essay on leadership in sports

Leadership: Athletes and Coaches in Sport

Authors: Dr. Sharon P. Misasi*, Dr. Gary Morin and Lauren Kwasnowski

Dr. Sharon P. Misasi is a Professor of Exercise Science at Southern Connecticut State University. Dr. Gary Morin is a Professor of Exercise Science, Assistant Athletic Trainer and Program Director of the Athletic Training Education Program. Lauren Kwasnowski is a Research assistant for this study, undergraduate student in the Allied Health Program at the University of Connecticut and a member/captain of the UCONN Division I Lacrosse team.

*Corresponding Author: Sharon P. Misasi PhD, AT. Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent Street PE 002B New Haven CT 06515 [email protected]

ABSTRACT This study investigated the interpersonal aspects and perceptions of the coach-athlete relationship as it pertains to collegiate athletes at Division I and II universities and athletes and coaches of different genders. Electronic surveys were emailed to 50 NCAA Division I and 50 Division II head coaches in the Northeast. Coaches were requested to respond to the survey and email the athlete survey to their respective athletes. These surveys were completed by both coaches and athletes: Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q), Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS). The final instrument, Coaching Behavior Scale for Sports (CBS-S), was completed by only the athletes. There were no significant differences found with the CART-Q. The LSS illustrated several areas of significances in the categories of Training, Democratic Behavior, Autocratic Behavior and Social Support. Although there was no significance found in Positive Feedback there was an interesting finding in that female coaches felt they were less likely to provide positive feedback than their male counterparts. The CBS-S has subscales which include: physical training and planning, technical skills, mental preparation, competition strategies, personal rapport and negative personal rapport. Statistical significance was found in the following subscales: competition strategies, personal rapport and negative personal rapport. The coach is a meaningful person in the lives of athletes and the role they play is vital in the athlete’s sport experience. Our results indicate that the level of competitive division appears to play a role in how athletes perceive their coaches and how coaches perceive themselves. In addition, gender differences among coaches’ affect responses of the athletes and the coaches. Leadership is not a simple process. There is no one way to lead and what works for one may not work for all. Therefore, the best one can do is get to know their athletes and work hard to understand their goals, motivations and needs.

KEYWORDS : Coaching, Effective Leadership, Successful Leadership

INTRODUCTION Sport plays a vast and important role in the lives of many. Athletes of all ages are directed by coaches, giving them a significant impact on the athletes. However, the level of impact is unknown, along with the expectations of what athletes want from coaches and how do coaches perceive themselves. The coach’s role is considered to be a highly complex process. Coaches in most settings must complete a variety of tasks such as planning practices and game strategies, organizational tasks and mentoring athletes which does in fact include more than teaching fundamental skills and tactics (Challadurai, 1984; Williams & Krane, 2015; Anshel, 2012; Murphy, 2005; Cox, 2012; Lyle, 2002 and Cote, Yardley, Hay, Sedwick, & Baker, 1999).

There is a difference between an effective leader and a successful leader (Williams & Krane, 2015; Anshel, 2012; Murphy, 2005 and Cox, 2012). A coach’s successful leadership changes an athlete’s behavior as a function of the coach’s effort and gets others to behave as the manager/coach intends them to behave. The task may be completed and the coach’s needs may be satisfied, but the players’ needs are ignored (Cribben, 1981). Effective leadership in coaching occurs when athletes perform in accordance with the coach’s intentions while finding their own needs satisfied. Effective coaches are concerned with maintaining good relations with team members and winning a specific contest (Williams & Krane, 2015; Anshel, 2012; Murphy, 2005; and Cox, 2102). Horn (2002) states that effective coaching behaviors result in the athletes reaching: personal achievements, performance goals and positive psychological outcomes. Cote and Gilbert (2009) define coaching as “the consistent application of integrated professional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal knowledge to improve athletes’ competence, confidence, connection and character” (p. 316). Another important aspect (Horn, 2002) is the athletes’ perception of coaching behaviors. Smoll and Smith (1989) state that athlete’s perception and recall determine coaching effectiveness. Each athlete gives meaning to overt coaching behaviors which creates the athlete’s attitude toward the coach and the sport experience. One’s perception of another’s behavior is more important than the behavior itself when considering one’s feelings toward that person (Shaver, 1975).

As noted, the coach is a very significant person in the lives of athletes and the role they play is key in the athletes’ sport experience (Williams, Kenow, Jerome, Rogers, Sartain, & Darland, 2003; Kavussanu, Boardley, Jutkiewicz, Vincent & Ring, 2008). Central to the coaching process is the coach-athlete interpersonal dynamics (Jowett & Poczwardowski, 2007). Most coaches attempt to act in ways that they believe will develop their athletes’ success and personal enhancement. Horn (2002) states that coaches can positively impact athletic performance, behavior as well as the psychological and emotional well-being of the athlete. The coach-athlete relationship is an important factor affecting sport performance (Serpa, 1999). Jowett and Cockerill (2002) discuss this relationship further. The coach and the athlete interaction is unique with the goal to bring about successful performance outcomes and satisfaction. Olympiou, Jowett & Duda (2008) suggested that an athlete’s perception of the coach-athlete relationship has motivational significance. If the coach-athlete relationship is in sync, successful outcomes can be accomplished (Coe, 1996). Kenow and Williams (1999) recommend that coaches should create positive coach-athlete interactions which will allow the coach to gain insight into the thoughts and emotions of their athletes. Phillips and Jubenville (2009) stated that the coach-athlete relationship is important to both groups’ performance and both must evaluate the other to enhance performance.

Not all relationships are effective and some coaches take negative tactics in their approach to the athletes. These approaches lead to inadequate coach-athlete relationships (Martens, 1987; Smoll & Smith, 1989). These coaches tend to be strict, regimented and even militaristic. Ironically, they tend to be labeled as successful coaches but only seek to have their ambitions realized. They do not care if their athletes are injured, depressed or even burned out (Williams & Krane, 2015; Anshel, 2012; Murphy, 2005; and Cox, 2012; Smoll and Smith, 1989; Jowett & Cockerill, 2002). These negative coaches are arrogant and may even betray the athlete’s trust despite its importance in the relationship (Ryan, 1996).

Williams et al. (2003) stated that there is little research identifying optimal coaching behaviors and those factors that influence the effectiveness of particular behaviors. Included is the need to identify how athletes perceive their coach’s actions and effectiveness. This study investigated the interpersonal aspects and perceptions of the coach-athlete relationship as it pertains to collegiate athletes at Division I and II universities and teams of different genders.

METHODOLOGY After obtaining approval from the Southern Connecticut State University’s Institutional Review Board, contact was made via email to the coaches. The lead researcher sent two emails to the head coaches of NCAA Division I and II varsity sport programs at northeast colleges and universities (n= # of schools). The varsity sport programs included all male and female sports that were sponsored by the selected institutions. The first email was directed to the coaches and offered a series of questions that addressed their perceived behaviors to their athletes. The second email included a request that the attached survey link be forwarded to the athletes on their roster. In total, the two emails were emailed to 50 Division I team coaches and 50 Division II team coaches.

Coaching and athlete survey participants were requested to provide certain demographic information regarding their gender, sport and collegiate level. Each athlete was provided a weblink to the survey instrument, which was distributed through SNAP technology. The instrument consisted of a single survey that was in fact the combination of three distinct devices. All instruments were adjusted to use a 5 point scale. Athletes were asked to rate each item strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree. This was done to maintain scoring consistency on all instruments as they were combined into one survey for coaches and one for athletes.

Instrumentation

The first instrument was the Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q). This instrument measures affective, cognitive and behavioral interpersonal aspects in the coach-athlete relationship such as closeness, commitment and complementarity (Jowett and Ntoumanis, 2004).

The second inventory was the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS). This scale was developed to measure leadership behaviors of sport coaches. A coach’s version permitted participants to self-identify perceptions of their own behavior. The second version allowed the athletes’ to identify their preferences for specific behaviors, and the athletes’ perceptions of the coaches’ behavior. The scale has five dimensions: instructional (training) behavior, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support behavior, and motivational behavior (in the form of positive feedback given) (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980).

The final instrument was the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sports (CBS-S). This instrument was completed only by the athlete participants. Athletes responded to statements based upon their perception of their coach’s involvement in a particular area. This scale has 47 items that are divided into 7 different constructs: physical training and planning; technical skills; mental preparation; competition strategies; personal rapport; and negative personal rapport (Cote, et al., 1999).

RESULTS Surveys were emailed to 50 Division I (DI) and 50 Division II (DII) universities. Fifty-five female coaches (51%) and 52 male coaches (49%) responded to the survey. There were a total of 61 DI coaches (58%) and 45 DII coaches (43%). Three hundred and ten athletes responded to the survey with 209 female athletes (68%) and 99 (32%) male athletes. There were 135 DI athletes (44%) and 169 DII athletes (56%).

There was no significant difference found the CART-Q. There were significant differences found among certain categories of the LSS. The results of each are listed separately. The LSS is a survey designed to assess coaching behaviors. There are two forms that are used. One form is completed by coaches and serves as a self-assessment of coaching behavior. The second form is designed to be completed by the athletes and to evaluate their own coach’s behavior. Both forms consist of 40 questions which are placed into five domains. The domains of behavior: training, democratic behavior, autocratic, social support and providing positive feedback. A total of 290 athletes responded to the survey. One hundred ninety-eight (n=198) of these athletes were female and 92 athletes were male. There were 103 coaches who responded to the LSS coaching survey. The gender of the coaches was not determined or if they coached male or female sports.

Significant differences were identified across the training domain for responses by the coaches and the athletes (Table 1). Coaching responses differed based on the gender of the participant, with two of the questions identified as significantly different during the univariate analyses (Table 2). These two questions demonstrated that female coaches tended to plan out their activities more often but the male coaches were more insistent that player assignments were performed to “last detail”

The athletes’ responses did not differ by gender as did the coaches’ responses. Instead they differed based on the competitive division of the athletes. The subsequent univariate comparison identified a single significant question (Table 3). This question demonstrated that athletes of Division I institutions were more likely to “give specific instructions to each athlete on what should be done in every situation.”

Democratic Behavior

The second analysis assessed the democratic domain for both the coaches and athletes in terms of gender and competitive division (Table 4). Although coaches did not differ by gender, they did differ by competitive division. The subsequent univariate comparison of the coaches’ responses related to competitive division identified only one question as being significantly different. This specific question demonstrated that NCAA Division I coaches were less likely to let athletes “try their own way even if mistakes were made.” No significant differences were identified across the athlete surveys for gender or competitive division (Table 5).

Autocratic Behavior

The third domain is related to autocratic behaviors conducted by coaches. There was no significant difference between the two genders. There was a significant difference between coaches of NCAA Division I and II competitive programs (Table 6). The subsequent univariate analyses revealed one of the five questions was significantly different between competitive divisions with NCAA Division I coaches less likely to be inclined to explain their actions to their athletes. The athletes saw no significant difference based on gender or for competitive division in terms of autocratic behaviors (Table 7).

Social Support

The athlete’s gender played a role in the perceptions of coach support to team members. However, a similar difference was not identified among athletes based on their competitive division (Table 8). Two questions from the gender comparison were significant (Table 9). Female athletes felt that their coaches were more likely to help settle conflicts within the team than did male athletes. The female athletes also believed that their coaches were more likely to encourage informal relations with athletes. It should be noted, that although only two questions were significantly different, all of the questions related to social support showed that females felt their coaches were more likely to demonstrate acts of social support within the team. The perception of the coaches did not match those of the athletes. There was no significant difference on the perceptions of social support for either gender or competitive gender.

Positive Feedback

Regarding positive feedback there were no significant differences among the multivariate analyses for gender or competitive divisions. The means for the NCAA Division I and the Division II were comparable. Although the mean results demonstrated the female coaches were more likely to give positive feedback in the eyes of their athletes, the responses did not differ enough to demonstrate an overall statistical significance (Table 10). Ironically, although the results were not significant, female coaches felt they were less likely to provide positive feedback than their male counterparts.

Two hundred and ninety-four athletes responded to the Coaching Behavior Scale for Sport (CBS-S). The number of female athletes (n=198) was more than double of the male athletes (n=96). One hundred and thirty-two (n=132) athletes played sports at the NCAA Division I level while 162 participated as a NCAA Division II athlete.

The CBS-S consists of 47 questions that permitted the athletes to evaluate their coaches on behaviors beyond actual sport knowledge. The scale is subdivided into six sub-scales. These subscales include: physical training and planning, technical skills, mental preparation, competition strategies, personal rapport and negative personal rapport. Based on the results of the multivariate testing, no significant differences were identified for gender (Table 11) or competitive division (Table 12) for questions dealing with physical training and planning, technical skills and mental preparation.

However, there was a significant difference how the different genders perceived a coach’s development of competition strategies (Table 11) without a difference due to competitive division (Table 12). Univariate analyses were applied to each of the six subscale questions related to coaching competition strategy (Table 13). Two questions were identified as significantly different with higher scores for male athletes related to the use of goals in sports. It appeared that coaches of male athletes were more likely to monitor an athlete’s progress toward his goals and to help identify target dates to meet those goals.

