The Development of Communication for Building Thai National Football Teams towords Excellence

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to study patterns of communication used to foster excellence in Thai national football team; 2) to study methods of communication used to foster excellence in Thai national football team; 3) to study communication strategies used to foster excellence in
Thai national football team; 4) to study the communication capabilities of the team’s coach and team members; 5) to study factors that affect the team’s communication; and 6) to recommend approaches to improve communications to foster excellence.

This was a mixed methods research combining qualitative and quantitative methods. For the qualitative portion, the 15 key informants consisted of 3 head coaches, 1 team captain and the 11 players who were in the Thai national football team that competed in the SEA Games. The informants were chosen through purposive sampling from among 3 finalist teams. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using an interview form and a group discussion and were analyzed deductively. For the quantitative portion, data were collected using a questionnaire administered to the 225 members of the 5 national teams (chosen through purposive sampling) and were analyzed using percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

The results showed that 1) Patterns of communication used for fostering excellence consisted of individual internal self-communication of the coaches, captain, and players for goal-setting, creating incentives, and planning actions; interpersonal communications to exchange information and reduce stress; and small group communication to assign roles, build relationships and set common goals for the team. These patterns were used before, during and after matches. 2) Methods of communication should include both verbal and nonverbal communication before, during and after matches, but mostly nonverbal communication during matches. 3) There were 3 stages of planning communication strategies used for team building: analyzing the situation, setting objectives and deciding on communication strategies. The strategies were communicating via activities, giving commands, internalizing graphic memories, creating visions and mental pictures, and inspiration to build on aspirations for excellence. 4) Team members gave the opinion that head coaches needed communication capabilities the most, followed by ability to inspire and leadership. 5) Factors that affected communication were, foremost, communication among team members, which impacted the relationships within the team the most; second was the assistant coaches, who impacted informal communications; and lastly, the personal relationships between different players affected communications within the team. 6) Recommended approaches to improve communications to further foster excellence were to follow FIFA’s guidelines and the national athletics development policy of bolstering physical and mental capabilities as well as methods and strategies; and to use communication patterns, methods and strategies that were suitable for each stage of competition.