Psychological Program to Increase the Level of Emotional Intelligence of Children's Coaches of Sports Associations

Rostovtseva Marina Viktorovna Doctor of Philosophy Professor, Siberian Federal University 660030, Russia, Krasnoyarskii Krai oblast', g. Krasnoyarsk, ul. Vil'skogo, 18a, kv. 58 marin-0880@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Goncharova Tat'yana Mikhailovna PhD in Philosophy Associate Professor, Lesosibirsk Branch of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Siberian State University of Science and Technology. F.M. Reshetnev, Department of Humanities and Socio-Political Disciplines 662543, Russia, Krasnoyarsk region, Lesosibirsk, Pobedy str., 29 tmgoncharova@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Gudovskii Igor' Vital'evich PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy Siberian State University of Science and Technology named after V.I. M.F. Reshetnev 31, Krasnoyarsk Worker Ave., Krasnoyarsk, 660049, Russia marin-0880@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Khokhrina Zoya Vasil'evna PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor at Lyceum №9 im. A.M. Kleshko, Krasnoyarsk 660062, Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Semaphornaya str., 247a, office 9 itss@bk.ru Other publications by this author

Trofimova Valentina Viktorovna Assistant, Department of Information Technologies for Education and Lifelong Education, Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny str., Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia VVtrofimova@sfu-kras.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction. The relevance of the chosen research topic is related to the fact that emotional intelligence as a psychological construct of the inner world of a person is very important for building adequate interpersonal communication, understanding and acceptance by people of each other. Alexandrova N.P. defines emotional intelligence as "a kind of social intelligence that affects an individual's ability to track their own and others' feelings and emotions" ^[1]. For the first time, this concept was first introduced in 1990 by J. Mayer and P. Salovey ^[4]. The importance and necessity of developing the components of emotional intelligence as factors contributing not only to the personal and professional growth of an individual, but also influencing the success of his professional activity are also indisputable. For example, emotional intelligence plays an important role in the professional activities of teachers, coaches in the process of interaction and communication with children, in order to establish more complete contact, as a means of achieving understanding and acceptance of the emotions and feelings of a child from an adult ^{[2, 3, 11]}.

The effectiveness of teaching in the section is an interaction that opens up activity and purposefulness in the child ^[13]. Emotional intelligence is necessary in the work of a modern teacher, coach, to help students successfully adapt to society, its laws, legal, ethical norms in the section ^{[6, 7]}.

The problem of emotional intelligence, being popular in psychology, is little covered in its sports industry. A high level of emotional intelligence development of a coach is a key factor and the most important quality reflecting the ability to establish relationships with a child athlete in his preparation for competitions. Coaches with a high level of emotional intelligence are able to inspire, inspire, awaken excitement, maintain high motivation and dedication to the team among the athletes. The relationship between the level of development of the emotional intelligence of the coach and the effectiveness of the child's sports training is obvious ^{[1, 2]}, however, as studies ^{[3, 4]} and practice show, there is often misunderstanding, rejection, conflicts between the coach and the child, one of the reasons for which is the low emotional intelligence of teachers-coaches.

There is a contradiction between the relevance of the study of the emotional intelligence of a children's sports section coach, on the one hand, and the insufficiency of the development and application of methods for improving it among sports section coaches, on the other hand ^{[8,9, 10]}.

In this regard, the purpose of our work is to develop a program to increase the level of emotional intelligence among children's coaches of sports sections.

The object of our research is the emotional intelligence of children's coaches of sports sections, the subject is a program to increase the level of emotional intelligence of children's coaches of sports sections.

The scientific novelty of the study is due to the fact that the proposed program for improving the level of emotional intelligence of children's sports section coaches is based on exercises developed by the authors. The program is built in a certain logic of working with emotions, and includes: awareness of one's emotions and the emotions of other people in various situations, mastering the ability to manage one's emotions and the emotions of others, and based on this, acquiring the ability to control the behavior of other people, including in non-standard situations.

Theoretical analysis. The American psychologist D. Goleman ^[4] in his work in 1995 defined emotional intelligence as the ability of a person to analyze his emotions and the emotions of others ^[3].

Today, the most famous publications in the literature on the problem of emotional intelligence are: "Development of emotional intelligence" by Leonid Krol; "Emotional Intelligence of a leader" by Paul Ekman; "Psychology of Emotions" by Robert Tallon and Mario Sikora; etc. In the most general terms, emotional intelligence characterizes a person's ability to feel and understand the world around them at the level of emotion. This is especially important in the field of adult-child interaction, and in particular, we are interested in the problem of relationships and building effective interaction in the field of sports activities between coaches and their students. 

