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The purpose of this study was to determine if using team building activities within a university Latin dance course enhances cohesion. Students (N=30) completed the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ; Carron, Widmeyer, & Brawley, 1985), which measures group integration (individuals’ perceptions of the closeness, similarity, and bonding within the group as a whole) and individual attractions to the group in terms of both task and social cohesion. Students also completed an evaluation of the team building activities and wrote reflective essays about their experiences in the course. The course consisted of twenty 90-minute classes. In the third class students were provided an information sheet describing the research. In the fourth class the students completed a demographics questionnaire and the GEQ. The students completed the GEQ again during the ninth class. In classes 10 to 14 team building activities took up roughly the first third of each class. The students completed the GEQ again in classes 15 and 20. In class 16 the students completed the evaluation. The reflective essays were submitted two weeks after the last class. There were no significant differences across time in social cohesion. Group integration task, however, was significantly higher at times 3 and 4 compared to time 1. Students agreed that the team-building activities helped to bond class members, and felt it was valuable for these activities to be included in the unit in the future. The reflective essays indicated the students felt the team building activities improved social factors, and interpersonal, dance, and personal mental skills.

Travel, whether by air, sea, or land, involves a complex interaction of many disparate influences. Activities such as watching beautiful scenery or interacting with friends are perceived by most people as pleasant things to do, whereas sitting for hours in an airplane or waiting to retrieve luggage at an airport are generally seen as less pleasant, sometimes stressful activities. In this section, I will address the influence of jet lag, sleep deprivation, mood responses, and effects of travel on athletic performance.

Sport psychologists, in their work as applied practitioners, face a very challenging yet rewarding task in trying to help individual athletes or teams fulfil their athletic potential. For any athlete, there are potentially a wide range of internal and external forces to consider that can exert influence upon performance and psychological wellbeing. The list of factors that impinge upon individual performance grows considerably once the complexities of group dynamics are added, such that when working with teams our professional skills are likely to be severely tested at times. Take this complex challenge and put it into a completely new cultural context and the complexity grows still further; indeed the ground may appear to shift beneath your feet. This chapter has been written to provide guidance for sport psychology practitioners who have occasion to work cross-culturally and who recognise that cultural differences may necessitate significant changes to their normal way of operating.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of structured self-reflection in community dance classes would influence achievement goal orientations, levels of intrinsic motivation, or perceived dance performance. The Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ) and the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) were modified slightly to reflect involvement in salsa dancing rather than sport and then were administered to 139 Latin dance students at the beginning and end of an 11-week term. The dance classes were divided into control and intervention groups, balanced in terms of sample size and level of instruction. The intervention group completed a salsa self-reflection form during or after class for 9 weeks. At the posttest all students rated their salsa performance and the intervention group evaluated the self-reflection process. Results indicate that although achievement goal orientations were not affected, structured sell-reflection is perceived to be a positive tool and may be a useful technique to enhance perceived performance and maintain effort and perceived importance. The participants' perceptions of the self-reflection process were positive, with no negative effects of engaging in the process reported.