The relationship between emotional intelligence and Cohesion in Sport Team of athlete students Case study: Eleventh sport Olympiad of Iran Universities

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and Cohesion in Sport Team of athlete students in Eleventh sport Olympiad of Iran Universities. The participants (N=170) were athlete students. Emotional Intelligence questionnaire (Schutte et al., 1998) and Cohesion in Sport Team questionnaire (Carron et al., 1985) were administered. The Emotional Intelligence factors were labeled, emotions-own, emotions-others, use of emotions, and emotional control. The Cohesion in Sport Team factors were individual integration-social, individual integration-task, group integration-task, group integration-social. The results show that there is no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and with the Cohesion in Sport Team its subset of athlete students. Only, there is significant relationship between emotional intelligence and with the individual integration-social of athlete students. Some practical suggestions are that training should not merely focus on what is known as hard skills, but also on softer skills such as emotional intelligence training. It would be advisable to judge each individual or situation on merit before considering emotional intelligence training or coaching, or making emotional intelligence a task prerequisite.