Write a report identifying appropriate psychological theories and explanations addressing the following:
1. a discussion and explanation of the causes and remedies of the type of conflict we have seen between Caroline and Nicola
2. a discussion and explanation of what contributes to successful creative collaborations that could be applied to other athletes at Acro.
The focus is on answering the two points in relation to the information available in the scenario, and your understanding of psychological theory.
Scenario
Acro gymnastics is a team sport whereby gymnasts execute
group skills whilst balancing and holding their own and each
other’s weight in complex positions. Think of a human pyramid,
but much more advanced. Gymnasts choreograph their own
routines, and creativity and flair score very high.
John Mulhern, Head Coach of Scottish Acro Gymnastics is
facing the biggest challenge of his coaching career so far: the
Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships is in two months,
but his biggest hope of a gold medal, superstar team Caroline
and Nicola (who are also a couple), are experiencing tension.
With such high stakes, John receives permission from British
Gymnastics to hire a sports psychologist. Imagine that you are
that psychologist and you have received the following email
from John. He hopes your advice will not only help Caroline and
Nicola, but future partnerships too.
Here’s the email from John …
From:
Subject: PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL – I need your help
I need your help!
Two months from now is the Acrobatic Gymnastics World
Championships, and my star partnership and I have been
working relentlessly towards this for two years. Caroline and
Nicola are by far the Acro team with the greatest potential for
international success: the girls have collaborated so well
together, and have choreographed a creative, artistic, and
beautiful routine. However, a problem has occurred …
I have been Caroline’s coach since she was 4 years old (she’s
now 19). We work brilliantly together; she’s my star student, and
I know her parents really well too. Nicola joined the club three
years ago and very quickly became close with Caroline. I have
noticed that during training, Nicola seems a bit jealous of
anyone who talks to Caroline. The other gymnasts have noticed
this too. Whenever I try to be friendly or have a laugh with the
girls, Nicola is frosty. Life would be easier if Nicola was less
terse, but when performing, they work fantastically together,
which is the most important thing. They seem to bring out the
best in each other, and the creativity these girls come up with in
their routines is breathtaking.
However, sometimes conflict occurs between the girls. Recently,
while waiting for Nicola to arrive at training, Caroline told me she
was a bit unsure of part of their routine. Nicola had
choreographed a section where they performed independently
and then got together, but Caroline didn’t think this
demonstrated creative collaboration; something that the judges
favour over execution. Time was of the essence because that
day was the deadline for submitting our routine plan to the
championships, so we decided to change a bit of it. Creatively, it
worked so much better: the flow of the routine just ‘clicked’. By
the time Nicola arrived at training, Caroline and I had finalised
and registered the new routine. Nicola completely blew up at us!
She told us that she didn’t feel she had been included in the
process and was annoyed that we had made decisions without her. Caroline told her it wasn’t about who made decisions, but
rather ensuring they had the best routine to heighten their
chances of winning gold.
I don’t know if trouble had already been brewing, but this
seemed to flick a switch inside Nicola, and she stormed out.
She refused to speak to Caroline, isn’t replying to her
messages, and has steadfastly refused to have anything to do
with the Championships. Caroline asked if she could partner up
with someone else. However, I had no choice but to remove
them both from the competitive team. There’s no way, with only
two months to go, that she could form a new partnership,
develop rapport, and create a new routine from scratch.
So, now I’m in the horrible position where Caroline is angry with
me for not allowing her to try a new partnership, and Nicola is
blaming me, at least in part, for the fight. I was hoping that you
might be able to help by providing some psychological
explanation as to why this conflict has occurred and how it might
be overcome and prevented in future. Because the example
with Nicola and Caroline shows that creative collaborations can
produce excellent performance, I would also like to understand
what makes such collaborations work both in Nicola and
Caroline’s case as well as in other athletes in my portfolio.
Please help – thank you!
John Mulhern
Head Coach, Scottish Acro Gymnastics
