Knowledge and understanding - Emotional factorsTrust

Trust is when there is a strong belief either in a positive or negative way that the actions or ability of someone else is either good or not good enough to succeed.

Positive impact

A 4 x 100m sprint relay team have very good trust in each other due to hard work and friendship in training.

In the race this trust is shown at the baton change overs. Each outgoing runner sets off and trusts the call will be made properly. They do not need to look back, and this means they stay much safer in the lane, the change is much smoother and the speed of the race is maintained.

This helps maintain the overall speed of the team, giving them a much better chance of winning.

A cycling team are closing down a break-away gap in a longer race. The trust in the team is shown by how close the team cycle together - almost wheel to wheel.

Each cyclist trusts the one ahead not to slow down or deviate. This allows the team as a whole to be much more streamlined and this means the group actually travel faster.

This means they can maintain a high speed in the pursuit - giving them a much better chance of closing the gap.

Negative impact

During a doubles badminton match one of the players does not have much trust in their partner to play suitable shots during the rallies. This player starts to move into an area of the court which should be covered by the other player.

The opponents notice this and start to take advantage by then playing the next shot into the empty spaces, creating much easier scoring chances.

In a football match one of the most effective players on the team has received a yellow card for fouling. The manager does not have enough trust in the player to maintain his discipline so substitutes him off.

The midfield players struggle to cope with the more defensive role the subbed player was filling. This gives an important advantage to opponents in the last part of the match, increasing their chance of scoring.