Contributing Factors to the Development of Shared Understanding within Football Teams

Shared understanding is defined as two or more people thinking similarly in specific situations (Blickensderfer et al. 2010). Various factors have been stated to be crucial to the development of shared understanding within team sports like football, facilitating accurate prediction the actions and enabling an effective team performance. This research considered the perspectives of Scottish youth, amateur and junior male football players to outline contributing factors to the development of shared understanding within football teams. These perspectives were gathered through semi-structured interview approach, transcribed, and then analyzed through thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke 2019). Participants suggested that a combination of experience performing together, social cohesion and effective methods of communication were crucial for developing shared understanding between players which facilitates accurate prediction of actions, leading to a coordinated performance. These findings outline the importance of a combination of contributing factors to the development of shared understanding within football teams.