Case Study on Track and Field Reward-Based Systems

Track and field events are among the individual sports whereby individual effort is more important than the team strategy in winning the event. Team work on the other hand is quite important since when people work together, they tend to gain more as opposed to individual effort (John, 2007). This is well attributed to Kenyan athletes who in most cases employ team work in this individualized event to scoop top medals more so in 3000 m steeple chase, whereby they are seen to encourage one another and more so working as a team through out the race. Reward system can be good or bad depending on how it is implemented. To enhance team work, the coach needs to emphasize to athletes the importance of winning many medals as this will count on overall performance of the institution. Though an individualized sport, the coach can emphasize on rewarding the whole team rather than individual in that particular event, based on their performance. For reward system to be used, it has to include all documentation that will sustain improvements. First is to develop infrastructure where participants feel free to talk about their skills with open discussions in groups, (Volckmann, 2007). There are many ways of rewarding and encouraging team work in the institution. Some of the recommendation for rewarding the best performance will include a day out, a weekend to some of prestigious training grounds, partial or full time scholarship to the team that wins consecutive trophies and promoting the team with sports attire which will elevate their morale. In order for the athletes to work as a team, the coach should categorize the events so that all the athletes that fall under that category embrace the element of team work. The reward system should be based on the sub category of the events athletes fall in. These categories may include short races, middle distance races and long distance races. On the side of field events, he can include throwing events and jumping event. Conclusion The reward system will encourage participants to be more cooperative and be more competitive, thus more teamwork. References: John,H. (2007). Benefits of team work and collaboration. New York: Penguin publishers. Houlihan and Green (2008), Comparative elite sport development: systems, structures and public policy, First edition, Oxford, Elsevier ltd.