The Importance of Body Language in Sports

Vanessa Van Edwards, author of Human Lie Detection and Body Language 101, explains that there is a hidden language in sports communicated through body language and non-verbal cues.

Athletes cannot verbally communicate during play, so they rely on intuitive reading of body language and non-verbal cues from other players.

Athletes are naturally skilled at picking up on non-verbal communication, making body language analysis crucial for understanding sports.

The segment will examine pictures of athletes in action to identify and explain the body language signals they display during games.

A study by the University of British Columbia found that both seeing athletes and congenitally blind athletes made the same body language when winning a race, proving this is an innate response to feeling pride.

The universal body language of winning involves puffing out the chest and raising arms, which is instinctive even for children who win races or accomplish tasks.

The universal body language of defeat is the opposite: athletes roll their shoulders in like a deflating balloon, hang their head, let their arms go loose, and often make a pained expression or clench their fists.

The fact that blind athletes who had never seen someone win still displayed the same victory posture proves this is a biological, not learned, response.

• A quick eyebrow flash is the universal invitation cue meaning get ready or pay attention • Athletes use this to signal teammates before making plays or passing the ball

• Chin jut is a subtle way of pointing without using hands, directing attention to a specific location • Athletes gesture with their chin to communicate plays and positioning

Before passing the ball, athletes angle their torso towards the intended receiver as a non-verbal cue, then often make a quick pivot back to confuse defenders.

Every sport including lacrosse, basketball, and hockey features athletes slightly turning their torso as a non-verbal cue to signal get ready.

While normal personal distance is 6 to 12 inches from people, teammates constantly bump up against each other and stand very close together.

Team members talk very close to each other because they have less distance between them than with other people.

Haptics, or the power of touch, releases oxytocin which bonds people together. The more teammates touch each other, the more bonded they feel.

Touching, patting, and bumping between teammates serves as a natural way to build team cohesion and psychological bonding.

When a player misses a goal or makes a mistake, they bring their fingers to the tops of their forehead and cover their face, which is the universal gesture of shame.

This cover-face behavior happens because people subconsciously want to literally block out what they are seeing or what they are ashamed of.

Athletes will hold their hand to their head or cover their face almost like shielding themselves from the hurdles of the audience.

This same gesture appears in everyday situations like locking keys in a car or watching embarrassing moments, proving it is a universal response across contexts.

The most powerful player on a team can be identified by their physical posture: they puff out their chest and hold themselves high.

You can identify the alpha of a team by observing who holds their chest out high and carries themselves with the highest posture, which usually indicates the best player.

• When new players join a team or at the beginning of a season, potential alphas battle each other by puffing their chests out toward one another • They point their toes toward the competing player as if trying to go head-on to claim territory as the number one on the team

Some players may display dominant body language but are not actually the strongest player on the team, making careful observation necessary to distinguish true leaders.

Athletes can read their own body language to measure how well they might be performing and avoid unconsciously signaling failure to themselves.

By puffing yourself up or pumping yourself up, you can get testosterone pumping through your body to improve performance.

People who hold a broad chest, keep their shoulders back, and hold their head high release more testosterone than those who slouch or hold themselves defensively.

A golfer could walk onto the course with a confident posture to get testosterone flowing, which helps them play better throughout their round.