Interesting solutions to many theoretical and practical problems of emotional intelligence are presented by G.G. Garskova, I.N. Andreeva, D.V. Lyusin, E.L. Nosenko, N.V. Kovriga, O.I. Vlasova, G.V. Yusupova, M.A. Manoylova, T.P. Berezovskaya, A.P.Lobanov, A.C. Petrovskaya and other scientists, who are working on the problem of developing emotional intelligence within the framework of Russian psychology.

In our study, we rely on the concept of D. Goleman, who understands emotional intelligence as: knowing one's emotions, knowing the emotions of others, managing one's emotions, managing the emotions of others ^[4]. In accordance with modern concepts, emotional intelligence is also understood as the features of stress tolerance and self-esteem, both of the coach and the students of the sections, this is the ability of a person to emergency reactions and high decision-making speed ^[5].

Study. The study was conducted with 21 trainers of children's sports sections on the basis of the youth "Technical Design Center" in the city of Krasnoyarsk.

Our research was conducted in three stages.

At the first stage, a ascertaining experiment was conducted to determine the level of emotional intelligence in children's coaches of sports sections. The diagnosis of emotional intelligence in trainers was carried out with the help of the emotional intelligence questionnaire of S. Shabanov and A. Alyoshina.

At the second stage, a formative experiment was conducted, which consisted in conducting special exercises to increase emotional intelligence in children's coaches of sports sections.

At the third stage, a control experiment was conducted to determine the shift in the level of emotional intelligence in children's coaches of sports sections.

Children's coaches of sports sections in the number of 21 people took part in our study. The age of the subjects is 35-41 years old male. Experience as trainers (fitness training in various directions: "Pilates", "shaping", "stretching", etc.) - 13-15 years.  

We collected data using the emotional intelligence questionnaire of S. Shabanov and A. Alyoshina. When processing the received data, we used the developed instructions for determining the level of emotional intelligence.  

All the subjects were divided into 2 groups: control and experimental.

The following results were obtained in an experimental group of subjects (10 people): the number of people with an average level of emotional intelligence is 7 people - 64%, with a low level – 3 people – 36%. Respondents with a high level of emotional intelligence were not identified (Figure 1).

 Figure 1 - Percentage ratio of trainers with different levels of emotional intelligence in the experimental group before the experimentIn the control group: 6 people – 52% with a low level; 5 people – 48% with an average level.

Respondents with a high level of emotional intelligence were not identified (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Percentage ratio of trainers with different levels of emotional intelligence in the control group before the experiment

After conducting our experiment (testing the developed research program) in the experimental group, the level of emotional intelligence increased in 6 people. (52%): the high level was observed in 4 people (46%), the average level decreased by 4 people (46%) and the low level remained in 1 respondent (9%).  The data is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 – Dynamics of changes in the level of emotional intelligence in children's coaches of sports sections before and after the experiment in an experimental group of subjects.

The situation in the control group of respondents has not changed.

To compare two empirical distributions among themselves, we used the criterion ? ².

Let's assume that the testing of a specially designed program does not have an effect on the growth of the level of emotional intelligence among coaches. For calculations based on criterion ? ², we present the data obtained in the following form (see Table 1).

Table 1 – Calculation table by criterion ? ^{2Factorial feature}

The number of degrees of freedom is 2. The value of the criterion ? ² is 12.882. The critical value ? ² at the significance level p= 0.01 is 9.21. The relationship between the factorial and effective signs is statistically significant at the significance level p<0.01. The significance level p=0.002.

The value obtained by us allows us to reject the hypothesis that there is no connection between the effective testing of a specially developed program and an increase in the level of emotional intelligence. Rejecting this hypothesis, we risk making a mistake with a probability of less than 1%.

Thus, the results of primary and repeated diagnostics obtained by us in the experimental group show an increase in the level of emotional intelligence among trainers. This fact suggests that the program we have developed provides an increase in the level of emotional intelligence.

Program. The program for the formation and development of emotional intelligence in children's coaches is subject to a certain logic of working with emotions, and included awareness of their emotions and the emotions of other people in various situations, mastering the ability to manage their emotions and emotions and the behavior of other people in non-standard situations. The following material was selected for the experiment:

-black bag;

- cards with images of various emotions;

- old magazines for cutting out

- scissors, whatman, sheets of paper, pens, pencils, markers, markers;

- sweater, hat, shirt, glasses, shoes;

- house rats, cage.

Our experiment in the form of a specially developed program includes 4 stages:

Stage 1. "I am an emotion – a feeling"

Stage 2. "I control emotions"

Stage 3. "I control my behavior"

 Stage 4 – consolidation: "I understand and recognize the emotions of others."

