Communication between teammates can be an important essence of playing sports, both team and individual. Though interactions between athletes may appear as an easy action, factors such as friendships and personalities may vary or limit the amount of comfortability that other players have with speaking up throughout the game.
Freshman volleyball and track and field participant Mia Villmow reflected on what exactly a “sports friendship” is and how it can affect a team’s connection throughout practices and games.
“(Sports friendship is) if you’re comfortable around each other, if you could work together well and if you can give each other feedback,” Villmow said. “If teammates are awkward around each other, then it could affect the play, but if they’re close to each other, they’re more comfortable playing together.”
Relationships can grow throughout the process of athletes interacting with each other during the season. Freshman badminton and volleyball player Yash Patel has observed that athletes can get to know each other throughout practice.
“At first it’s just, ‘Oh, this is the guy that practices with me,’ and then after you play games and whatnot, it sort of becomes, ‘Oh yeah, this guy’s one of my close friends,’” Patel said.
Personality may also play a part in how well athletes communicate with others. From her experience, Villmow has noticed that players with varying personalities also differ in how much they talk to teammates on the field.
“If a person is more extroverted, they are more likely to communicate a lot more, but if they’re more on the introverted side, then they may still communicate but not as much as the extroverted person,” Villmow said.
Junior Breanna Diaz believes personalities beyond extroverted and introverted may also affect teamwork and relationships between athletes.
“If they’re self-centered and they just want to score for themselves, then it’s not a very good environment for them nor who they’re playing with,” Diaz said. “It just (creates) a tense environment, and it can cause problems between the players.”
As athletes develop bonds with each other, coaches like varsity soccer coach Dan Sequeira make an effort to encourage connections during practices.
“Once in a while, we’ll do a team bonding so everybody knows what’s going on. We try to do some kind of drills to do some kind of team bonding so they know how to communicate better out there with all of us,” Sequeira said.
Even with a coach’s support, issues can arise when emotions get heated and interfere with the game and players mindsets.
“Sometimes their emotions get crazy, I admit. We started 7 and 0 in preseason and then we lost three in a row, but then everybody points the finger, and I tell them you guys can’t point the finger at everybody. We’re all a team. We gotta work together,” Sequeira said.
Similarly, Diaz believes emotions play a role in preventing smooth communication from one teammate to another.
“It’s difficult because in the moment, your adrenaline peaks higher, so players tend to get into the mindset of focusing on the game that they forget to focus or engage with other players,” Diaz said.
Emotions aside, friendships between players before the season began may also hinder how well they communicate with each other. Villmow expressed how during track season, some athletes may find it difficult to be able to bond with their teammates who already had pre-existing friendships with each other.
“For joining track (where) everyone’s together, unless you have your own friends, it can be hard to fit in at first, but then you’ll create lots of friends with other grades, and it’s really fun.” Villmow said.
Tension and emotions can obstruct communication, which is an important aspect that players must get past in order to work well with teammates effectively. While a game can go smoothly without close friendships between athletes, Diaz emphasised that it is important for all athletes to incorporate communicating during their game to enhance all around performance and teamwork.
“When I communicate with someone, it’s because I need to tell them (something), during a sport especially. If you’re on the field, you’re passing the ball, you need to keep an eye out, calling their name out, and stuff like that,” Diaz said. “If you don’t have communication, then that might lead to missing a score, a goal, or just missing the opportunity to be in a community.”