The sub-scale examining personal rapport on a positive nature demonstrated significant differences based on gender, but once again not with competitive division (Table 11, 12). Five of the seven questions related to positive personal rapport demonstrated significant differences (Table 14). Although a common trait of coaches for both genders, male athletes demonstrated higher response scores. Males felt their coaches were more likely to prepare them to face different situations, were more likely to keep them focused and were more likely to maintain a consistent competition routine. Males also felt that their coaches were more likely to deal with their problems during the competition and display more confidence in their competitive performance.

The final subscale considered negative personal rapport, which consisted of questions examining the athletes’ perceptions of whether the coach was approachable and how likely the coach was to use negative behavior such as yelling, insults and intimidation as part of their actions. A significant difference was identified for these perceptions based on the athletes’ gender, but not with their competitive division (Table 11, 12). During the univariate analysis, individual questions were identified during the post-hoc testing as significantly different across gender (Table 15). Male athletes were more likely to perceive their coaches as being approachable about personal problems, but were also more likely to have their coaches yell at them when angry. For both genders, it should be noted these questions dealing with negative coaching tended to have low means demonstrating that these behaviors are more likely not to occur than to actually occur.

According to the CBS-S, the final summary revealed that there were no apparent differences in the perceptions of coaching behaviors when comparing NCAA Division I or II athletes. Comparisons based on gender demonstrated significant differences on those subscales primarily focusing on interpersonal relationships between coaches and athletes. During the univariate analyses of those subscales that were significantly different, several questions were significant and most cases the males were more likely to have the higher means.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Leadership is very important in sport. Leadership as provided by the coach plays a very significant role in the lives of athletes and in the athlete’s sport experience (Williams et al., 2003). However, the means by which a coach demonstrates leadership behaviors may vary from coach to coach. Coaches at different levels of competition may be expected to interact with athletes differently due to the different levels of athletic ability and possibly the greater pressure to win for employment security. Coaching attitudes and actions may also differ based on the athlete’s gender. This study attempted to examine if competition level and gender played a role in coaching leadership behavior.

Our results indicate that the level of competitive division appears to play a role in how athletes perceive their coaches and how coaches perceive themselves. Athletes of NCAA DI institutions reported that their coaches had higher expectations of their athletes in terms of carrying out assignments, and were less likely to permit their athletes to freelance in their sport. One would assume this to be the case, DI coaches are often pressured to win from many sources, and so they would want tasks done their way. The coaches of high profile sports, especially, must win and be successful, otherwise are often fired from their positions as the normal repercussion. The male sports of football and basketball typify this tendency and help to explain these results. As stated by Weinberg and Gould (2003) male athletes prefer autocratic styles while female athletes prefer a democratic style and one they can participate in. Additionally, with the higher availability of scholarship aid available, Division I coaches can expect to have a higher quality athlete affording coaches the ability to expect more in the form of results from the athlete.

Additionally, DI coaches were less likely to provide an explanation of their actions to their athletes. This demonstrates that the DI coaches tend to be more dictatorial in nature, but it is unknown if this trend is related to the greater threat of job termination, anticipated higher coaching experience and/or it is a personality type needed to work at this level. There is some evidence that males prefer more instructive behaviors and an autocratic style of leadership (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1978; Terry, 1984).

Females prefer more democratic coaching behaviors and a participatory coaching style that allows them to help make the decisions (Weinberg & Gould, 2003). However, it is important to note that there are more similarities than differences between male and female preferences for specific coaching behaviors (Horn, 2002). Regardless of level there was no difference in the perceived level of positive feedback given to the athletes.

Gender differences among coaches’ effect responses of the athletes and the coaches. Female coaches were more likely to plan ahead for training but seemed to be more forgiving if their athletes did not fulfill every aspect of their assignments. The level of social support provided by female coaches was higher than their male counterparts according to the athletes. Female coaches were perceived to be more involved in settling issues among team members and to encourage formal and informal relationships with the athletes. Unger and Crawford (1992) have stated that female-female friendships are more confiding, intimate and emotionally expressive than male-male therefore the female-female relationships are characterized by emotionality. Because of this, female coaches and athletes may be more likely to form highly interdependent and emotionally laden relationships in the athletic realm. The relationships between male coaches and male athletes may be based on the aim to achieve performance goals without the expression of feelings.

This study appears to support these findings. Female athletes felt that their coaches were more likely to help settle conflicts within the team than did male athletes. The female athletes also believed that their coaches were more likely to encourage informal relations with athletes. It should be noted, that although only two questions were significantly different, all of the questions related to social support had a consistent trend. It appears that female coaches tend to have a more personal connection with their athletes. Although not investigated in this study, female athletes discuss personal issues with female coaches. On the other hand, male coaches appear distant and do not have the direct emotional attachment with from their athletes. This is not to say they do not care or support their athletes, instead the male athletes are more interested in the goal minus the emotion. This was also supported by Miller, Ogilvie and Branch (2008) who stated male’s value feedback and technical instruction. Female athletes had a greater need for emotion.

A limitation to the study is that the athletes did not identify the coach’s gender as part of their responses. It is expected that a large majority of the male athletes had male coaches, however female sports do not have the same homogeneity of coaching genders. Frey, Czech, Kent and Johnson (2006) found that athletes (male and female) prefer a male coach instead of a female coach. Magnusen and Rhea (2009) found that male athletes (all football players) preferred a male strength and conditioning coach. These athletes were less comfortable with a female strength coach. As for female athletes, they did not have a gender preference. The female athletes wanted a qualified strength and conditioning coach regardless of gender whereas male athletes preferred a male irrespective of how qualified the female coach may be.

Further research should determine if male coaches of women’s teams take on those roles/interactions identified with the female coaches. So the question would be: does the athlete’s gender drive the actions of the coaches or does the coach’s gender drive how they deal with the athlete? In light of female coaches now entering the NFL or NBA, will female coaches change when dealing with male athletes and assume a more typical ‘male’ attitude?

Although there are more similarities than differences in the preferred leadership behaviors of men and women, one should note that Weinberg and Gould (2003) state that, ‘determining what makes effective sports leadership is clearly not a simple process’ (p. 213). Coaches are responsible for the whole development of the athlete: physical, mental, technical and tactical (Becker, 2009). This will enable the athletes to achieve their goals. However, the answer to the question what makes the athlete-coach interaction well-balanced does not seem so obvious.

Vince Lombardi was known for his intensity and passion but more importantly the expectations he placed upon his athletes. As a coach, Lombardi treated each player as an individual thereby having the ability to be flexible and meet their needs. It has been stated that Lombardi knew his players well. He knew which players would succeed by providing positive reinforcement and those that would respond to criticism (Kramer and Shaap, 1968).

In summary, leadership in sport is a fascinating topic. There is no one way to lead and what works for one may not work for all. Research can aid in assisting coaches with tried and true practices that will enable them to assist their athletes in becoming the best they can be.

APPLICATION IN SPORT In summary, leadership is sport in a intriguing topic. There is no one way to lead and what works for one may not work for all. Research can aid in assisting coaches with tried and true practices that will enable them to assist their athletes in becoming the best they can be. Illustrated in our research was the result that there is a difference in DI and DII. Coaches in DI were more authoritarian in nature and had higher expectations of their athletes. So athletes must understand this if their desire is to play at that level. So how does one apply this study? The most important concept a coach can apply is gaining an understanding and knowledge of your athletes first and foremost. Once you have gained that you will be able to assist them in reaching their goals.

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Leadership Dynamics in Major League Sports

This essay about leadership dynamics in major league sports explores how effective leaders go beyond individual performance to inspire teamwork, resilience, and strategic acumen. It emphasizes the role of emotional intelligence and adaptability in navigating challenges both on and off the field. Furthermore, it discusses the evolving criteria for leadership in sports, highlighting the growing importance of intangible qualities such as sportsmanship and mentorship. The essay concludes by envisioning a future where diverse forms of leadership contribute to a richer sporting experience, shaping the legacy of athletes and influencing societal perceptions beyond the realm of competition.

How it works

In the dynamic world of major league sports, leadership emerges as a cornerstone of success, transcending mere athletic prowess to encompass a complex amalgamation of skills, strategy, and influence. At its core, leadership in this realm is not defined solely by individual statistics or on-field achievements but by the profound impact a player has on their team, their sport, and the broader community.

Central to the concept of leadership in major league sports is the ability to inspire and elevate teammates.

This goes beyond technical proficiency; it hinges on emotional intelligence, motivational abilities, and a deep understanding of team dynamics. Leaders in sports often serve as catalysts for unity and cohesion, setting standards of professionalism and dedication that resonate throughout their teams.

Moreover, major league leaders exhibit remarkable adaptability and resilience in the face of adversity. Sports are inherently unpredictable, and navigating challenges—whether injuries, team transitions, or competitive setbacks—demands steadfast commitment and unwavering determination. These leaders not only weather storms but emerge stronger, galvanizing their teams through turbulent times.

Strategic acumen forms another cornerstone of leadership in major league sports. Beyond individual performance, leaders possess a nuanced understanding of game strategy, tactical finesse, and situational awareness. They make critical decisions that can sway outcomes, leveraging their insights to outmaneuver opponents and seize pivotal moments in competition.

Off the field, major league leaders extend their influence as ambassadors for their sports and communities. They leverage their platform to champion causes, engage in philanthropy, and inspire future generations of athletes. This off-field impact underscores their role as societal influencers, shaping public perception and contributing to the cultural fabric of sports.

Recent years have witnessed a notable evolution in how leadership is perceived and valued in major league sports. While traditional metrics remain relevant, there is a growing emphasis on intangible qualities such as sportsmanship, teamwork, and mentorship. This shift reflects a broader recognition of the multifaceted nature of effective leadership and its profound impact on team dynamics and organizational culture.

Looking forward, the landscape of leadership in major league sports is poised for continued evolution. Influenced by societal shifts, technological advancements, and evolving fan expectations, the criteria for effective leadership are likely to expand. Embracing this evolution promises to enrich the sporting experience, fostering inclusive environments where diverse forms of leadership thrive and inspire excellence.

In conclusion, major league leaders embody a unique blend of skills, qualities, and experiences that transcend the confines of the playing field. They are more than athletes—they are visionaries, strategists, and role models who shape the trajectory of their teams and leave a lasting imprint on their sports and communities. By celebrating and nurturing diverse forms of leadership, we not only elevate the sporting experience but also cultivate a legacy of inspiration and achievement for future generations of athletes and fans alike.

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Athlete Leadership Development Within Teams: Current Understanding and Future Directions

Stewart t. cotterill.

1 School of Rehabilitation, Sport and Psychology, AECC University College, Bournemouth, United Kingdom

Todd M. Loughead

2 Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

Katrien Fransen

3 Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Leadership has been shown to be a fundamental factor influencing the performance of sport teams. Within these teams, leadership can be provided by coaches, formal athlete leaders, such as team captains, and other ‘informal’ athlete leaders. The role of the athlete leader in a team, either formal or informal, has been consistently reported over the last 10 years to have a significant impact upon a teams’ functioning and effectiveness, as well as teammates’ general health and mental wellbeing. As such, cultivating the provision of this leadership within a team has emerged as an important focus for managers, coaches, sport psychologists and scholars alike. While the recognition of the importance of athlete leadership is well established, there has been a lag in the development of systematic approaches to enhance and develop the leadership skills and capabilities of the athletes within sport teams. As a result, this paper seeks to review contemporary examples and current understanding of approaches to athlete leadership development. The paper will also highlight future areas for research and applied practice development.

Introduction

Leadership is a fundamental aspect of sport, particularly as it relates to the effectiveness of teams within sport environments ( Cotterill and Fransen, 2016 ). The concept of leadership has been examined across a wide range of contexts, both within and outside of sport, which has led to a broad spectrum of leadership definitions and theories. However, the common features of these various conceptualisations of leadership are that leadership is a process that involves influencing others, occurs within the context of a group and focuses on the attainment of common goals ( Northouse, 2018 ). In current conceptualisations of leadership in organisational settings, team leadership has been recognised as a distinct form of organisational leadership ( Kozlowski et al., 2016 ). That is, team leadership can be viewed as any individual fulfilling a team’s needs. Within sport teams, team leadership can stem from coaches, formal athlete leaders, such as team captains, but also informal athlete leaders. This leadership of and within sport teams has emerged as an important focus for managers, coaches, sport psychologists and scholars alike ( Day et al., 2014 ). Athlete leadership has been defined more specifically as ‘an athlete, occupying a formal or informal role within a team, who influences a group of team members to achieve a common goal’ ( Loughead et al., 2006 , p. 144). Athlete leaders have been reported to positively influence team cohesion, athlete satisfaction, team identification, team confidence and the motivational climate within the team ( Cotterill and Fransen, 2016 ). Recent work has reported that the leadership needs of a sport team exceed the capabilities of one individual, and it is often multiple persons in the team who occupy the different leadership roles on and off the field (e.g., Fransen et al., 2014 ; Duguay et al., 2019 ). The leadership needs within a sports team can be met in a range of different ways by different individuals undertaking different roles including, coaches, team captains and informal athlete leaders ( Mertens et al., 2021 ).

