Athlete leadership in football

Athletes fulfill both on the field (task) and off the field (social) team roles. For this reason, recent research on athlete leadership has concluded there is no one best type of athlete leader. In the current study, role differentiation theory was applied to investigate how peers perceive teammate leadership roles and behaviors within a women’s lacrosse program at a NCAA Division I university. Each player (N = 30) participated in a survey in which they were tasked with rating every teammate on the following leadership behaviors: technical, interpersonal, and contagious energy. Individual player attributes of were also considered in the analysis of a cross-classified nested model that resulted in 870 total ratings that predicted overall athlete leadership. Results suggest behaviors of technical, interpersonal, and contagious energy all impact the perception of teammates’ overall leadership. Coaches and athletes can use these results to be reassured that both on field and off field leadership behaviors are important for athlete leadership development. Furthermore, a discussion of how behaviors of social roles and leadership behaviors can be transferable for athletes’ in life after sport is discussed.

Download Full-text

Who takes the lead? Social network analysis as pioneering tool to investigate shared leadership within sports teams.

10.31236/osf.io/7srax ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Katrien Fransen ◽

Stef Van Puyenbroeck ◽

Todd M. Loughead ◽

Norbert Vanbeselaere ◽

Bert De Cuyper ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Interpersonal Relationships ◽

Shared Leadership ◽

Leadership Roles ◽

Sports Teams ◽

Leadership Quality ◽

Athlete Leadership ◽

Leadership Structure

Leaders do not operate in social vacuums, but are imbedded in a web of interpersonal relationships with their teammates and coach. The present manuscript is the first to use social network analysis to provide more insight in the leadership structure within sports teams. Two studies were conducted, including respectively 25 teams (N = 308; Mage = 24.9 years old) and 21 teams (N = 267; Mage = 24.3 years old). The reliability of a fourfold athlete leadership categorization (task, motivational, social, external leader) was established by analyzing leadership networks, which mapped the complete leadership structure within a team. The study findings highlight the existence of shared leadership in sports teams. More specifically, regarding the task and external leadership roles, no significant differences were observed between the leadership quality of coaches and athlete leaders. However, athlete leaders were perceived as better motivational and social leaders than their coaches. Furthermore, both the team captain and informal athlete leaders shared the lead on the different leadership roles. Social network analysis was found to be a pioneering but valuable tool for obtaining a deeper insight in the leadership structure within sports teams.

Download Full-text