Sport teams and family structures share similar characteristics in behavior patterns, hierarchy of power, communications styles, and the development of roles. Researchers postulate that Structural Family Theory could be an effective means to develop interventions for sport team in order to increase team cohesion; thereby increasing performance (Zimmerman, Protinsky, & Zimmerman, 1994). The advantage of such an approach is that a wider interpersonal context could offer new explanations regarding group dynamics and why group members do what they do.

For example, if clear lines of power do not exist in a team or a family, then dysfunctional behavior patterns could develop due to a lack of leadership. Role rigidity could be the result of the lack of open communications within the family or team, which could lead to less than optimal systematic functioning due to athletes/family members being so intimidated by the leader that they cannot be authentic due to the inability to express both positive and negative thoughts and feelings. Role complementarity (i.e., when one parent acts in an authoritarian role while the other is overly lenient) creates dysfunctional behavior in children within the family (Zimmerman et al., 1994).

From a structural standpoint, the team coach (to include assistant coaches) and seniors (i.e., veteran athletes) share similarities with parents and older siblings to include how they make comparisons of each child or team member (Zimmerman et