However, while there has been an increasing focus on understanding leadership within sports teams, and athlete leadership in particular in recent years ( Cotterill and Fransen, 2016 ), far less attention has been paid to approaches to the development of leadership within teams. As a result, the aim of this review is to clarify current understanding regarding the sources of leadership within sports teams, and then crucially to review current understanding regarding the development of leadership and leaders within sports teams.

The Different Leadership Sources in Sport Teams

Team captains.

In many sport teams, the captain (i.e., the formal athlete leader in the team) is perceived to fulfil an important leadership function. Indeed, it has been suggested that good captaincy can have a marked impact upon performance ( Cotterill and Fransen, 2016 ). The captaincy role itself is something that has historically suffered from a lack of clarity. Several different roles and responsibilities for team captains have been suggested over the past 50 years. For example, Mosher (1979) outlined three main responsibilities, which are to act as a liaison between the coaching staff and the team, to be a leader during all team activities and to represent the team at events, meetings and press conferences. In addition to this, Mosher also highlighted specific duties the captain might perform including to ensure a constant flow of information between the coach and team, to lead by example, to help the coach in the planning stages for the team and to conduct themselves in a professional manner before, during and after games. Dupuis et al. (2006) highlighted some common functions of ice hockey captains including being effective communicators, remaining positive and controlling their emotions. In professional football teams, having a good captain on the team has also been associated with better team member health and lower burnout ( Fransen et al., 2020a ). Although players and coaches have high expectations of their team captains, in practice, it seems that only few team captains can live up to these high standards ( Fransen et al., 2019 ).

While many attempts have been made to describe the role of the captain, a strong evidence base has been lacking, particularly in terms of the demands of captaincy and the challenges faced. There is little consensus regarding the role of the captain, which can make it difficult to understand the context-specific demands of the role ( Cotterill et al., 2019 ). One of the reasons for this is that the role can vary significantly from sport to sport, and across levels of performance ( Cotterill and Cheetham, 2017 ). For example, in soccer, the captain is a formal leader on the pitch and a role model off it, but the way the team plays and major tactical decisions during the game are generally determined by the coach. In comparison, the sport of cricket adopts an enhanced role for its captains, with the captain making all the decisions on the pitch and also being part of the formal leadership structure off the pitch (i.e., captain, coach and director of cricket; Cotterill, 2014 ). This does not suggest that the role of the captain is less important in soccer compared to cricket but does highlight significant differences in the role. While captains are consistently suggested to be an important aspect of team performance, to date, there is currently limited research explicitly exploring the specific role of captain and its development in sport ( Cotterill and Fransen, 2016 ).

Informal Athlete Leaders

In addition to athletes that are formally recognised as leaders, such as the team captain, some athletes also achieve their leadership status in an informal way, namely, through natural interactions with their teammates ( Loughead et al., 2006 ). Regardless of their leadership status, both team captains and informal athlete leaders can occupy different leadership roles. Building on earlier athlete leader categorisations ( Bales and Slater, 1955 Loughead et al., 2006 ), Fransen et al. (2014) advanced a 4-factor athlete leadership categorisation system, including four leadership roles that athlete leaders could undertake for the team: (a) the task leader , who gives teammates tactical advice and adjusts them when necessary; (b) the motivational leader , who encourages teammates to perform at their best; (c) the social leader , who develops a good team atmosphere; and (d) the external leader , who handles the communication with club management, media and sponsors. The study conducted by Fransen et al. (2014) emphasised the relevance of this leadership classification by demonstrating that an effective fulfilment of the four leadership roles by members of the team resulted in higher team confidence, stronger team identification and better team performance outcomes (e.g., ranking). Expanding upon the work of Fransen et al. (2014) , Maechel et al. (2020) suggested an additional change-oriented leadership role, focused on promoting change and innovation and encouraging team learning.

The notion that leadership within teams is not just the preserve of team captains was suggested by Fransen et al. (2014) . In a large cross-sectional study with 4,451 athletes and coaches across nine different sports, it was reported that almost half of the participants (44%) did not perceive their captain as the best leader on any of Fransen et al.’s four roles, neither on the field, nor off the field. These findings reported by Fransen et al. (2014) further highlight the importance of not restricting conceptualisations of leadership and associated leadership development to the team captain, but also more broadly to cultivate the leadership capacities of other leaders in the team, and potentially to all members of the team.

Leadership Development

The ability to develop the leadership capabilities of individuals within a team can increase the likelihood that the leadership needs of a team are met ( Cotterill, 2016 ). In this regard, enhanced leadership provision within a team has been linked to increases in team cohesion, athlete satisfaction, team identification, team confidence and the motivational climate within the team ( Cotterill and Fransen, 2016 ). Building upon this point, in their study of professional sports teams, Fransen et al. (2017) reported that the team with the highest-quality athlete leadership on each of the four leadership roles excelled in all indicators of team effectiveness. More specifically, athletes in this team had a stronger shared sense of the team’s purpose, they were more highly committed to realising the team’s goals, and they had a greater confidence in their team’s abilities than athletes in the other teams. Moreover, this team demonstrated a higher task-involving and a lower ego-involving climate and excelled on all measures of performance. As a result, adopting a focus on enhancing leadership within their team is one way sports teams can seek to enhance team functioning and ultimately to positively influence both individual and team performance, while also having a positive impact upon health and wellbeing within the team ( Fransen et al., 2019 ).

Leadership development has recently emerged as a scholarly discipline, separate and distinct from the more traditional approaches to studying leadership, such as the link between personality and leadership ( Day et al., 2014 ). Across multiple domains, the required areas of knowledge, behaviours, skills and expertise have been identified as crucial building blocks for the development of effective leaders in sport. The concept of leadership development has been defined as involving expanding the collective capacity of team members to engage effectively in leadership roles and processes ( McCauley et al., 1998 ).

Within the leadership development field, there had initially been some confusion between the different but related concepts of leader development and leadership development. According to Day et al. (2014) , leader development focuses on developing the leadership ability of specific individual leaders (e.g., developing the leadership of a coach or a team captain), whereas leadership development focuses on a process of leadership development that involves multiple individuals (e.g., leaders and followers) designed to meet the leadership needs of the team and the context. While much historical research has focused primarily on leader development (e.g., cultivating traits and behaviours that characterise a good leader), leadership development has until recently received far less attention ( Day, 2012 ). Day (2001) suggested that the optimal approach to the development of leadership in a specific context is to link leader development with leadership development such that the development of leadership ‘transcends but does not replace the development of individual leaders’ (p. 605).

In a sporting context, this distinction between leader development and leadership development is important because historically where ‘leadership development’ has taken place, there has been a tendency to focus on trying to develop the individual as a leader rather than to specifically seek to meet the context-specific leadership needs. Interestingly, it has also been suggested that many leadership training and development initiatives failed to produce effective leaders ( Allio, 2006 ). This is mainly because these programmes have focused on promoting leadership literacy (e.g., by teaching leadership theory, concepts and principles) at the expense of developing leadership competencies. This finding emphasises that leadership needs to be learned to be effective, not just taught. Applied to a sporting context, this perspective on leadership development then advocates the importance of ‘on the job’ learning, with athletes getting the opportunity to develop their leadership abilities in practice. Illustrating the importance of this experiential learning in practice, Grandzol et al. (2010) found that serving as a team captain provided athletes with a rich opportunity to learn and practice their leadership skills. The authors suggested that effective programmes of leadership development should include the opportunity for future leaders to practice leading and applying leadership skills.

There has been a growing interest in athlete leadership development and the development of leadership among athletes within teams in the sport psychology literature over the last decade. Initially, there was a focus on the development of personal leadership skills in youth athletes through sport (e.g., Martinek and Hellison, 2009 ; Gould and Voelker, 2012 ; Gould et al., 2013 ), but more recently, there has begun to be an expansion in the studies exploring leadership development with adult athletes ( Voight, 2012 ; Cotterill, 2016 ), the development of formal leaders, such as captains (e.g., Cotterill and Cheetham, 2017 ), and the implementation of shared leadership structures, which encompass the development of informal leaders as well (e.g., Mertens et al., 2020 , 2021 ; Fransen et al., 2020d ). We will first discuss the leadership programmes focusing on the team captain, after which we will elaborate on the leadership programmes targeting the broader team, which may encompass either all athletes on the team or selected leadership groups.

Leadership Development With Team Captains

Several studies have examined how to develop the leadership ability of those members of the team who occupy formal (e.g., captain/vice-captain) positions within that team. The rationale behind this approach is that in many sports teams, the captain is perceived to fulfil an important leadership function. Not surprisingly, several published studies have reported the effectiveness of leadership programmes involving the development of team captains. At the youth level, Gould and Voelker (2010) created a 1 day workshop for high school captains on how to be an effective team captain. This programme involved learning about topics that included ‘What you need to know as a leader’ and ‘Handling common team problems’. At the end of the 1 day workshop, the participants were also given a guidebook, titled Becoming an Effective Team Captain: Student-Athlete Guide , focused on topics, such as the role of a team captain, effective communication, team motivation, team building and cohesion, handling tough team situations and recommendations from captains and coaches. One particular concern that needs to be highlighted when developing the leadership of youth sport team captains is the ongoing support and guidance provided to them by their coaches ( Collins et al., 2009 ; Voelker et al., 2011 ). Part of the problem is that often the coaches are not sufficiently equipped or educated (in relation to leadership development) to develop the leadership skills and abilities of their athletes ( Gould et al., 2013 ).

At the intercollegiate level, Voight (2012) oversaw a season-long athlete leadership development programme with two women’s volleyball teams directed to the leadership development of the team captains and assistants. The programme consisted of 15 stages (e.g., leadership assessment, leadership roles and responsibilities and captain platform) and was developed to help improve team communication and functioning, to assist the team daily and to foster the personal leadership development of the team’s formal leaders. To determine the programme’s effectiveness, two captains and two assistant captains were interviewed. Based on these interviews, the author concluded that the programme was effective in developing the leadership potential of these formal leaders as they indicated that the programme had a positive impact on their own personal leadership skills, enhanced their team’s cohesion and impacted both the team’s and individual teammates’ performances.

At the professional level, effective captaincy development programmes have been designed to reflect the specific requirements of this role within a specific sport. Once required knowledge, skills and expertise are identified, programmes that focus on prioritising those factors can be developed. For example, Cotterill (2016) developed a leadership development programme for elite (international) United Kingdom professional cricketers, building upon the key captaincy demands of this sport including: tactical decision-making, selection, player management, liaison with the coach and representing the team. This captaincy development was delivered through a focused ‘captaincy development’ group (a group of players elected as potential future captains) within the broader squad of players that focused on awareness of the self and others using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) tool. This structured programme used a range of relevant guest speakers and offered all the players in the group the opportunity to get practical experience as a captain in practice games as part of the broader performance programme and to receive leadership performance debriefs from a sport psychologist and coaches. The programme in this case study focused on developing leadership at three distinct levels: (a) personal growth and leadership development; (b) leadership skill development; and (c) leader (captain) development. These three levels have been identified as crucial in helping to cultivate leaders at an international level of performance ( Cotterill, 2016 ). Reflections on the programme by the participants suggest that a formal development programme can be beneficial in enhancing the leadership capabilities of elite captains. It is important to note that these findings are context-specific and while the approaches show promise, further research and exploration are required.

Leadership Development of All Players Within the Team

Given the large variations in abilities needed to fulfil the leadership roles within sport teams, current thinking suggests that the most effective way to meet this diverse range of leadership needs within a team is to adopt a ‘shared’ approach to athlete leadership. Indeed, recent research adopting a shared approach to leadership has highlighted that leadership is often distributed within sport teams ( Fransen et al., 2014 , 2015 ; Leo et al., 2019 ). For instance, using a social network approach with four soccer teams, Duguay et al. (2019) found that every player was viewed by at least one other teammate as providing leadership to them. This finding underscores the importance of fostering the leadership development of all athletes beyond those who are captains.