At each stage, the coaches of the sports sections underwent various exercises and trainings aimed at increasing their emotional intelligence.

The study was conducted for six weeks.

Stage 1. "I am an emotion – feeling" (1st week). At this stage, participants learn to be aware of their emotions and the emotions of other people in various situations

Exercise 1. "Black Bag"

Participants are instructed that there are cards with images of various emotions in the black bag. The participants take out the cards in turn and name the emotion they see on the card.

At the end of this exercise, there was a discussion in the group about who understands this or that emotion.

Exercise 2. "Collage"

Purpose: group cohesion, creation of a trusting atmosphere.

Group cohesion is a systemic quality of the group. If the members of the group strive for a common goal, atmospheric intimacy and trust, then we can say that they have group cohesion. If the members of the group have group cohesion, then they should also have cohesion in the emotional, behavioral and value spheres.

Equipment: several sheets of paper, old magazines that you will need to cut out collage elements, markers, pencils, paints, brushes, water.

Coaches of children's sports sections were united in small groups (2-3 people). They were asked to create a general collage that would reflect the emotional portrait of each small group. All participants drew, added to the collage those elements that, in their opinion, characterized their emotional life.

Collages could be made until the end of the seminar. Then these collages were placed on the wall in the workroom. The moderator directed the group to analyze images, search for differences and similarities, and a reflexive discussion was held between all participants.

From this exercise, we can conclude that all people experience the same emotions, but some more often – others less often, some stronger – others weaker.

Exercise 3. "My emotions"

Purpose: development of introspection skills among children's coaches of sports sections, the ability to understand the most significant emotional experiences.

All participants are given instructions: "Analyze what feelings you have experienced over the past month or a couple of months more often than others? What gave you the greatest joy during this time? What emotions have you lacked in your life? What upset you most often? What made you happy most often? What caused the excitement? Anxiety? What caused disgust? What were you afraid of most often?"

Participants write down the answers to the questions, then read them out. Then there is a discussion in the group.

Exercise 4. "Sadness, grief, depression".

Purpose: to introduce trainers to emotions such as sadness, grief, depression. Also, the goal should be noted the development of awareness about emotions.

All participants are given instructions: "Dear participants, I ask you to remember the most vivid experience of grief or sadness in your life, and share your story with us" Each member of the group told his story at will. The presenter asked questions: "What do you think is sadness? Why does a person need sadness? Is it possible to live without sadness? What is grieving? Why does a person need it? Is it possible to live without grief? What personal changes occur in a person in the process of grieving? How to help a person in grief? How did other people help you in your grief?"

Stage 2. "I control emotions" (2-3 weeks). At this stage, the development of the ability to manage your emotions and the emotions of others takes place,

Exercise 1. "Disgusting fitting"

Purpose: to introduce trainers to the emotion of disgust; its influence on a person's life, to learn how to manage their emotions.

The trainers were asked to try on four things: the sweater of a brutal killer, the hat of a person with AIDS, the glasses of a person without a fixed place of residence, the shoes of a person who does not like to wash (dirty).  

When the participants tried on things, the presenter asked them questions related to their feelings from this fitting.

Exercise 2. "Fall and trust".

Purpose: familiarity with the feeling of trust, the ability of group members to control their own emotions; analysis of the feeling of trust.

During the performance of this exercise, the coaches stood in one big circle. One person was asked to stand in the center of the circle.  The presenter offered him to fall into the hands of someone from the circle.  The participant closed his eyes, relaxed and fell back. Each participant was given the opportunity to fall and catch someone. At the end of the task, the group discussed the impressions of the completed exercise.

There was a discussion with the participants of this exercise. The participants were asked what emotions they experienced. It was fear, anxiety, distrust of another person.  The presenter drew a parallel between the concepts of trust and unconditional acceptance and their importance in establishing close, trusting, close relationships with other people.

Stage 3. "I control my behavior" (Week 4)

 At this stage, the goal is to teach participants how to manage their behavior by managing their emotions.

Exercise 1. "I tame my fear"

Purpose: to identify the fears of the group members, awareness of their own fears, the ability to control (tame) their fear. .

Equipment:  house rats.

To increase the level of emotional intelligence, a children's sports section coach needs to develop self-control skills. Fighting your fears is one of the ways to control your own emotions. Participants are invited to "tame their fear." In our training, domestic rats are used in the form of "tamed fears". Participants were asked to stroke and touch, if desired, to pick up an animal that causes fear. After that, many realized the causelessness of their fear and became able to take animals in their arms, etc.  

At the end of the exercise, a discussion was held with the participants of the experiment.

