, the idea is that a person’s behavior manifests itself following an interplay between a specific stimulus and a response. As Weinberg & Gould, 2014) note the behavior of Rick and the other team members cannot have existed without a stimulus.

In the case of Rick, his behavior may be explained from Pavlov classical conditioning and so are the behaviors of the rest of the team members including the head coach. For instance, the author notes that “the next day after practice meets, Rick appeared horrible and mumbled something regarding the weather and the shorts bothering him.” (Rosella, 1998). Group cohesion is a primary element of team building interventions, especially in sports. In the case of the State High school, the sports team has a strong group cohesion that strikes the group performance in a negative manner. The dynamism of individual perceptions towards their group is one of the cohesion strategies that can be used in explain the situation at the school’s team (Weinberg & Gould, 2014). The team has tension existing between them and their head coach with the group working tightly among themselves to the point of ignoring the instructions given to them by the coach. Fielder told the team members that “the fastest was not to run faster than the slow runners, and that they were not to run more than four miles. However, the team responded by ignoring the instructions.” (Rosella, 1998). This depicts that there is a strong cohesion among the team member which may be one of the great factors contributing to the suboptimal performance.
Fielder uses an autocratic leadership model. This has led to various differences between him and Carrie as well as with the team members. Fielder, for instance, wants the team members to behave the way he wants them to and does not consider the views of the team members. Besides, he also wants to run the team the same way yea in year out. For instance, when Fielder heard Rick mumbling about being happy with the new uniform, he told him “You’ll wear your uniform like everyone else, or you’re off the team.” (Rosella, 1998). This is a clear indication of an autocratic leader with whom all power is bestowed.
In conclusion, this case of State High school suboptimal performance is an indication of how various factors affect performance. This analysis presents an overview of the state at the school by showing that poor leadership, strong group cohesion, and classical conditioning are some of the primary causes of the suboptimal performances. With the tight cohesion, team members are coming together to oppose the coach instructions while autocratic leadership leaves the coach with total power thus not giving the players a chance to make their own choices.
References
Rosella, R. J. (1998). Case Studies in Sports Psychology. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc.,
Weinberg, R. S., & Gould, D. (2014). Foundations of Sports and Exercise Psychology with Web Study Guide. Human Kinetics