This has been the approach taken by Duguay et al. (2016) , who developed the leadership capabilities of all athletes, regardless of their leadership status, in two intercollegiate volleyball and basketball teams. The athlete leadership programme was grounded in Chelladurai’s (2007) Multidimensional Model of Leadership and Avolio’s (1999) Full Range Model of Leadership, where participants learned about numerous leadership behaviours and how these behaviours impacted the team’s dynamics. The leadership training was completed over the course of the regular season using four 1 h workshops. Each workshop consisted of a 3-step procedure, including: (a) a presentation of the leadership behaviours to be learned; (b) a demonstration of these leadership behaviours in action; and (c) the opportunity to practice these leadership behaviours. Throughout the workshops, the activities (e.g., role playing and case studies) highlighted how the leadership behaviours benefited the participants individually and how they enhanced the psychological factors grouped under the title team dynamics (cohesion, communication, motivational climate and satisfaction). The results from pre- and post-intervention indicated that the leadership programme enhanced eight of the 10 leadership behaviours (i.e., training and instruction, democratic behaviour, social support, positive feedback, appropriate role model, inspirational motivation, high-performance expectations and fostering acceptance of group goals and promoting teamwork). In addition, the findings concerning the team’s dynamics showed increases in athlete satisfaction and motivational climate, while maintaining levels of cohesion and communication over the course of the season.

Another approach to shared athlete leadership development of all athletes was advanced by Maechel et al. (2021) using a solution-focused approach. This approach assumes that for shared leadership to develop, teammates communicate with one another through the exchange of ideas, values and information. As a result, this approach also assumes that athletes can and have the resources to effect changes within their team with the assistance of a facilitator (e.g., sport psychology consultant). The authors delivered four separate workshops over the course of the season to three teams (while three other teams served as a control group). These four workshops were designed using the four athlete leadership meta-categories advanced by Maechel et al. (2020) that contained social, task, change and external-oriented forms of leadership. Using a mixed-methods approach, the quantitative data showed that all four meta-categories were significantly higher for the three teams in the intervention condition compared to the control condition. Further, the qualitative aspect of the study indicated that the intervention enhanced communication among team members, increased interpersonal relationships among teammates, whereby teammates got to know each other better, which in turn led to enhanced team cohesion, enhanced coach-team interactions with better communication and contributed to the processes of enhancing the shared nature of leadership within the team (e.g., transitioning from a few athletes leading the team to the whole team displaying varying forms of leadership).

Leadership Development With Leadership Groups

The importance of leadership groups.

Athlete leadership groups are a designated group of athlete leaders from within the team who either provide shared leadership or support the decision making of a formal athlete leader ( Cotterill et al., 2019 ). As the previous paragraphs outlined, shared leadership can encompass a range of leadership structures that vary in the extent and manner of sharedness, ranging from the sole focus on the team captain to involving all athletes within the team. Current perspectives have argued that neither one of these extremes is optimal. It is likely that not all team members will have the requisite skills and/or motivation to lead ( Seibert et al., 2003 ). More importantly, if all team members assume leadership roles, then the task of coordinating their messages is considerable, and the difficulty of doing this increases the likelihood of confusion and miscommunication ( Eys et al., 2007 ). As Gockel and Werth (2010 , p. 179) observed as: ‘It might be good to share the burden of leading, but too many cooks might spoil the broth’. Conversely, minimal shared leadership structures, involving only two team members (e.g., the coach and team captain), do little to address problems associated with leadership role overload ( Turner, 2002 ). Here, then, individuals could potentially have more roles than they have the time, energy or expertise to perform, creating role conflict that can put them under considerable strain ( Fransen et al., 2014 ).

Taken together, the evidence would suggest that optimal leadership sharedness can be found somewhere between the minimal and maximal extremes. Consistent with this assumption, there is evidence that the relationship between the number of appointed leaders in a shared leadership structure and team outcomes is curvilinear ( Eys et al., 2007 Gockel and Werth, 2010 ; Fransen et al., 2018 ; Leo et al., 2019 ). Specifically, an intermediate level of shared leadership is preferable to having either too few leaders or too many. In this regard, working with leadership groups addresses the need to steer a middle path by combining vertical and shared leadership in a way that distributes formal leadership responsibilities broadly—but not too broadly—within the team.

Also in professional sport, there is an increasing focus on the use of leadership groups and the adoption of formal leadership groups by coaches to meet the perceived leadership needs of the team ( Haddad et al., 2021 ). In professional football in Australia, for example, coaches advocated the use of leadership groups as they believed that player ownership and autonomy regarding leadership had a positive impact upon performance, upon on and off field functioning, and ultimately upon the team’s culture ( Haddad et al., 2021 ). Fransen et al. (2017) corroborated these assumptions and showed that the quality of those leadership teams within Australian professional football teams indeed predicted their effectiveness. More specifically, athletes in the team with the highest-quality leadership team had a stronger shared sense of the team’s purpose, they were more highly committed to realising the team’s goals and they had a greater confidence in their team’s abilities than athletes in the other teams. Moreover, this team demonstrated a higher task-involving and a lower ego-involving climate and excelled on all measures of performance. In line with this work, Mertens et al. (2021) showed that as teams that grew towards more shared leadership throughout a season they also experienced improvements in their functioning and performance.

Creating Leadership Groups

Realising that the quality of these leadership groups is a key predictor of the team’s effectiveness, an important step in creating these leadership groups is to identify the optimal leaders within the team. Here, it is suggested to develop clarity regarding different leadership roles in the leadership group (e.g., as task, motivational, social or external leaders; Fransen et al., 2020a ). This role differentiation will also foster role clarity so that leaders can focus on the clearly defined responsibilities attached to their specific role. Previous evidence highlights this role clarification as one of the cornerstones of successful team development interventions ( Shuffler et al., 2011 ) as it also cultivates greater role efficacy and enhanced role performance in sport teams ( Bray and Brawley, 2002 ).

To identify the best leaders on the team on each of these roles, it is critical to look beyond the team captain, as often the informal athlete leaders are the real drivers of the team’s success ( Fransen et al., 2020d ). While coaches are often keen on appointing the leaders themselves, it seems that in most teams, coaches and athletes do not agree on who the best leaders are in their team, suggesting that the acceptance of athlete leaders who are chosen by the coach is likely to be insufficient to obtain effective leadership ( Fransen et al., 2020d ). To obtain the necessary insight in the leadership structure within the team on specific leadership roles, Shared Leadership Mapping can be used ( Fransen et al., 2020b ). This is a diagnostic tool that uses social network analysis to map all leadership perceptions in the team with the aim of identifying the best leaders on the team on each role ( Fransen et al., 2020d ).

After identifying the most suitable leaders in the team, it is also important to formally appoint them in their role (e.g., as task, motivational, social or external leaders). As this formal appointment is based on the perceptions of other athletes, athlete leaders will realise that their leadership is accepted and appreciated by their team. This support base will boost their motivation to fulfil their leadership role well and to take on their responsibility, especially in difficult times ( Cotterill and Fransen, 2016 ; Fransen et al., 2020a ). Therefore, one could argue that the appointment of these athlete leaders is already a first important step in the leadership development process.

Enhancing the Leadership Quality of the Leadership Group

Given the importance of the quality of these leadership groups, in the next stage, the leadership potential of the appointed athlete leaders should ideally be further developed. In recent years, an alternative approach to understanding effective leadership within sport teams has posited that athlete leaders are only effective to the extent that they are able to create and manage a shared social identity within their team ( Haslam et al., 2020 ; Fransen et al., 2020a ; Stevens et al., 2021 ). In other words, these leaders encourage their teammates to not only think, feel and behave as individuals (in terms of personal identity as ‘I’ and ‘me’), but also, and more importantly, as group members (in terms of a shared social identity as ‘we’ and ‘us’). This leadership quality in which the best athlete leaders distinguish themselves from others is also termed identity leadership.

A programme that specifically aims to build leaders’ identity leadership skills is the 5R Programme originally designed for formal leaders in organisational settings ( Haslam et al., 2017 ). The 5R Shared Leadership Programme (or in short 5R S ) tailors the programme to the sport context and adds the benefits of implementing a structure of shared leadership ( Fransen et al., 2020c ). More specifically, 5R S involves two steps. In a first step, Shared Leadership Mapping is used to identify the best task, motivational, social and external leaders in the team. After formally appointing these athlete leaders to this role, in a second step, these leaders guide their teams throughout five workshops (i.e., the 5R’s), in which they learn in an applied setting how to provide identity leadership. More specifically, the first Readying phase seeks to demonstrate why ‘we’ matter building commitment to the programme through informing the team members about the importance of group and social identity processes. In the Reflecting phase, leaders clarify people’s understanding of what the group stands for by guiding their team through the process of defining its core values and seeking to understand their shared social identity. In the next Representing and Realising phases, the leadership group then works together with their team to bring this social identity into practice. More specifically, the team identifies shared team goals that represent their core identity and develop strategies that help them in achieving these goals. After the team has had sufficient time to put their strategies into practice and attain their goals, the final Reporting phase involves assessing the progress towards the identified goals and evaluating the effectiveness of the adopted strategies. This programme adopts a team-centred approach, where workshops are delivered to the entire team and where the appointed athlete leaders are given additional responsibilities to learn practical skills relating to how to take the lead.

Qualitative data from two initial implementations with an organisational team (Belgian University administrator team) and a sport team (female volleyball team) revealed that participants positively evaluated the programme and showed the benefits of 5R S for the team’s functioning ( Fransen et al., 2020b ). Further building on the qualitative insights from these case studies, some recent intervention work further supports the effectiveness of 5R S . In a first step, Slater and Barker (2018) adopted the core three Rs of the second phase of this programme (i.e., reflecting, representing and realising) in an intervention study with an elite disability football team. Instead of guiding the entire team throughout the programme, these researchers focused on delivering the programme to a senior leadership group consisting of three coaches and four senior athletes. Their longitudinal data showed that the core 3R’s had a positive effect on perceived identity leadership and athletes’ identification with their team, although these increases were only significant in the second year of the programme. Furthermore, qualitative data supported that the intervention helped in building connectedness within the team.

More recently, Mertens et al. (2020) conducted an experimental-control group intervention with eight national-level basketball teams. The results revealed that the 5R S programme was successful in strengthening athlete leaders’ identity leadership skills that also served to increase team members’ identification with their team. Furthermore, in contrast to athletes in the comparison condition, athletes in the 5R S condition were able to maintain their levels of intrinsic motivation and commitment to team goals, while also reporting improved wellbeing. In a follow-up study, Mertens et al. (2021) tested the effectiveness of 5R S by conducting a wait-list controlled trial with a larger sample (i.e., 16 basketball teams). The authors reported that the 5R S programme enhanced athlete leaders’ identity leadership skills, strengthened athletes’ identification with their team, enhanced the perceived social support available in the team, helped athletes to remain motivated and confident in their abilities and nurtured athletes’ health.

Driving Forces Behind Shared Leadership Structures

Coach-led leadership development.

Given that coaches play a vital role in the development of athlete leadership, this section focuses on the role of the coach in enhancing athlete leadership and athlete leadership development. Duguay et al. (2020) examined how coaches nurtured and developed athlete leadership within their teams. Through interviews with 15 intercollegiate coaches, four overarching themes were developed relating to how coaches facilitated the development of athlete leaders. The first theme revolved around the significance of empowering their athletes. The coaches noted that to develop athlete leadership, it was critical to be athlete-centred and this required the athletes to be involved in some of the decision-making around team matters, encouraging the athletes to take initiatives related to team activities, such as team building and community events. The second theme concerned how coaches utilised the concept of team leadership. The coaches expressed the belief that the leadership of the team was too large a responsibility for just one athlete. Instead, the coaches preferred the use of leadership groups. The size and composition of these leadership groups were not universal and were dependent on factors, such as the number of veteran athletes on the team and the maturity of the athletes. In some cases, coaches had leadership teams of 5–6 players composed of 1–2 captains along with future/promising athlete leaders. In other cases, coaches rotated the team’s captaincy and designated athletes for different leadership roles (e.g., academic captains and weight room captains). The third way in which coaches supported the development of athlete leadership was through the creation of a positive team culture for leadership to flourish. The coaches created a team environment that eliminated status differences between athletes (e.g., rookies vs. returning players), making sure that all athletes had a voice through the facilitation of open communication, developing trust and having team-building activities. Lastly, coaches discussed the importance of intentionally developing the leadership capabilities of their athletes. The coaches emphasised the importance of having experiential learning opportunities including team discussions on the importance of displaying effective leadership, providing books to their athletes on leadership, having leadership workshops and modelling effective leadership behaviours among the coaching staff. Some coaches have also adopted a mentoring approach to the development of athlete leadership and athlete leaders (e.g., Mead and Gilson, 2017 ). Coaches have previously highlighted that a lack of clarity regarding the role of the athlete leader and the skills they need to be successful has hampered coach-led athlete leader development ( Cotterill et al., 2019 ).

Mentorship Approaches

A relatively recent advance in the leadership development literature relating to sport is the application of mentorship approaches ( Mead and Gilson, 2017 ) to enhance the leadership ability of individual leaders. In this approach, a more experienced leader (e.g., the team’s coach or a senior athlete) trains a protégé by consistently interacting and sharing ideas ( Day, 2001 ). The effectiveness of this approach relies heavily on how positive the relationship is between the mentor and the protégé ( Riggio, 2013 ). In a study of American high school basketball, Mead and Gilson (2017) explored the impact of coach mentoring on athlete leadership development. The study itself provided a rich and detailed description of the coach’s approach to mentoring, and his successes and failures. Specifically, the coach sought to allow formal leaders to use their personal voice, distribute and delegate leadership tasks to these leaders, offer reminders of important leadership concepts and set an effective example as coach. The captains in this study were also encouraged to reflect on their own leadership development, an approach that has been suggested to be an important part of the leader development process ( Grandzol et al., 2010 ). The coaches are in a great position to role model desired prosocial behaviours and to create an environmental culture in which cooperation and skill development are emphasised to further foster personal growth and prosocial behaviour ( Kavussanu et al., 2006 ).

