Aðalbygging, 050

Íþróttir og samfélag

Málstofustjóri: Viðar Halldórsson

Analyzing team spirit through players´ use of symbolic gestures: A case study of Argentina versus Iceland at the men´s 2018 football World Cup

The creation of team spirit is one of the most important and difficult challenges of contemporary sports. Team spirit is on one hand important for team efficiency and team success and on the other difficult to account for due to its emergent and impervious nature. Team spirit is especially important in the midst of the dynamic on-the-field game action where sport teams rely on active communication between team members in order to meet the many challenges of sporting contests. Verbal communication is however often problematic during games and members of a team need to make use of symbolic gestures to communicate. The literature has however been inattentive to the role of symbolic gestures in sports, especially in regard to team spirit and team performance. This paper is a case study of a single football match. It makes use of micro-sociological theory and perspective to account for players´ use of symbolic communication and gestures in regard to team spirit. The findings from the analysed match reveal players’ use of various forms of symbolic communication and gestures, which could be recognized as positive, negative or neutral for on-the-field team spirit.

Viðar Halldórsson

The Social and Psychological Unerpinnings of Iranian wrestlers

Why can some people bounce back from adversity and stay persistent, while others stop when they encounter obstacles? This study aimed to look at the importance of psycho-social factors as a predictor of the success of Iranian elite wrestlers. We conducted a questionnaire survey among Iranian national wrestlers, as with students of Tehran University (control group). The questionnaire consisted of background questions and measures and tests of the following scales: The Passion Scale (Sigmundsson, 2019), The Grit-S Scale (Duckworth & Quinn, 2009), The Mindset Scale (Dweck, 1999), The work and meaning scales (Steger, 2011) and, The Craftsmanship Scale (Thorlindsson & Halldorsson, 2019). We hypothesized that national wrestlers score higher on all accounts compared to the controls. Our findings support our hypotheses for most parts. Passion, the intense desire for some endeavor, is an important issue for sport achievement as is Grit that requires continuous hard work, perseverance in overcoming setbacks and sustained focus. Furthermore, the findings show that wrestlers have a tendency towards growth mindset (incremental theory, the belief in one’s ability to learn and succeed) – opposed to a fixed mindset (entity theory). Mindset is probably an important underlying cognitive factor for grit and passion. Finally, our analysis shows the craftsmanship approach that emphasis on intrinsic motivation, holistic understanding, and informal learning makes sport more meaningful for athletes.

Saeed Shamshirian, Viðar Halldórsson og Hermundur Sigmundsson

Út vil ek

Atvinnumennska í knattspyrnu er gjarnan sveipuð dýrðarljóma. Fjölmiðlar birta okkur myndir af einstaklingum sem eru umvafðir frægð og frama og eru hetjur í augum milljóna aðdáenda um allan heim. Það eiga því margir ungir knattspyrnumenn þann draum að komast út í atvinnumennsku. En hversu réttmæt er sú ímynd sem haldið er á lofti? Er líf atvinnumannsins jafn eftir­sóknarvert og af er látið? Markmið rannsóknarinnar er að varpa ljósi á upplifun einstaklinga sem fóru ungir að aldri út í atvinnu­mennsku. Tekin voru viðtöl við átta Íslendinga sem eiga það sameiginlegt að hafa skrifað undir atvinnumannasamning við erlent lið þegar þeir voru 15 til 18 ára. Niðurstöður sýna að upplifun strákanna var afar fjölbreytt. Sumir viðmælendanna komu fljótlega aftur heim eftir misheppnaða dvöl á meðan aðrir höfðu það sem til þurfti til þess að fóta sig í atvinnumennskunni. Það var þó ýmislegt sem þeir áttu sameiginlegt. Þeir lýstu þannig flestir einmanaleika, fjandsamlegu viðmóti og einhvers konar menningarsjokki. Mikilvægi andlegs styrks og stuðnings frá vinum og ættingjum var þeim einnig ofarlega í huga. Niður­stöðurnar benda til þess að atvinnumennskan sé síður en svo dans á rósum og alls ekki fyrir alla. Það er því mikilvægt fyrir unga og efnilega leikmenn sem eiga möguleika á því að fara utan og upplifa drauminn að vanda valið vel.

Guðjón Þór Ólafsson