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Nonverbal post-shot celebrations and their relationship with performance in elite handball

Moesch, Karin LU ; Kenttä, Göran ; Bäckström, Martin LU and Mattsson, C. Mikael (2018) In International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 16(3). p.235-249
Abstract

Nonverbal behaviour has an important function in team sports, but research is limited. Adopting a psychological momentum (PM) framework, this study explores the relationship between a team’s history of events, nonverbal post-shot celebrations in the form of gestures and touch shown by the shooter after scoring, and subsequent team performance during handball matches. A naturalistic design with systematic observation was chosen for the present study. Based on an existing coding scheme, 616 post-shot periods from 18 high-stake matches of the highest league in Sweden were analysed. Results showed that the better a team’s prior performance, the more gestures were displayed after scoring in the following period. A high degree of touch when... (More)

Nonverbal behaviour has an important function in team sports, but research is limited. Adopting a psychological momentum (PM) framework, this study explores the relationship between a team’s history of events, nonverbal post-shot celebrations in the form of gestures and touch shown by the shooter after scoring, and subsequent team performance during handball matches. A naturalistic design with systematic observation was chosen for the present study. Based on an existing coding scheme, 616 post-shot periods from 18 high-stake matches of the highest league in Sweden were analysed. Results showed that the better a team’s prior performance, the more gestures were displayed after scoring in the following period. A high degree of touch when playing well, and a low degree of touch when playing poorly were related to positive subsequent team performance, while, showing much touch when playing poorly, or showing little touch when playing well were related to negative subsequent team performance. The amount of displayed gesture and touch alone was not significantly related to subsequent team performance. To conclude, nonverbal post-shot celebrations were related to subsequent team performance, but only when the ongoing history of events was taken into account, and only for touch. Based on these results, the history of events emerges as an important variable when the dynamics of ongoing team sport matches are investigated. Furthermore, touch, compared to gesture, seems to be of more importance for subsequent team performance. As expected when investigating complex phenomena in ongoing matches, the findings resulted in small effect sizes.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
emotional expression, gesture, psychological momentum, team sport, touch
in
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
volume
16
issue
3
pages
235 - 249
publisher
Fitness Information Technology Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:84981237606
ISSN
1612-197X
DOI
10.1080/1612197X.2016.1216148
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
eb284b04-fd7e-4af2-901b-2290d408f48f
date added to LUP
2016-12-09 08:59:48
date last changed
2022-04-24 19:51:58
@article{eb284b04-fd7e-4af2-901b-2290d408f48f,
  abstract     = {{<p>Nonverbal behaviour has an important function in team sports, but research is limited. Adopting a psychological momentum (PM) framework, this study explores the relationship between a team’s history of events, nonverbal post-shot celebrations in the form of gestures and touch shown by the shooter after scoring, and subsequent team performance during handball matches. A naturalistic design with systematic observation was chosen for the present study. Based on an existing coding scheme, 616 post-shot periods from 18 high-stake matches of the highest league in Sweden were analysed. Results showed that the better a team’s prior performance, the more gestures were displayed after scoring in the following period. A high degree of touch when playing well, and a low degree of touch when playing poorly were related to positive subsequent team performance, while, showing much touch when playing poorly, or showing little touch when playing well were related to negative subsequent team performance. The amount of displayed gesture and touch alone was not significantly related to subsequent team performance. To conclude, nonverbal post-shot celebrations were related to subsequent team performance, but only when the ongoing history of events was taken into account, and only for touch. Based on these results, the history of events emerges as an important variable when the dynamics of ongoing team sport matches are investigated. Furthermore, touch, compared to gesture, seems to be of more importance for subsequent team performance. As expected when investigating complex phenomena in ongoing matches, the findings resulted in small effect sizes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Moesch, Karin and Kenttä, Göran and Bäckström, Martin and Mattsson, C. Mikael}},
  issn         = {{1612-197X}},
  keywords     = {{emotional expression; gesture; psychological momentum; team sport; touch}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{235--249}},
  publisher    = {{Fitness Information Technology Inc.}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology}},
  title        = {{Nonverbal post-shot celebrations and their relationship with performance in elite handball}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2016.1216148}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/1612197X.2016.1216148}},
  volume       = {{16}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}