In addition to coaches, athletes mentoring one another has been used to foster leadership development. Hoffmann et al. (2017) defined peer athlete mentoring as a dynamic process where a more experienced and knowledgeable athlete, serves as a trusted role model to another athlete, referred to as the mentee, assisting the mentee in achieving their goals along with supporting their personal growth and development. While it is widely recognised that many athletes benefit from being mentored, it should be highlighted that many athletes never get to experience these benefits. It has been reported that nearly 40% of Canadian intercollegiate athletes never considered another athlete as a peer mentor ( Hoffmann and Loughead, 2016 ), and 25% of a sample of Canadian National team and intercollegiate athletes have never been peer mentored ( Hoffmann and Loughead, 2019 ).

Consequently, Hoffmann (2019) suggested several strategies for those interested nurturing peer athlete mentoring relationships. In general, two broad strategies can be utilised, whereby the first allows for mentoring relationships to develop informally. Informal mentoring relationships are preferable due to their natural occurrence between mentor and mentee ( Hoffmann, 2019 ). Informal mentoring stems from a process of mutual discovery where mentors and mentees identify with one another. The second is to formalise peer mentoring relationships among athletes whereby athletes are assigned to their mentor using one of three strategies: (a) where the practitioner assigns the mentee to a mentor, (b) a choice based approach where the mentors and mentees mutually agree to engage in a mentoring relationship, and (c) an assessment-based approach where the compatibility between mentor and mentee is derived through some type of assessment tool (e.g., personality questionnaire, such as the NEO Five-Factor Inventory; Costa and McCrae, 1992 ).

The enhancement of leadership within sports teams has been positively linked to team functioning and team-related outcomes ( Cotterill, 2016 ), and as a result is an important aspect of team functioning. The increased focus on leadership development in recent years has provided the opportunity to positively impact on athlete leadership in an evidence-informed way. Seeking to enhance leadership development at different levels within the team (i.e., formal leader, informal leader or leadership group level) provides different ways in which team leadership provision can be enhanced.

Future Directions for Research and Practice

While there has been an increasing focus on leadership development in sport in recent years, there are still a number of important questions that remain unanswered and areas that need further exploration relating to both research and applied practice. Of particular importance is understanding how best to set about seeking to apply both leader and leadership development knowledge to enhance the delivery of leadership development programmes. Historically, much of the leadership development activities and programmes outlined in this article have been delivered in a traditional face-to-face format. Recent developments though have seen the development of online leadership develop programmes, allowing for broader and more flexible engagement. For example, Pierce et al. (2018) developed an online course for high school captains that could be accessed free of charge. The course was composed of video narration, personal leadership vignettes and interactive web-based activities, taking around 2 h to complete. This type of approach could be replicated in other domains with different populations.

Future research should also seek to explore both the impact and effectiveness of athlete leadership development programmes that seek to utilise different modes of delivery (e.g., online vs. face-to-face and synchronous vs. asynchronous). The majority of athlete leadership research to date has understandably focused on sport teams. These are, though, not the only domains in which athletes are required to demonstrate leadership abilities. Future research should also explore the leadership needs and approaches to leadership development in individual sports as well. This is an area that has received very little attention in the published literature to date.

Across the athlete leadership literature, the leadership needs of different sports have been explored, though the range of different sports is still relatively narrow. A better understanding of the leadership needs within specific sports will enable better focused leadership programmes and activities to be developed within those sports. In some sports (such as cricket), the formal leader (captain) is a crucial aspect of the game, but for some other sports, the need for a specified formal leader is far less clear. As a result, the leadership and leader development needs of different sports may vary greatly.

For sports in which the position of a captain is required, understanding how to select the best candidate for this formal position without suppressing the leadership potential in the rest of the team is key. Previous research has highlighted a particular disconnect between the demands of the captaincy role and the process of selection and appointment ( Cotterill et al., 2019 ). Also, Fransen et al. (2019) showed a clear discrepancy between what players and coaches expect from their captain and the criteria used to select team captains. Therefore, having a good insight in the most effective internal leadership structure for a team is important before making this decision.

Even though a formal captain position might be required, it is still important to invest in broader leadership development in the team to fully harness the leadership potential of the team. There is evidence to imply that the relationship between the centralisation of the leadership networks and the outcomes is curvilinear, suggesting that the most effective leadership structures are those with a limited number of leaders, neither too few, nor too many ( Eys et al., 2007 Gockel and Werth, 2010 ; Fransen et al., 2018 ; Leo et al., 2019 ). An outcome that implies that the development of leadership groups might well be the most effective way to meet the leadership needs of a team. Though it is important to recognise there should still be a focus of the development of individual leadership skills, particularly at a junior/developmental level (e.g., youth or academy level). In youth sport teams, having rotating leadership roles allows a greater range of athletes to get the chance to develop their leadership skills. As the area of athlete leadership has developed, it would also be useful to take stock of developments to date, potentially through the adoption of a meta-analysis and/or systematic review to best understand current knowledge and crucially gaps in our current understanding and approaches to practice. There are also significant differences in the size and scope of much of the preceding research cited. Some studies focus on brief interventions (i.e., single workshops) while a limited number has focused on a much longer timescale (i.e., over 6 months). There are unanswered questions relating to the development of athlete leadership and athlete leaders over time and the potential to explore the transitions of athlete leaders from one team to another. It is interesting to see in recent years an expansion of the methodological approaches adopted in athlete leadership research, such as social network analysis. In addition, researchers should also explore the application of different leadership approaches in other research fields that have focused on enhancing group or team leadership, with a view to generate an enhanced evidence base to underpin intervention approaches in sport.

The last 10 years have seen a small but expanding literature that has sought to build upon the broader athlete leadership body of knowledge to better understand and report approaches to athlete leadership development. There is though still a long way to go, further clarity is required regarding the knowledge, skills and expertise required to undertake the athlete leadership roles in sport, and crucially to better understand how the development of current and future athlete leaders can be maximised.

Author Contributions

SC, TL, and KF all contributed to the initial scoping of the review and were involved in the continued revision, extension and redrafting of the manuscript. SC took the lead in developing the initial content with TL and KF further expanding and extending this initial content. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Personal Leadership Philosophy in the Sports Industry Essay

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• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
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Introduction

Leadership theories and concepts, reflective account of practice, professional leadership development competencies, professional leadership skills and employability in the sports industry, looking ahead.

Leadership is a vital steering factor in deriving a highly scaled productivity quotient. Researchers articulate that it is an individual responsibility to identify the core practices to understand the significance of specific skills (Hoye et al., 2018). Notably, captaincy is a multidimensional phenomenon that involves advancing proficiency based on the interplay of experience, skills, and the practice approach. As a coach and mentor in the learning institution’s sports department, I have attained dynamic insights through knowledge and skills. Exceptional leadership skills enshrine motivation, delegation, communication, and delegation.

Competence in the sports industry prominently relies on teamwork and leadership practice. The discordance of the two approaches risks the elevation of distinct issues during the engagements. On the one hand, teamwork renders competence among individuals from different sects while realizing the common goals to achieve. On the other hand, the main objective of sports involves advancing the exchange of values regarding relationship-building, accountability, and self-awareness (Hoye et al., 2018). Therefore, communication and particulate delegation foster accountability among teammates. During my leadership practice, I focus on using distinct associated theories, that is, transformation and strengths-based quotients.

The different types of leadership theories pose distinctive impacts among their counterparts. Leaders must establish the core efficacy of the approaches based on the associated and expected outcome. In the sports industry, the main objectives encapsulate competence, improve talents, enhance teamwork proficiency, and identify ethical values during relationship-building (Parent & Hoye, 2018). The vital mandate among the personnel involves intensifying professionalism and value. In this case, it is essential to integrate transformational and strengths-based leadership theories mainly because of the associated potential capacity.

One of the vital factors in the sports industry enshrines maintaining consistency in the growth and development index among the participants. In this case, the leadership styles steer the optimal value exchange during practice. Transactional leadership is a mainframe that enhances the applicability of transformative and strengths-based quotients in the industry (Hoye et al., 2018). The main reason involves the establishment of an effective monitoring outlier enhancing the weaknesses and strengths. As a result, the leaders exploit the insight to derive a productive engagement portfolio for prevalent and consistent performance improvement. In my leadership practice, I utilize one of the vital components of leadership styles – monitoring transactional leadership to gain insight regarding the crucial adjustments required.

As a leader, it is vital to incorporate strategies that improve the players’ well-being. As a coach, one of the challenges I realized among the badminton players enshrined vulnerability to harassment during sports events. Research indicates that coordination among the players improves the development of the group mentality on social protection (Parent & Hoye, 2018). Therefore, the intensification of the bond among the counterparts plays a vital role in disenfranchising players from different teams and intimidating my team. Implementing aspects that foster the ethical and morally-upright relationship-building perspective is crucial.

Being a coach in learning institutions demands incorporating initiatives intensifying protection among youngsters regarding social behavior. During sports practice, the person engages with counterparts from different socio-cultural backgrounds (Hoye et al., 2018). However, it is challenging for players to comprehend ethical and moral codes based on diversity, intensifying the risk of abuse and harassment. I noticed my team players frequently engaging in conflicts with team players from other institutions during a sports event. The main issue involved diversity on specific issues. Therefore, the exploitation of transactional leadership steered the intensification of group mentality, causing an understanding of the practice and engagement.

Risk management is an essential factor in the sports industry mainly because of the vulnerabilities among the players during practice. Body fitness and dynamic team-building activities demand the exposure of the human body to different approaches (Parent & Hoye, 2018). However, participation poses significant risks among the counterparts. One of the incidences I encountered with a coach of the badminton players encompassed an important player getting fatal injuries. The incident is attributed to the change in attitude among other players mainly because of the upcoming tournament. As a result, I focused on exploiting transformative and strengths-based leadership styles. The main reason for the aspect enshrined is the advocacy for safety through the utilization of crucial empowerment platforms.

It is the core responsibility of the coach to ensure the safety of the players mainly because of the negative repercussions based on the injuries. Parent and Hoye (2018) establish that risk management is necessary to demonstrate the efficacy level of leadership in the sports industry. The lack of approaches to boosting the positive outcome poses a danger to the participants. As a result, it is crucial to enforce measures that amplify performance and healthy engagements.

Different factors impact the consistency in professional leadership development competencies. According to researchers, professional leadership development competency involves the intersection of ethical practice and optimization of the acquired knowledge and skills (Hoye et al., 2018). An improvement in self-organization enshrines the significant use of strengths to advance personal growth and development while integrating measures to alleviate weaknesses. The strategy to enhance positive outcomes from the relative perspective enshrines the exploitation of transformational, transactional, and strengths-based leadership styles.

Professional leadership development competence is a multifaceted phenomenon that primarily involves the interplay of ethics and expertise. The ethical obligation involves affirming safety and talent optimization among the team members (Hoye et al., 2018). In this case, research indicates that it is the responsibility of the counterparts to ensure apt coordination mainly because connectivity improves social capital as the ultimate social support system. The lack of critical initiatives to boost interdependence risks poor coordination and lower performance quotient among the counterparts.

Mentorship is a necessity in the sports industry mainly because of the implication for professional leadership skills and employability in the sports industry. A coach in the sports sector focuses on engagement and coordination among the players to boost their performance (Hoye et al., 2018). Therefore, employability relies on the capacity to improve the relationship-building among counterparts while ensuring adept risk management. It is the responsibility of the personnel to establish perspectives and programs that provide the identification of weaknesses and strengths, improve the endowments, and formulate teams based on the diversity of the knowledge and skills expertise.

It is the responsibility of the relevant institutional administrations to incorporate approaches that enhance the performance among players. As learners, the players attain prime exposure to growth opportunities by exploiting their talents (Hoye et al., 2018). It is crucial to foster professional leadership skills based on the capacity to enhance a balance in the learning process. An excellent demonstration enshrines the development of a program that ensures the students attain adequate practice time and study moments. The core initiative lies in improving personality and self-organization as the foundational pillars to justify an individual’s employability in the sports industry.

Individuals from different socio-cultural backgrounds engage in sporting activities. Therefore, it is crucial to establish critical initiatives that improve diversity management strategies. Although institutional administration’s responsibility is to incorporate practices enhancing inclusivity, as a leader, it is vital to understand distinctive platforms. The facilitation of sporting events renders the adept cultural exchange. As a result, as a leader, I will improve on the intersectionality of mentorship, group mentality, and teamwork concepts among the players to boost performance.

