The Circle of Unity: The power of symbols in a team sport context

Modern-day political discord has led to a recent spate of athletes using their platform to make statements about America. One under-researched aspect to modern sport activism is the study of the symbols themselves, such as the controversial kneeling during the national anthem by National Football League players, statement-making pregame apparel worn by National Basketball Association stars, and other political statements. This case study examines a 2016 activist display by Old Dominion University’s football team, known as the Circle of Unity. The display, performed before most games that season, began as a form of protest by team captains, and morphed into a gesture that was celebrated across the political spectrum. Through the lens of both Symbolic Interactionism (SI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the current study seeks to uncover the impetus, meaning, and ultimate impact of the symbol on a variety of stakeholders. Examining the symbol used—players and coaches standing in a circle, facing out, holding hands and raising them to the sky—can further contextualize the challenging role that student-athletes have in finding their voice to speak on issues they care about in a divided America.

Why the Chosen Ones May Not Always Be the Best Leaders: Criteria for Captain Selection as Predictors of Leadership Quality and Acceptance

There seems to be some initial evidence that team captains are selected based on non-leadership factors such as team tenure, technical abilities, being the daughter of the club president, or playing position. This is concerning since players expect their ideal team captain to have superior motivational and social skills. Adding to this literature on captain selection, the present study investigates relationships between the reasons for which team captains are selected and their (a) perceived leadership quality; and (b) perceived acceptance. To accomplish this, we recruited 450 coaches and 198 players from Flemish football and volleyball teams. Participants evaluated 41 reasons on the extent to which they played a role in the selection of their team captain. Additionally, participants rated their team captain’s leadership quality and level of acceptance. The results consistently indicated that captains who were selected for having good motivational and social competencies were given higher ratings on perceived leadership quality and acceptance by participants. In conclusion, athletes who are motivated, good at motivating others and have superior social skills tend to be better suited for captaincy than those selected based on non-leadership factors.

Communication and Team Performance: A Case Study of Division I Football Captains

Performance excellence is a core value in athletic teams. A team’s intraorganizational network has been considered an important determinant of team performance. However, the role of sport-team captains is often overlooked in lieu of the coaching staff. The purpose of this case study was to explore the relationship between team captains’ intrateam ego network and team-performance indicators. The researchers video recorded the intrateam communication of 4 college football-team captains over the course of 9 practices and collected secondary data pertaining to team performance. Analysis of the coded interactions revealed significant positive relationships between captains’ ego network and the previous week’s team performance, with a nonsignificant correlation with the subsequent week’s team performance. Analysis exploring the relationships between captains’ ego network and other team-performance indicators provides some support for the impact of intrateam communication on team performance. Implications for coaches and future directions for research are presented.