‘Keep the pace! You’ve got this!’: The Content and Meaning of Impactful Crowd Encouragement at Mass Running Events

Gibbs-Nicholls, Sophie, McCormick, Alister and Coyle, Melissa (2022) ‘Keep the pace! You’ve got this!’: The Content and Meaning of Impactful Crowd Encouragement at Mass Running Events. The Sport Psychologist, 36 (2). pp. 115-127. ISSN 1543-2793 | 0888-4781

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1123/tsp.2021-0082

Abstract

This study identified helpful and unhelpful encouragement at mass-participation running events and explored meaning that runners found in encouragement. First, 10k and half-marathon post-event surveys differentiated instructional and motivational components of helpful and unhelpful support. Second, an inductive, reflexive thematic analysis of 14 interviews highlighted the reciprocal relationship between the crowd and runners, whereby quality of support was reflected in runners’ emotions and behaviour. Participants drew pride in participation and belief from the crowd, and they wanted to ‘give back’ through doing their best. Personal and authentic support was particularly valued. Although support was widely appreciated, at times it created a pressure to ‘perform’. As a novel intervention based on our combined findings, we recommend that crowds, event organisers, and psyching teams give encouragement ‘with IMPACT’ (Instructional; Motivational; Personalised; Authentic; Confidence-building; Tailored to the distance). Crowds should demonstrate the ‘core conditions’ of authenticity, empathy, and being non-judgmental within their encouragement.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	10k, endurance sports, endurance performance, half marathon, psyching teams, qualitative research, verbal encouragement
Depositing User:	Ms Raisa Burton
Date Deposited:	05 Nov 2021 14:01
Last Modified:	05 Jun 2024 11:39
URI:	https://marjon.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/17665
Related URLs:	http://journals ... inetics.com/tsp (Publisher URL)

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