Consequently, leadership is an essential factor in the sports industry mainly because of the reliance on competence and coordination among counterparts. It is the responsibility of institutions’ management to incorporate strategies supporting the leadership development practice. The participants encounter different challenges; therefore, it is vital to develop measures that improve relationship-building and talent management. The discordance risks poor performance and improvement in the services and practices in the field.

Hoye, R., Smith, A. C., Nicholson, M., & Stewart, B. (2018). Sport management: Principles and applications. Routledge.

Parent, M. M., & Hoye, R. (2018). The impact of governance principles on sport organisations’ governance practices and performance: A systematic review. Cogent Social Sciences, 4(1), 1503578.

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Bibliography

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10 Qualities of a Leader in Sports [+ Tips & Insights for Coaches]

The lasting impact of a coach should not be underestimated. Coaches have the ability to instill qualities of a leader in sports, but also skills that seamlessly translate into various aspects of student-athletes’ lives.

The University of San Diego’s certificate program, Coaching Today’s Student Athletes , was created by coaches for coaches to foster strong leadership in sports and those big-picture, change-making skills. Keep reading to learn about key qualities of a leader, ready-to-implement tips and relationship building tools.

Qualities of a Leader in Sports

Attributes learned in a sports setting can help athletes long after their last game. Here are some of the many qualities that coaches can nurture in student athletes:

• Accountability. Strong leaders in general take responsibility for their actions and hold themselves accountable. A culture of accountability is important to unite a team.
• Patience. Practicing patience in sports cultivates mental focus and discipline, as well as improving emotional control.
• Integrity. Athletes who participate fairly in competition are fostering sportsmanship, trust and credibility.
• Vision. Being able to form a clear vision and long-term perspective for oneself and the group is incredibly valuable.
• Communication. The ability to effectively listen, speak and provide constructive feedback is arguably the top quality of a leader in sports.
• Emotional intelligence. Not only should a leader be able to understand their own emotions, they should also be able to meaningfully connect with others.
• Decision-making. This includes analyzing situations, considering different perspectives, and making a decision that is best for the team.
• Adaptability. Changing course in the face of adversity, and encouraging others to learn from setbacks, is at the core of adaptability.
• Confidence. Leaders should exude confidence, therefore motivating teammates, and serving as a model for overall success.
• Resilience. Overcoming challenges is just the beginning. Resilient leaders also maintain a positive attitude.

Tips for Coaches to Develop Strong Leaders

There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to a coach’s role. Besides completing logistical tasks — such as planning practices, strategizing plays, and organizing game days — a coach’s most important job is mentorship. Consider these tips to have the most impact:

• Model behavior. Define the culture of the team and embody it.
• Find ways to motivate. A coach is the team’s biggest cheerleader and should consistently act as such.
• Be transparent. Have open communication with members of the team, just as you expect from them.
• Goal. Clearly establish what you want the team, and each player, to accomplish.
• Reality. Focus on attainable achievements to ensure that everyone stays motivated.
• Options. Encourage athletes to think more broadly about challenges they may be facing. Oftentimes when they turn to a coach, they feel limited by their own mindset and need to be provided with options.
• Will. Ask these questions regarding any action plan that is formed: “What will you do?” and “On a scale of one to 10, how likely is it that you will do this?”

How to Build a Strong Coach-Athlete Relationship

Honesty and positivity are at the heart of a strong coach-athlete relationship . These tips will help you foster the type of relationship that benefits everyone long-term:

• Form strong individual relationships with members of the team in order to understand personal goals that will contribute to team wins.
• Establish trust by being honest and good-intentioned. This sets a standard of respect among players.
• Act as a role model, which is a 24/7 job. That includes taking accountability for your actions, just as you expect from those you coach.
• Consider hosting a team event outside of the typical practice or game atmosphere. This gives athletes a chance to connect with you, and each other, in a more relaxed setting.

To nurture these skills, USD created a 100% online, self-paced program. The certificate can be earned in as few as two semesters. The four required courses focus on principles of coaching, character and athletics, how to reach every athlete on your team and leadership in coaching.

Learn more about the importance of continuing education for educators with the free ebook: 5 Reasons Why Continuing Education Matters for Educators.

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How to Write a Non-Cliche College Essay About Sports + Examples

What’s covered:, what makes a sports essay cliche.

• How To Make Your Sports Essay Unique

Great Examples of College Essays About Sports

Where to get your college essay edited for free, or by an expert.

You’ve been brainstorming essay topics for your college applications, and you think you’ve finally found the right one: an extended metaphor likening your experience on the field with overcoming personal struggles. The problem: many other students have this same thought. 

The purpose of a college essay is to make yourself stand out as a unique individual, but when students write about sports, they often blend in. Because of that, students are usually advised to pick a different topic.

That being said, it is possible to write a non-cliche college essay about sports if you put in a little extra effort. Read along to learn how to make your sports essay different from all the other sports essays.

Sports essays are cliche when they follow a standard trajectory. Some of these trajectories include writing a story about:

• An agonizing defeat
• Forging bonds with teammates
• Overcoming adversity
• Overcoming an injury
• Refusing to quit
• Victory during a big game

Because sports essays have very similar themes and “lessons learned,” it can be difficult to make your story stand out. These trajectories also often focus too much on the sport or storyline, and not enough on the writer’s reflections and personality.

As you write your essay, try to think about what your experience says about you rather than what you learned from your experience. You are more than just one lesson you learned!

(Keep in mind that the sports essay is not the only college essay cliche. Learn about other essay cliches and how to fix them in our complete guide).

How to Make Your Sports Essay Unique

1. focus on a specific moment or reflection..

The college essay is a way for students to humanize themselves to admissions officers. You do not feel human if you are describing yourself as just another player on the field!

One important way to make your essay about you (not just about sports) is by focusing on a specific moment in time and inviting the reader to join you in that moment. Explain to the reader what it would be like to be sitting in that locker room as you questioned the values of the other players on your team. Ask your reader to sit with you on the cot in the trainer’s room as your identity was stripped away from you when they said “your body can’t take this anymore.” Bring your reader to the dinner table and involve them in your family’s conversation about how sports were affecting your mental health and your treatment of those around you.

Intense descriptions of a specific experience will evoke emotions in your reader and allow them to connect with you and feel for you.

When in doubt, avoid anything that can be covered by ESPN. On ESPN, we see the games, we see the benches, we even see the locker rooms and training rooms. Take your reader somewhere different and show them something unique.

2. Use sports to point out broader themes in your life.

The main risk when writing about sports is neglecting to write about yourself. Before you get started, think about the main values that you want to express in your sports essay. Sports are simply your avenue for telling the reader what makes you unique. 

As a test, imagine if you were a pianist. Would you be able to talk about these same values? What if you were a writer? Or a chemist? Articulating your values is the end, and sports should simply be your means.

Some values that you might want to focus on:

• Autonomy (you want to be able to set your mind to anything and achieve it on your own)
• Growth (you seek improvement constantly)
• Curiosity (you are willing to try anything once)
• Vulnerability (you aren’t afraid to fail, as long as you give it your all)
• Community (you value the feedback of others and need camaraderie to succeed)
• Craft (you think that with deliberate care, anything can be perfected)
• Responsibility (you believe that you owe something to those around you and perhaps they also owe something to you)

You can use the ESPN check again to make sure that you are using sports as an avenue to show your depth.

Things ESPN covers: how a player reacts to defeat, how injuries affect a player’s gameplay/attitude, how players who don’t normally work well together are working together on their new team.

Things ESPN doesn’t cover: the conversation that a player had with their mother about fear of death before going into a big surgery (value: family and connection), the ways that the intense pressure to succeed consumed a player to the point they couldn’t be there for the people in their life (value: supporting others and community), the body image issues that weigh on a player’s mind when playing their sport and how they overcame those (value: health and growth).

3. Turn a cliche storyline on its head.

There’s no getting around the fact that sports essays are often cliche. But there is a way to confront the cliche head-on. For example, lots of people write essays about the lessons they learned from an injury, victory, and so on, but fewer students explain how they are embracing those lessons. 

Perhaps you learned that competition is overwhelming for you and you prefer teamwork, so you switched from playing basketball to playing Dungeons & Dragons. Maybe, when your softball career ended abruptly, you had to find a new identity and that’s when you became obsessed with your flower garden and decided to pursue botany. Or maybe, you have stuck with football through it all, but your junior-year mental health struggle showed you that football should be fun and you have since started a nonprofit for local children to healthily engage with sports.

If your story itself is more cliche, try bringing readers to the present moment with you and show why the cliche matters and what it did for you. This requires a fair amount of creativity. Ensure you’re not parroting a frequently used topic by really thinking deeply to find your own unique spin.

Night had robbed the academy of its daytime colors, yet there was comfort in the dim lights that cast shadows of our advances against the bare studio walls. Silhouettes of roundhouse kicks, spin crescent kicks, uppercuts and the occasional butterfly kick danced while we sparred. She approached me, eyes narrowed with the trace of a smirk challenging me. “Ready spar!” Her arm began an upward trajectory targeting my shoulder, a common first move. I sidestepped — only to almost collide with another flying fist. Pivoting my right foot, I snapped my left leg, aiming my heel at her midsection. The center judge raised one finger. 

There was no time to celebrate, not in the traditional sense at least. Master Pollard gave a brief command greeted with a unanimous “Yes, sir” and the thud of 20 hands dropping-down-and-giving-him-30, while the “winners” celebrated their victory with laps as usual. 

Three years ago, seven-thirty in the evening meant I was a warrior. It meant standing up straighter, pushing a little harder, “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am”, celebrating birthdays by breaking boards, never pointing your toes, and familiarity. Three years later, seven-thirty in the morning meant I was nervous. 

The room is uncomfortably large. The sprung floor soaks up the checkerboard of sunlight piercing through the colonial windows. The mirrored walls further illuminate the studio and I feel the light scrutinizing my sorry attempts at a pas de bourrée, while capturing the organic fluidity of the dancers around me. “Chassé en croix, grand battement, pique, pirouette.” I follow the graceful limbs of the woman in front of me, her legs floating ribbons, as she executes what seems to be a perfect ronds de jambes. Each movement remains a negotiation. With admirable patience, Ms. Tan casts me a sympathetic glance.   

There is no time to wallow in the misery that is my right foot. Taekwondo calls for dorsiflexion; pointed toes are synonymous with broken toes. My thoughts drag me into a flashback of the usual response to this painful mistake: “You might as well grab a tutu and head to the ballet studio next door.” Well, here I am Master Pollard, unfortunately still following your orders to never point my toes, but no longer feeling the satisfaction that comes with being a third degree black belt with 5 years of experience quite literally under her belt. It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers. 

But the appetite for new beginnings that brought me here doesn’t falter. It is only reinforced by the classical rendition of “Dancing Queen” that floods the room and the ghost of familiarity that reassures me that this new beginning does not and will not erase the past. After years spent at the top, it’s hard to start over. But surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become. In Taekwondo, we started each class reciting the tenets: honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet. 

The thing about change is that it eventually stops making things so different. After nine different schools, four different countries, three different continents, fluency in Tamil, Norwegian, and English, there are more blurred lines than there are clear fragments. My life has not been a tactfully executed, gold medal-worthy Taekwondo form with each movement defined, nor has it been a series of frappés performed by a prima ballerina with each extension identical and precise, but thankfully it has been like the dynamics of a spinning back kick, fluid, and like my chances of landing a pirouette, unpredictable. 

Why it works:

What’s especially powerful about this essay is that the author uses detailed imagery to convey a picture of what they’re experiencing, so much so that the reader is along for the ride. This works as a sports essay not only because of the language and sensory details, but also because the writer focuses on a specific moment in time, while at the same time exploring why Taekwondo is such an important part of their life.

After the emotional image is created, the student finishes their essay with valuable reflection. With the reflection, they show admissions officers that they are mature and self-aware. Self-awareness comes through with statements like “surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become” and maturity can be seen through the student’s discussion of values “honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet.” These are the kinds of comments that should find their way into a sports essay!

“Advanced females ages 13 to 14 please proceed to staging with your coaches at this time.” Skittering around the room, eyes wide and pleading, I frantically explained my situation to nearby coaches. The seconds ticked away in my head; every polite refusal increased my desperation.

Despair weighed me down. I sank to my knees as a stream of competitors, coaches, and officials flowed around me. My dojang had no coach, and the tournament rules prohibited me from competing without one.

Although I wanted to remain strong, doubts began to cloud my mind. I could not help wondering: what was the point of perfecting my skills if I would never even compete? The other members of my team, who had found coaches minutes earlier, attempted to comfort me, but I barely heard their words. They couldn’t understand my despair at being left on the outside, and I never wanted them to understand.

