Shared Mental Models: National Representative Coaches’ Thinking on Importance, Characteristics, and Development

Abstract

The aims of the study were to explore how national representative handball coaches reflect on the cognitive properties of the team and how these attributes are developed through team practice. A theoretical (shared mental models) thematic analysis was conducted, and five coaches with extensive experience from the national team and elite clubs participated. The data were analyzed with regard to three overarching topics: importance, characteristics, and development of shared mental models. The interviews revealed that measures intended to influence a shared mental model permeate team practice and underpin the assumption of opponent-specific shared mental models. Alignment between briefings and debriefings as well as field practice were emphasized and used to enhance a shared mental model and understood as measures that facilitate pattern recognition and primed decisions. Single-loop as well as double-loop learning were identified as coaching initiatives to promote the development of shared mental models. Systematic practice with the goal of promoting coordination through repetition of the coordinative patterns in critical game situations was emphasized. Implicit communication is a characteristic of teams sharing a mental model, and distinct proactive bodily movements were emphasized as a crucial requirement for coordination. A model was elaborated to show how the categories can be understood in the cyclic relation between matches and the development of shared mental models.