The effect of adventure-based experiential training on team cohesion of the HKIEd female soccer team: A pilot study

Adventure-based experiential training (ABET) has been claimed as a powerful and exciting method in education and company team development. The present study is in progress and aims to investigate how such a programme affects the team cohesion of a group of higher-education female soccer players. Twenty (Hong Kong Institute of Education, HKIEd) female soccer team players (mean age 21 years) participated in this quasi-experimental study. The ABET programme (a 3-hour training session with group initiative activities followed by a 1-day 8-hour challenge course events) will be conducted by trained facilitators 2 months after the team is formed. Team cohesion will be measured using a self-administered 18-item Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) with 4 subscales: Individual Attraction to Group Task, Individual Attraction to Group Social, Integration to Group Task, and Integration to Group Social (Carron, Brawley & Wildmeyer, 2002). The GEQ will be administered at (a) Baseline 1 (immediately when the team was formed), (b) Baseline 2 (1 week before the ABET programme), (c) Pretest (immediately prior to the ABET programme), (d) Posttest 1 (immediately following the ABET programme), (e) Posttest 2 (immediately at the commencement of the competition season), and (f) Follow-up (2 months after the competition season). Two baseline administrations were included due to the lack of a control group. Both immediate and long-term effects of the ABET programme will be assessed using 1-way ANOVA with post hoc comparisons (p<0.05). A positive correlation between the ABET programme and cohesion is expected. The results will be useful for sports team managers in programmes planning and coaches in enhancing team morale.