Since my first lesson 12 years ago, the members of my dojang have become family. I have watched them grow up, finding my own happiness in theirs. Together, we have honed our kicks, blocks, and strikes. We have pushed one another to aim higher and become better martial artists. Although my dojang had searched for a reliable coach for years, we had not found one. When we attended competitions in the past, my teammates and I had always gotten lucky and found a sympathetic coach. Now, I knew this practice was unsustainable. It would devastate me to see the other members of my dojang in my situation, unable to compete and losing hope as a result. My dojang needed a coach, and I decided it was up to me to find one. 

I first approached the adults in the dojang – both instructors and members’ parents. However, these attempts only reacquainted me with polite refusals. Everyone I asked told me they couldn’t devote multiple weekends per year to competitions. I soon realized that I would have become the coach myself.

At first, the inner workings of tournaments were a mystery to me. To prepare myself for success as a coach, I spent the next year as an official and took coaching classes on the side. I learned everything from motivational strategies to technical, behind-the-scenes components of Taekwondo competitions. Though I emerged with new knowledge and confidence in my capabilities, others did not share this faith.

Parents threw me disbelieving looks when they learned that their children’s coach was only a child herself. My self-confidence was my armor, deflecting their surly glances. Every armor is penetrable, however, and as the relentless barrage of doubts pounded my resilience, it began to wear down. I grew unsure of my own abilities.

Despite the attack, I refused to give up. When I saw the shining eyes of the youngest students preparing for their first competition, I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was. The knowledge that I could solve my dojang’s longtime problem motivated me to overcome my apprehension.

Now that my dojang flourishes at competitions, the attacks on me have weakened, but not ended. I may never win the approval of every parent; at times, I am still tormented by doubts, but I find solace in the fact that members of my dojang now only worry about competing to the best of their abilities.

Now, as I arrive at a tournament with my students, I close my eyes and remember the past. I visualize the frantic search for a coach and the chaos amongst my teammates as we compete with one another to find coaches before the staging calls for our respective divisions. I open my eyes to the exact opposite scene. Lacking a coach hurt my ability to compete, but I am proud to know that no member of my dojang will have to face that problem again.

In the beginning, you might think this is another cliche sports essay about overcoming adversity. But instead, it becomes a unique statement and coming-of-age tale that reads as a suspenseful narrative. 

The author connects their experience with martial arts to larger themes in their life but manages to do so without riffing off of tried-and-true themes. Through statements like “I knew I couldn’t let them down. To quit would be to set them up to be barred from competing like I was” we learn about the students values and their desire to be there for those who depend on them. 

The student also brings it full circle, demonstrating their true transformation. By using the “Same, but Different” ending technique , the student places themself in the same environment that we saw in the intro, but experiences it differently due to their actions throughout the narrative. This is very compelling!

“1…2…3…4 pirouettes! New record!” My friends cheered as I landed my turns. Pleased with my progress, I gazed down at my worn-out pointe shoes. The sweltering blisters, numbing ice-baths, and draining late-night practices did not seem so bad after all. Next goal: five turns.

For as long as I can remember, ballet, in all its finesse and glamor, had kept me driven day to day. As a child, the lithe ballerinas, donning ethereal costumes as they floated across the stage, were my motivation. While others admired Messi and Adele, I idolized Carlos Acosta, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet. 

As I devoted more time and energy towards my craft, I became obsessed with improving my technique. I would stretch for hours after class, forcing my leg one inch higher in an effort to mirror the Dance Magazine cover girls. I injured my feet and ruined pair after pair of pointe shoes, turning on wood, cement, and even grass to improve my balance as I spun. At competitions, the dancers with the 180-degree leg extensions, endless turns, and soaring leaps—the ones who received “Bravos!” from the roaring audience—further pushed me to refine my skills and perfect my form. I believed that, with enough determination, I would one day attain their level of perfection. Reaching the quadruple-pirouette milestone only intensified my desire to accomplish even more. 

My efforts seemed to have come to fruition two summers ago when I was accepted to dance with Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet at their renowned New York City summer intensive. I walked into my first session eager to learn from distinguished ballet masters and worldly dancers, already anticipating my improvement. Yet, as I danced alongside the accomplished ballerinas, I felt out of place. Despite their clean technique and professional training, they did not aim for glorious leg extensions or prodigious leaps. When they performed their turn combinations, most of them only executed two turns as I attempted four. 

“Dancers, double-pirouettes only.” 

Taken aback and confused, I wondered why our teacher expected so little from us. The other ballerinas seemed content, gracing the studio with their simple movements. 

As I grew closer with my Moscow roommates, I gradually learned that their training emphasized the history of the art form instead of stylistic tricks. Rather than show off their physical ability, their performances aimed to convey a story, one that embodied the rich culture of ballet and captured both the legacy of the dancers before them and their own artistry. As I observed my friends more intently in repertoire class, I felt the pain of the grief-stricken white swan from Swan Lake, the sass of the flirtatious Kitri from Don Quijote, and I gradually saw what I had overlooked before. My definition of talent had been molded by crowd-pleasing elements—whirring pirouettes, gravity-defying leaps, and mind-blowing leg extensions. This mindset slowly stripped me from the roots of my passion and my personal connection with ballet. 

With the Bolshoi, I learned to step back and explore the meaning behind each step and the people behind the scenes. Ballet carries history in its movements, from the societal values of the era to each choreographer’s unique flair. As I uncovered the messages behind each pirouette, kick, and jump, my appreciation for ballet grew beyond my obsession with raw athleticism and developed into a love for the art form’s emotive abilities in bridging the dancers with the audience. My journey as an artist has allowed me to see how technical execution is only the means to a greater understanding between dancer and spectator, between storyteller and listener. The elegance and complexity of ballet does not revolve around astonishing stunts but rather the evocative strength and artistry manifested in the dancer, in me. It is the combination of sentiments, history, tradition, and passion that has allowed ballet and its lessons of human connection to become my lifestyle both on and off stage.

This essay is about lessons. While the author is a dancer, this narrative isn’t really about ballet, per se — it’s about the author’s personal growth. It is purposefully reflective as the student shows a nice character arc that begins with an eager young ballerina and ends with a reflection on their past. The primary strength of this essay is the honesty and authenticity that the student approaches it with.

In the end, the student turns a cliche on its head as they embrace the idea of overcoming adversity and demonstrate how the adversity, in this case, was their own stereotypes about their art. It’s beautiful!

“Getting beat is one thing – it’s part of competing – but I want no part in losing.” Coach Rob Stark’s motto never fails to remind me of his encouragement on early-morning bus rides to track meets around the state. I’ve always appreciated the phrase, but an experience last June helped me understand its more profound, universal meaning.

Stark, as we affectionately call him, has coached track at my high school for 25 years. His care, dedication, and emphasis on developing good character has left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other students. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for running, but he also taught me the importance of commitment and discipline and to approach every endeavor with the passion and intensity that I bring to running. When I learned a neighboring high school had dedicated their track to a longtime coach, I felt that Stark deserved similar honors.

Our school district’s board of education indicated they would only dedicate our track to Stark if I could demonstrate that he was extraordinary. I took charge and mobilized my teammates to distribute petitions, reach out to alumni, and compile statistics on the many team and individual champions Stark had coached over the years. We received astounding support, collecting almost 3,000 signatures and pages of endorsements from across the community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to the board.

They didn’t bite. 

Most members argued that dedicating the track was a low priority. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called a team meeting where we drafted a rebuttal for the next board meeting. To my surprise, they chose me to deliver it. I was far from the best public speaker in the group, and I felt nervous about going before the unsympathetic board again. However, at that second meeting, I discovered that I enjoy articulating and arguing for something that I’m passionate about.

Public speaking resembles a cross country race. Walking to the starting line, you have to trust your training and quell your last minute doubts. When the gun fires, you can’t think too hard about anything; your performance has to be instinctual, natural, even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the podium was my starting line. As I walked up to it, familiar butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Instead of the track stretching out in front of me, I faced the vast audience of teachers, board members, and my teammates. I felt my adrenaline build, and reassured myself: I’ve put in the work, my argument is powerful and sound. As the board president told me to introduce myself, I heard, “runners set” in the back of my mind. She finished speaking, and Bang! The brief silence was the gunshot for me to begin. 

The next few minutes blurred together, but when the dust settled, I knew from the board members’ expressions and the audience’s thunderous approval that I had run quite a race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; the board voted down our proposal. I was disappointed, but proud of myself, my team, and our collaboration off the track. We stood up for a cause we believed in, and I overcame my worries about being a leader. Although I discovered that changing the status quo through an elected body can be a painstakingly difficult process and requires perseverance, I learned that I enjoy the challenges this effort offers. Last month, one of the school board members joked that I had become a “regular” – I now often show up to meetings to advocate for a variety of causes, including better environmental practices in cafeterias and safer equipment for athletes.

Just as Stark taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have been beaten when I appealed to the board, but I certainly didn’t lose, and that would have made Stark proud.

This essay uses the idea of sports to explore a more profound topic—growing through relationships. They really embrace using sports as an avenue to tell the reader about a specific experience that changed the way they approach the world. 

The emphasis on relationships is why this essay works well and doesn’t fall into a cliche. The narrator grows not because of their experience with track but because of their relationship with their coach, who inspired them to evolve and become a leader.

Have a draft of your college essay? We’re here to help you polish it. Students can participate in a free Peer Review, or they can sign up for a paid review by CollegeVine’s experts. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to start improving your essay and your chances of acceptance!

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Chicago Booth Magazine What Can Sports Teach Us about a Leadership Mind-set?

We asked three booth experts: alumnus jesse nading, ’16, professor george wu, and current student katherine bartels..

• By Leah Rachel von Essen
• October 10, 2019
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What can football teach us about accountability? How can running cross country help us set appropriate goals? And how can building a rugby team from the ground up illuminate new ways to communicate? Here, three Boothies with a love for sports reflect on their own athletic experiences and how they’ve applied those leadership lessons to the business world.

Jesse Nading, ’16, is an engagement manager in McKinsey & Company’s Denver office and a former linebacker for the National Football League’s Houston Texans.

Football is a fantastic way to learn about teamwork and accountability. When I was playing for coach Gary Kubiak and the Texans, after each game, we gathered as a team to watch the week’s best and worst plays. Early on, I was nervous that I would be featured in the worst plays in front of my teammates, but what I quickly realized was that, one, nearly everyone ended up on the worst-plays reel at some point and that, two, a single person was rarely responsible for either a good or a bad play. Naturally, everyone wanted to be on the week’s highlight reel. But we also knew there would come a time when we would be held accountable for our performance, and, while painful at times to watch, it was rarely a negative experience.

We didn’t dread the self-reflection because transparency and accountability were part of our normal operating model. As a team, we could quickly identify mistakes, acknowledge them, and pivot to developing a plan to be better for the next week’s game. The simple ritual of collectively celebrating and scrutinizing our play increased the level of trust we had as a team and created an atmosphere that encouraged players to take calculated risks to make big plays, facilitated honest communication across the team, and held everyone (coaches included) accountable for mistakes.

“Team members excel and do their best work when leaders give them space and trust while keeping everyone accountable and celebrating team successes.”

That process of open reflection is one I was surprised not to see more of in the business world, where people often seem hesitant to openly discuss mistakes. The best-performing project teams I’ve seen find a way to regularly schedule dedicated working sessions to openly talk about performance (good and bad) and push to create a culture where you can have a transparent conversation and say, for example, “Hey, we didn’t execute this project as well as we could have. What could each one of us have done better to drive a better outcome?” Building in this time requires real investment from leadership, but the teams that make the investment tend to function at a higher level, create the most rewarding experiences for each team member, and grow the fastest.

Valuing transparency and acknowledging that doing great work requires risk, and therefore mistakes, is what enables the higher levels of trust and accountability that are hallmarks of great teams. When I played for the Texans, we had a defense that was talented but underperforming. A new defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, came in, and we became one of the top defenses in the NFL. His basic thesis was that if he could simplify our game plan, such that each player was able to be accountable for his role, we could play faster and have the talent to win. It was a matter of trusting the guys to simply beat the opposing player—think less and play faster. It was a powerful lesson. I didn’t anticipate that perspective to be so applicable to the business world, but I’ve found it’s impactful in both sports and business. Team members excel and do their best work when leaders give them space and trust while keeping everyone accountable and celebrating team successes.

George Wu,  the John P. and Lillian A. Gould Professor of Behavioral Science, was a high-school and college runner. His research includes topics such as goal making.

My high-school cross-country team was winless the year before I entered high school. In my junior year we won a single meet, breaking a 47-meet losing streak, before finishing dead last out of 16 teams in our conference meet. But the following year we went 14-and-1 and won the conference meet.

When I led the Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership, we thought about the challenges of making individuals and teams more effective. The business world is challenging because even though people are members of teams, we tend to think primarily about our roles as individual contributors. As you move up within an organization, the boundary between the individual and the team becomes murkier, and you need to reassess how your goals fit into corporate strategy and objectives.