Stage 4 - fixing. "I understand and recognize the emotions of others" (5-6 weeks)

At this stage, the goal will be to learn to understand the emotions of other people, as well as to be able to influence the emotional state of other people.

Exercise 1. "Trusting running"

Purpose: to provoke emotions, to develop impulsivity. This exercise acts as a training of a person's ability to "surrender to circumstances"here and now."

The group of coaches was divided into pairs. There was a wingman and a leader in each pair, they held hands. Next, all pairs were given the general rate of Brownian motion. At the same time, the wingmen had to move with their eyes closed, trusting the leader, who was responsible for the fact that his wingman would not collide with anyone.

The participants experienced emotions such as surprise, fear, and inspiration. They couldn't help shouting and laughing. The emotional trail remained with all participants for a long time.

Exercise 2. "Empathic listening"

Our exercise "empathic listening" requires an interlocutor. The essence of the exercise is to listen to the interlocutor about what is important to him and create a sentence that conveys as accurately as possible what he feels at the same time. It was important to pay attention to exactly what your interlocutor feels and thinks about.

Participants were offered the following:  "Dear participants, you are invited to think about something intimate and of great importance to you in your life. Please share this with your interlocutor. I ask you to try to describe the situation in as much detail as possible. Take pauses during which your interlocutor will tell you what you thought and what you felt in the past or present moments. Then switch roles and repeat the exercise again as a listener. I ask everyone to express their assumptions about the other. It is better to make a mistake with your assumption than not to say it out loud at all. Also, it's okay if you exaggerate the emotion that a person feels — for example, call irritation anger, and anger anger. You are learning and only by trial and error can you achieve serious success."

At the end of the exercise, reflection took place. The presenter asked the participants of the experiment: "What does it feel like to be a listener? What was the most difficult for you? How does it feel to be a storyteller? How did you feel when a person made assumptions about what you felt? How did you feel when you told your story? Who did you like being more, a storyteller or a listener? Why? Would you like to repeat the exercise with another interlocutor?"

Exercise 3. "Imagining the emotions of historical characters"

Equipment: sheets of paper, pens.

Participants were offered the following:  "I ask you to make a list of three historical characters that you know. Then think and list the emotions that the character has experienced throughout (or part of) his life.

Example: Abraham Lincoln saw people being sold in the market square. During this time, he felt sad that he did not have a family of his own. He also felt anger because people were being trafficked like animals and helplessness from the fact that he could do nothing about it.

Reflection at the end of the exercise. The presenter asked the participants questions: "What characters did you write? What emotions have they experienced throughout their lives? Have you begun to understand your characters better? What feelings do these characters evoke in you now?"

Exercise 4. "Wishes to another"

Goal: to preserve the energy potential of the group, to convey positive emotions to all participants.

Equipment: paper for each member of the group, pencils.

Each participant was asked to sign a piece of paper and leave it on his chair. Other participants were asked to leave their wishes, positive emotions, mood, etc. with pencils in any abstract form. It could be a wish in the form of words, drawings, poems, emoticons.

As a result, each coach had an "emotionally charged" picture in memory of the training.

After the exercise, a reflexive discussion was held with the group.

Conclusion. Thus, initially we conducted a study of the level of emotional intelligence in the control (11 people) and experimental (10 people), a group of coaches of children's sports sections, which showed that most of the coaches of the experimental group have an average (64%) or low (36%) level of emotional intelligence. We have developed a program to improve the emotional intelligence of children's coaches of sports sections. It was built in accordance with a certain logic of working with emotions, which includes awareness of one's own and others' emotions in various situations, mastering the ability to manage one's own and others' emotions and behavior in non-standard situations. This logic is based on the concept of D. Goleman, who understands emotional intelligence as: knowing your emotions, knowing the emotions of others, managing your emotions, managing the emotions of others ^[4]. In accordance with this logic, the stages of the program were defined, including: stage 1. "I am an emotion – feeling" (awareness of my own and others' emotions); Stage 2 – "I control emotions" (control of my own and others' emotions); stage 3 - "I control my behavior" (control of my behavior); stage 4 - fixing – "I understand and recognize the emotions of others".

At each stage, the coaches of the sports sections underwent exercises aimed at increasing their emotional intelligence.

The program tested on a group of trainers contributed to the development of their emotional intelligence, which is confirmed by the results of statistical analysis using the criterion ? ². The results of primary and repeated diagnostics obtained by us in the experimental group show an increase in the level of emotional intelligence among trainers. This fact suggests that the program developed by us, which is built in accordance with the described logic, provides an increase in the level of emotional intelligence.

The results of this study can find practical application in various fields of psychological practice: psychological education, counseling, etc. They can be used in the development of professional training programs, retraining and advanced training of teachers – trainers.