UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING CONFLICT IN SPORT

The sporting context is often highly emotive and contested, and therefore, conducive to heightened tension and subsequent conflict. Despite the recent emergence of literature for understanding and managing conflict in sport, a major limitation of this research has been the inadequacy to accept and manage conflict as a complex and dynamic construct. In trying to establish valid and effective means for managing conflict in sport, various theoretical models and practical recommendations have been proposed within the literature. However, it is also important to recognize that processes of psychological inflexibility can interact and/or operate in tandem, and this may need to be considered when understanding and/or managing conflict. Building on the understanding of conflict as a process of psychological inflexibility, managing conflict in sport can then be understood as a matter of developing psychological flexibility. When conflict arises within sporting contexts, it has become somewhat customary to have a sport psychology practitioner (SPP) mediate and manage the issue.