Cross country probably seems like an odd team sport: after all, it’s a collective of individuals each trying to run as fast as they can. However, although the effort out on the course is yours alone, a lot of leadership is about defining the vision and ambitions for collective success, and helping others who are striving to be their best. Even though my junior year cross country team had been really unsuccessful, we knew that we weren’t that crummy. We had a lot of talent and potential, and set an audacious goal to win the conference meet the next year. The summer before my senior year, a big group of us got together and ran lots and lots of miles.

“Challenging but not absurd goals bring out the best in people, and it’s the job of a leader in the company to set that vision.”

Part of my academic research focuses on goals. In my 30s, I set a goal to run a mile every year on my birthday in five minutes or less. I met my goal for eight of the 10 years. But when I met the goal, I only just did so­—lots of 4:58s and 4:59s. That became an impetus for some of the research that I did involving marathon running: goals help to motivate people to do better because falling short of a goal is loss, and people hate losses. However, when people reach the goal, they have little motivation to exceed it or do better.

Going back to my high-school cross-country team, after winning the league championship—our big goal—we went to the state meet, and we were pretty mediocre. Once we achieved our goal, it was difficult to stay motivated.

In the business world it’s important to set goals that are appropriately challenging. If your goals are too hard, they can demotivate the group, but if they’re too easy, you will exceed them but not achieve much more. Challenging but not absurd goals bring out the best in people, and it’s the job of a leader in the company to set that vision.

Katherine Bartels is a student in the Full-Time MBA Program and co-chair of the Booth Rugby Club. She recently completed a summer internship at athletic gear company Nike.

There hasn’t been a robust women’s rugby team at Booth since the 1980s. But over the past year I’ve leveraged free team workouts and fun social activities to bring people into the fold. I’m planning programming over the next year that is going to make the rugby team even less intimidating, to make it more inclusive.

That’s an important leadership skill to develop: how to not only include the members of an organization that you already have, but also position the organization in a way that makes it more accessible to others. By framing rugby as something anyone can learn and participate in—something that’s possible to join if you haven’t played previously—and as a sport that will allow you to meet new people and get to know people both at Booth and in other MBA communities, we can draw more women who might otherwise be intimidated by an unfamiliar sport. You have to be tactful and strategic when you’re thinking about diversity—that framework has helped us field a full team.

There are more opportunities for disagreement than for agreement in a team environment. This makes the team setting a great vehicle for understanding how to have appropriate debate and discourse, how to appreciate people’s various skills, and how to leverage them effectively. You also learn how to bring nuance to your language and use words carefully. The rugby club team connects me to a huge global MBA community, especially because rugby is an international sport. We have people with a variety of languages and ability levels, people who know how to play rugby and people who don’t, people who want to be competitive and people who more so want to be part of the community. All of them have strengths that are opportunities for the team, even if they have different goals or approaches.

“On the playing field there are a range of backgrounds, skill sets, and abilities that you have to learn to speak to and balance.”

The skills I’ve learned in wrangling the rugby club and folding people into the team have really come in handy in my business experience so far. This past summer, I was the global merchandising strategy intern at Nike. We determined the cadence of new innovation, examined how products are distributed around the globe, and explored upcoming areas. I specifically looked at the retail market space—how people are shopping differently because of the proliferation of digital devices and whether exclusive products can help sales.

Merchandising is the hub of Nike. It’s the driver of what products are produced. As a result, there are more folks than I could accurately count who have to weigh in to make sure the right products are making it to market. So it’s a very cross-functional role. I had to have excellent communication skills as well as a lot of empathy for various stakeholders and their different needs and perspectives.

It was a lot like being a captain of a sports team: on the playing field there are a range of backgrounds, skill sets, and abilities that you have to learn to speak to and balance. This helped me leverage stakeholders in appropriate ways.

Being a successful leader means communicating and positioning in a way that maximizes the inclusion of multiple viewpoints, needs, and priorities—whether I’m at Nike or on the rugby field.

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Servant Leadership in Sport: A Review, Synthesis, and Applications for Sport Management Classrooms

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Servant leadership is a style of leadership characterized by principles of other-centeredness and ethical behavior, and suggests that truly effective and legitimate leaders place service to others ahead of personal power and control. Studies on servant leadership in organizational and sport settings have consistently produced positive outcomes. However, the idea of servant leadership as a model for successful leadership in sport is only in the early stages of being accepted. Motivated by a need for adequate information and pedagogical resources, the present review describes the origin and conceptualization of servant leadership and summarizes the positive outcomes resulting from servant leadership. A model for understanding servant-leadership attributes and dynamics is presented along with recommendations for sport management educators.

* G. Matthew Robinson and Glenn Miller are with Department of Kinesiology, Exercise Nutrition, and Human Performance at Baylor University, Waco, TX. Mitchell J. Neubert is with Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at Baylor University, Waco, TX.

Sport Management Education Journal

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Article sections.

• Origin and Evolution of the Servant-Leadership Concept
• Theoretical Overlaps With Other Leadership Theories
• Servant Leadership in the Context of Sport
• Core: Altruistic Calling
• Central Sphere: Enduring Qualities
• Contextual Sphere
• Developing Servant Leaders: Classroom Applications of the Three-Sphere Model
• Activity Overview

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How youth sports influence leadership skills, volunteerism

2015 study from Cornell University and Southern Illinois University that explores how participating in high-school sports may influence a person's job prospects, leadership skills and late-life personality.

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by Rachael Stephens, The Journalist's Resource October 5, 2015

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Athletics are a key feature of the high-school experience for most American youth, whether they are athletes or spectators. As of 2009, 38% of high-school seniors were involved in team sports, according to the U.S. Department of Education. The National Federation of State High School Associations announced in late 2014 that sports participation reached a record high of 7.8 million high-school students for the 2013-14 academic year.

While high-school athletics continue to be one of the most popular extracurricular activities for today’s teens, public school districts sometimes struggle to fund such programs. In School Board meetings and government gathering spaces across the country, educators, community leaders and others have debated the benefits and consequences of school-sponsored sports, which often must compete against academic programs for at least a portion of their funding. In recent years, some school districts wrestling with budget constraints have cut back on their sports programs or considered eliminating them completely . Meanwhile, numerous academic studies have explored the issue of student physical activity more broadly, including its effect on children’s mental health and academic outcomes. A 2012 report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pediatrics offers a review of 14 studies related to student physical activity and concludes that there is a positive relationship between physical activity and academic performance.

A 2015 report published in the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, “Sports at Work: Anticipated and Persistent Correlates of Participation in High School Athletics,” adds new insights into this issue. Authors Kevin M. Kniffin and Brian Wansink of Cornell University and Mitsuru Shimizu of Southern Illinois University completed two complementary studies to try to gauge whether former student-athletes make better employees. For the first study, 66 adults were asked questions about how they perceive people who participated in different extracurricular activities while in high school. The second study used data from the 2000 University of Illinois Veterans Survey, which collected a variety of information from 931 World War II veterans, to determine how participation in youth sports may have influenced these veterans’ career paths, leadership skills and the likelihood that they volunteer and donate to charity.

Key findings of the first study include:

• People tend to expect former student-athletes to display higher levels of leadership, self-confidence and self-respect than former students who participated in the school band or school yearbook club during high school.
• People tend to expect former student-athletes to be less generous in terms of doing volunteer work and donating to charity when compared to former students who had been involved with the school band or the school yearbook.
• There were no significant differences in how study participants perceived the time management skills of former students who had been involved in sports, the school band or school yearbook.

Key findings of the second study include:

• Of the veterans who were surveyed, those who played at least one varsity sport in high school tended to rate higher scores in categories related to leadership, self-confidence and self-respect than those who did not.
• Former student-athletes were more likely to report that they do volunteer work and donate money to various organizations more than 55 years after graduating high school.
• A larger proportion of former student-athletes reported having had careers in “upper management.”

This report builds on prior research and suggests that participating in youth sports might influence the development of certain desirable skills and values. The authors recommend that questions about participation in youth sports be included in job interviews — even for candidates who are relatively far removed from high school — as such participation might have important implications for a person’s leadership capacity and other personality traits. The authors caution, however, that former athletes might be preferred for these reasons even though such qualities might not be necessary for the job in question. The study highlights the need for closer attention to the relevance of sports in the workplace and the activities of older populations. “Our studies address a surprising dearth of systematic study on the relevance of participation in youth sports for early-career selection preferences as well as late-in-life leadership, personality, and behavior,” the authors state. “Given the popular importance of sports in many people’s lives, closer attention is overdue for understanding sports’ roles in the workplace and beyond — including late-in-life charitable giving and voluntarism.”

Related research: A July 2015 report in the Journal of Adolescent Health , “High School Sports Involvement Diminishes the Association Between Childhood Conduct Disorder and Adult Antisocial Behavior,” indicates that participating in high school sports may help disrupt antisocial behavior that begins in childhood and adolescence. An April 2015 report in Global Pediatric Health , “Reported Sports Participation, Race, Sex, Ethnicity, and Obesity in U.S. Adolescents From NHANES Physical Activity,” explores the relationship between participation in different types of athletic activities and adolescent obesity. A 2013 report in the Journal of Pediatrics , “Incidence of Sports-Related Concussion among Youth Football Players Aged 8-12 Years,” looks at the prevalence and causes of medically-diagnosed concussions among male football players in western Pennsylvania during the 2011 youth football season.

Keywords: sports, athletics, education, achievement, sports and academics, youth sports, youth athletics, student athletes, obesity, competitive sports, football

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Rachael Stephens

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, writing about sports in college essays.

Hey guys, I'm a junior and I'm starting to think about the topics for my college essay. I'm really passionate about sports and it's been a significant part of my high school experience. Is it a good idea to write about sports in my college essay? Can you share any tips and suggestions for making it stand out?

Writing about sports in your college essay can be a great idea if you approach it in a unique and personal way. While it's true that some sports-related essay topics are considered cliché, like sports injuries or victories, there's still a way to make yours stand out.

Here are some tips and suggestions for making your sports essay stand out:

1. Focus on a specific aspect: Instead of writing about your entire sports experience, choose a specific aspect or moment that carries personal significance. For example, how your connection with a teammate shaped your perspective on teamwork or how a particular challenge on the field taught you perseverance and resilience.

2. Share personal growth: Rather than just discussing your accomplishments or stats, emphasize how your involvement in sports has contributed to your personal growth and character development. Mention the skills and qualities you've gained and how they'll contribute to your success in college and beyond.

3. Write about a unique experience: Avoid the clichés by writing about an unusual or unexpected experience related to sports. For example, an essay could focus on how coaching a youth sports team shaped your leadership skills or how organizing a charity sports tournament benefited your community.

4. Show your passion: Make sure your genuine love for the sport comes across in your writing. This could be reflected in the vivid description of memorable moments or the enthusiasm with which you talk about your dedication and commitment to the sport.

5. Connect it to your future goals: Tie your sports experiences to your academic and career aspirations to show the admissions committee how your background in sports will contribute to your future success. For example, if you have a passion for sports science or sports management, discuss how your experiences on the field have fueled your interest in those fields.

By considering these tips, you can craft a compelling essay about your passion for sports without falling into cliché territory. Remember to make your essay personal, focused, and reflective of your personal growth, and you'll be well on your way to writing a standout sports-related essay.

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Argumentative Essay: The Importance of Sports

Participation in sports is extremely important, and should be encouraged much more. Children and young people in particular need to do sport so that they develop good habits that they can continue into adulthood. The main benefits of sport are improved health and fitness, and the development of social and communication skills.

With more than a third of adults in the USA being classed as obese, and many more being overweight, it has never been more important to participate in sports. People that do sport on a regular basis are burning more calories than those that don’t, and are therefore less likely to end up overweight. Being a healthy weight means that you will be less likely to die young and suffer from heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes and a range of other conditions, and if you already eat well, it can give you an extra calorie allowance so you can treat yourself without feeling guilty about it.

As well as improving cardiovascular health and fitness, exercising is also good for the musculoskeletal system, making muscles more supple and toned, and improving the strength of bones and joints. People who do sports will be stronger and more able to lift and carry heavy things, which is also always useful, and they are less likely to become really weak and frail as they get older because their bodies are strong. Furthermore, doing sports can improve mental health as well as physical health, with exercise being helpful for people with depression and a range of other mental health issues, because it releases good chemicals into our brains. It also makes people feel better about their bodies, which can make them happier, and reduces the risk of eating disorders and crash dieting, as people make more sensible, healthy changes to their lifestyle.

Sports also allow people to develop personally. Social and communication skills can be learned and developed through sport. Teamwork, for example, is naturally learned through participating in team sports and games. Communication skills can really be honed, as they are at the center of any team’s success, and a lack of them leads to failure. Many people will also develop leadership skills through sport, often discovering abilities that they never knew they even had.

Many people’s self-esteem improves through sport as they discover things that they are good at and improve their body. Participating in any competitive sport also improves our ability to handle pressure and still perform well, as well as teaching us how to win and lose graciously. All in all, the fact that playing sport is good for us is completely undeniable, because it helps our minds and bodies, and ultimately means that we will be living longer, happier lives.

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