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Coralie Joelle Maryse Detre

Professor Taylor
ENC 1102
2/19/24
Understanding Factors That are Influencing Rowing Team Dynamics

Introduction
Rowing is a sport that is known by a very small amount of people, sometimes when rowers

tell other people that their sport is rowing, they answer either: “What is that?” or “Oh, so are paddling

right?”. For a rower, it’s frustrating that people don’t understand their sport because it’s an exigent

sport that requires you to be good at technique as much as cardio, strongness, long-distance and short-

distance endurance, and managing your mind. Rowers put a lot of effort into their sport and deserve

the same recognition as other sports such as football, soccer, or basketball. That is why I thought it

could be interesting to show the general public, why people are putting so much effort into a sport that

doesn’t have the same “prestige” as popular sports. Moreover, I want to understand, through different

perceptions, the dynamic of a rowing Team. I am hoping that through this research project, the general

public could be more interested in Rowing because of the great rower mindset and the team cohesion

that is particular to this sport. My research is going to focus more on the psychological aspect of

rowing because it’s a big part of it.

The research question that is going to help me conduct my research is the following: How do

individual personalities, communication styles, and team cohesion impact the performance and

success of rowing teams? The rowing team that I am going to focus on is the UCF rowing team

because as part of the athlete of this team, I have the capacity to conduct interviews and surveys inside

the team. The research method that I am going to adopt is that I am going to interview rowers,

coaches, and support staff to explore their perception of the team dynamic and the impact of the

individual personalities on the team. I am also going to make some observations around me during
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practice and try to focus on these aspects and take notes at the end of each practice. Also, I am going

to conduct a survey about

which personality people prefer to have in their team because, with a survey, rowers aren’t going to be

afraid of their answers. The type of questions that I could ask during interviews could be:

- How do you feel the team cohesion is now and why?

- Which communication people do you prefer rowing with direct people (say everything that

they think), thinker people (control their words before talking to not impact other people’s

feelings), or “keeper people” (only say something when it’s good)?

- Give me one word to describe the team. (in the aspect of people not having rowing ability)

- In your opinion, the personality of one of your teammates could influence your mental during

practice. (to get better or to get worse)

- For you, who in the team is giving you a better mental and why?

- Do you think you could have achieved this level of performance on your own?

- Do you think that a team with strong people, but no team cohesion could be fast in a boat?

(Why?)

- Do you think that a team with good cohesion can reach a goal that they were not expecting at

the beginning of the season?

- Do you think that the performance of the team is impacted by the cohesion of the people in it,

or do you think it is two completely different things?

- For you in rowing, the most important thing is to be strong to have a good mental.

- Do you think that your mental impacts your performance?

These questions and the survey could help me to collect data. I need at least 6 persons that answer

both. In the interview, I am going to analyze every answer but also, I’m going to highlight the most

frequent answers and try to give an explanation depending on my observations to them. I can also
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transform my questions to be able to interview the coaches and the support staff to have the exterior

aspect.

Andrew W.Ishak, (2017), “Communication in Sports Teams, A Review”, 4. B Cohesion, 13-16

Andrew interprets the concept of team cohesion within the context of sports teams and

examines its implications for team performance. The author draws upon existing research by Carron,

Brawley, and Widmeyer to establish a definition of cohesion that could be applied to any team sport.

The authors’ main argument is that many factors impact sports team cohesion but are most of the same

for the same sport and help people individually get better. He also finds that the motivation climate

affects cohesion. Task-involving climates encourage delf-improvement, support all members,

encourage learning from mistakes, and reward effort. The conclusion that the authors draw is that the

cohesion of one’s team can also affect how athletes view the quality of their personal development.

So, for him, a high perception of task cohesion predicted higher perceptions of personal and social

skills and encouraged initiative, and goal-setting within the team. In conclusion, it helps the team to

have better results and to do better performance.

To draw this conclusion Andrew has released a study on 196 intercollegiate basketball players

to show that 80% of items of cohesion are: attraction to the group, unity of purpose, quality of

teamwork, and valued roles. The data are analyzed to show what are the principal things that impact

cohesion. It's relevant to my study because it shows how cohesion within a sports team can affect its

performance. So, I can apply that to the case of rowing in my study. To demonstrate how rowing

cohesion within the team impacts performance and the results at the end of the season.

Chuka Onwumechili, (2018), “Sports Communication An International Approach”, 1. Studying

communication and sport, 34-46
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The author talks about how important it is to talk and share information when we play sports.

They explain that communication is super important in everything to do with sports. That means how

players talk to each other during a game and even how sports are shown on TV! The author mentions

McChesney from history to show that sports and talking have always been connected. McChesney

talked about this a long time ago to help people understand how sports and communication work

together. The author’s main argument is that the interaction between sport and communication

emphasizes that all human interaction is centered around communication. The author concludes that

whether it’s a coach pondering strategy or an athlete speaking about the opponent, every sporting

event involves communication. This article contributes to the understanding of the importance of

communication in sports contexts, emphasizing its role in facilitating human interaction and shaping

the dynamics of sporting events.

