It's no surprise that team sports such as football or hockey use group training. However, it's interesting to note that individual sports such as athletics and tennis have employed group training to huge effect.

In athletics, it's common for groups of world class athletes to train together. Fierce sprint competitors Maurice Greene from the US and Ato Boldon from Trinidad were part of the same training camp. Similarly, in tennis, the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, based in Florida, has had huge success in bringing through champion tennis players.

So what are the social dynamics of training in a group, and why is group training considered to be more effective than an athlete training on their own?
I think the crux of the answer to these questions is tied up with the fact that human beings are social creatures. We tend to seek out the company of other people and feel most comfortable when around a small group of familiar faces. Anyone who has ever jogged will know that it's easier if there's someone else there to encourage, cajole and to compete against. Sports trainers understand the value that can be extracted from this basic human condition.

It's easy to see some of the core elements that can help to make group training especially effective. Firstly, you've got a support network; other people who understand what you're going through and who may be prepared to help support you and share helpful tips. And, secondly, you've also got the intense competition which will always thrive where high performance athletes are brought together and pitched against each other.

However, the whole are of social training dynamics is very complex. It does not necessarily hold that you will get optimal performance just by bringing a group of athletes together. You somehow need to get the best out of them, which involves getting the right blend of individuals. Typically, in any group, there will be extroverts and introverts. There will also be leaders and followers. There will be people who are full intensity 100% all of the time, and there will be those who save their intensity for match days. Being a good manager or trainer means that you have to be a good reader of people. You have to know how to motivate player A and player B, and that the required approach may be very different. Player A may require an arm around the shoulder, whilst Player B may require a boot up the posterior.

You also need to appreciate that there can be downsides to team training. It may be dispiriting for one athlete to always lose to another, or the better athlete may become complacent. Cliques can also develop which can be very damaging, especially for team sports. And bringing together competitive and sometimes immature young people can result in individual tensions which have the capacity to boil over into harmful exchanges. In soccer, for example, there have been frequent occurrences of players coming to blows in training, and sometimes this leads to one or both of the players being forced to move to a new club. Team morale is important and in team sports you can't afford anything that is going to have a lasting negative impact upon the team's social dynamic.

A final point to note is that variety is the spice of sports training as well as of life. Good trainers know the importance of varying schedules, locations and training partners. Doing so will help to drive optimal performance and minimize the risk of group discord.

Learn more about this author, Simon Wright.
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