Relación entre comparación social y regulación emocional: un estudio narrativo en un equipo de fútbol sala alevín

Introduction: The self-evaluation of their own actions in comparison with those carried out by the rest of the group is an inherent feature of sports training. This comparison can generate positive and negative emotions, which will influence on the integral development of the youth athlete.Objective: To analyze the relationship between social comparison and emotional regulation during a teams sports activity.Methodology: 12 youth futsal players, two coaches, a coordinator and the Physical Education teacher of the school to which the team belonged, participated in the study. A qualitative and narrative method-ology was adopted, con-ducting interviews and a discussion group with the participants, correlating the data with the observations reported in a written work diary.Results: The findings revealed the presence of six main categories that reflect the participants' perceptions of the learning process of sports practice. The three most relevant categories were team sport, social behavior and the emotions aroused by the activity itself in this con-text.Discussion: Emotional regulation can be compromised by social comparison, especially in com-petitive situations where individual performance can have an impact on the team's result.Conclusions: Social comparison causes both, positive (motivation, effort) and negative (frustra-tion and anxiety) effects. Competition focused on the process and not on the result be-comes an educative re-source that helps the emotional development of the players.