The emergence in soccer of the personal issues of some soccer players who have developed an addiction to betting, with all the negative consequences that have emerged, has highlighted the role that sports clubs together with the families of these young people should play.
Research in the area of group cohesion can make a significant contribution to this effort to direct choices and actions that would be useful in combating this issue, which is so devastating for young people who fall into this trap.
The following are some strategies that could be undertaken should one want to move away from the generic “we will do everything to be close to the boy.”
- emphasize the importance of individual pride and the uniqueness of personal contribution;
- improve everyone’s sense of responsibility to the team and vice versa;
- increase group interactions, commitment to the task and level of cohesion;
- make activities engaging, giving athletes reinforcement to work together, so team pride and identity can be developed;
- increase the identifiability of individual performance as part of the team process;
- divide the team into small units;
- employ a systematic goal setting program, setting specific individual and collective goals and providing regular feedback on their achievement;
- conducting collective meetings and individual meetings to understand and resolve any motivational lapses and personal issues. Direct and supportive interpersonal relationships can serve to boost motivation and understand the reasons why some athletes do not maintain the same level of commitment over time;
- give everyone a specific role, identifiable by all and perceived in positive terms and necessary for both the individual and the group;
- allow athletes to express themselves creatively and feel supported in their ability to take risks.