To draw this conclusion, the author is not using data to state his arguments because it is

something that all humans are doing in their everyday lives. After all, we cannot live alone, and we

need to communicate with each other. It's relevant to my research because he is going to help me

develop my argument about the importance of communication, saying that communication is a human

interaction that is used every time you are part of a group, and because rowing is a team sport, this

source could support my argument saying that communication in rowing is the key to success

Dave Winsborough, Thomas Chammaro-Premuzic., (2017), “Great Teams Are About

Personalities, Not Just Skills”, Harvard Business Review, Article

The authors’ purpose is to show how important psychological factors, are the individual

personalities have an impact on a team. The author’s main argument is that the drivers of effective

team performance are the group’s average level of emotional intelligence and a high degree of

communication between members. The authors argue that team performance is not only influenced by

the skills and experience of team members, but also by their personalities, which affect their roles,

interactions, and values within the team. Authors conclude that individuals’ personalities play a

significant role in determining team performance. In particular, personality affects what role you have
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within the team, how you interact with the rest of the team, and whether your values align with the

team’s.

To draw this conclusion the authors, identify five types of team members based on their

personalities: results-oriented, relationship-focused, process and rule followers, innovative and

disruptive thinkers, and pragmatic. They explain how each type contributes to the team and how they

can create synergy or conflict with others. The authors provide two examples of teams with different

profiles of psychological roles and how they affected their performance and dynamics. They suggest

that teams should aim for a balanced mix of personalities to achieve optimal results. It's relevant for

my study because it shows that the individual personality is equally important as the individual

performance. And that they have an impact on the team’s efficiency.

Deborah L, Ian P, Magyar, T. Michelle, Feltz., & Simpson. (2004). "Individual and Crew Level
Determinants of Collective Efficacy in Rowing." Journal of sport and exercise psychology, 136–153.

The authors explore, in their writing, the factors influencing collective efficacy in rowing,

drawing on foundational theories and previous research. To help build their arguments they cite:

Bandura's social cognitive theory, Moriz and Watson's study on team confidence dynamics, Feltz and

Lirgg's work on collective efficacy emerged as the stronger predictor of performance throughout the

competition season, and Zacarro's insights into group dynamics and size. The author’s main

supporting argument is that individuals and groups have an impact on the performance of a team and

that in rowing especially there is a strongest predictor of personal perceptions of collective efficacy. At

the end of the study authors draw the following conclusion: When people row together in a team, how

confident each person feels about their own rowing ability can affect how confident they feel about the

whole team's ability to row well. This means that if someone is very confident in their own rowing

skills, they're also more likely to believe in the team's ability to row well together.

The authors could write this conclusion because they collected data by creating a survey for

rowers between 13 and 18 years old, they needed to complete this survey 48 hours before the final
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champion regatta. Rowers need to rake between 1 for strongly disagree to 5 for strongly agree between

different questions about ego, motivation climate, performance, and individual and collective efficacy.

It’s relevant to my research because he helps to understand and demonstrate my argument on

individual personality and team cohesion which are two big parts of my research. It also talks

specifically about rowing, so it makes it more relevant to my subject too.

Mark de Rond, (2012), There is an I in Team: What Elite Athletes and Coaches Really Know about
High Performance”, 1.Why There is an I in Team, 1-25

The author’s purpose is to show people the importance of being a team. The authors’ main

argument is that there are some really good players in a team, but the best individuals put together do

not necessarily make for the most effective team. Conflict often arises even as people agree on what

needs to be done and why. The productivity of a team depends on how players are committed to the

team and how much effort they are putting into helping the team get better. The authors conclude that

a team with no star player but the same goal and a good relationship between the people in it could be

better than a team with a star player that didn’t have a good relationship with his teammates.

To draw this conclusion, the author finds in his research that Star players increase to 12

percent their chances to win a championship. But the team needs to support their star players during

the match, so the star players need to have good communication. It's relevant to my research because it

shows how relation between every person on the team is really important and it talks about the

importance of being a team and not a group of people that don’t share the same goal.

The Boys in the Boat (2023), directed by George Clooney, performed by Joel Edgerton and Callum
Turner, Amazon MGM Studios Distribution.

In this movie, a rowing team at the University of Washington is composed of few mans from

diverse backgrounds and experiences, but they all share the same goal: to excel in the sport and
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represent the university at the biggest level. This shared purpose unites them and creates team

cohesion. Rowing requires perfect synchronization among team members. Each rower must trust their

teammates to pull their weight and execute their strokes with precision. Through the movie, we can

see that thanks to their cohesion, their boat is getting faster every day, the team also develops a deep

sense of trust, knowing that they can rely on each other to perform at their best. Effective

communication is essential in rowing and this movie shows it because we see that the team, by

learning how to communicate with each other, gets faster and creates a sense of unity. Overall, we see

that team cohesion and communication are the best to get faster in a boat.

To draw this conclusion, in the movie we see coaches talking about which boat is going to try

qualifying their boat to the Olympic games, and they are hesitating between the novice boat (the one

that we follow during the movie) or the varsity boat. They are saying that the varsity boat is composed

of very good individual rowers but all of these rowers together in the same boat are not making the

boat fast, and on the other hand in the novice boat, the rowers have no individual experience but are

fast on the water because of their cohesion. Here is an example that what matters the most in rowing is

team cohesion. This movie is a good summary of all my sources, it summarizes and develops a link

between them. So, I can use these sources in my research to conclude my research.