Youth Sport Leadership Development
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Journal of Sport Psychology in Action
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Youth Sport Leadership Development: Leveraging the Sports Captaincy Experience
Daniel Gould & Dana K. Voelker
a a a
Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA Available online: 06 Oct 2010
To cite this article: Daniel Gould & Dana K. Voelker (2010): Youth Sport Leadership Development: Leveraging the Sports Captaincy Experience, Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 1:1, 1-14 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2010.497695
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Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 1:1–14, 2010 Copyright © Association for Applied Sport Psychology ISSN: 2152-0704 print / 2152-0712 online DOI: 10.1080/21520704.2010.497695
Youth Sport Leadership Development: Leveraging the Sports Captaincy Experience
DANIEL GOULD and DANA K. VOELKER
Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
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Leadership has been identified as an important but underdeveloped life skill among youth athletes. This article discusses a recent effort to develop leadership by taking a formal educational approach to the sport captaincy experience. More specifically, the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports has partnered with the Michigan High School Athletic Association to create the MHSAA Captain’s Leadership Training Program. The program’s design, structure, and content are discussed as well as our biggest successes, challenges, and future directions. Implications for sport consultants, coaches, and other practitioners are provided. KEYWORDS youth sports, motivation, coaching, youth development, captainship, sport, leadership When children and youth are enrolled in sports, it is believed that they will benefit from their experience. Parents, coaches, and school administrators often assume that in addition to physical fitness, children and youth will acquire important life skills just by being there (Gould, Carson, Fifer, Lauer, & Benham, 2009). However, initial research indicates that mere sport participation does not guarantee life skill development, particularly leadership. In a recent interview study examining the high school captaincy experience, all 13 former high school captains reported that they were not trained or prepared by their coaches for their leadership role (Voelker, Gould, &
The authors would like to acknowledge the many contributions of Andy Frushour and Andy Osters of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, not only in terms of the program’s overall development, but relative to the tremendous effort they have currently put into scheduling and organizing the captains’ clinics. Address correspondence to Daniel Gould, Michigan State University, Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, 210 IM Circle, East Lansing, MI 48824. E-mail: [email protected] 1
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Crawford, 2010). Moreover, captains most often reported that their leadership duty was organizational in nature, like calling the coin toss and choosing the team’s attire. Conclusions from this study indicated that captains were not given opportunities to exercise advanced leadership skills like helping coaches plan practice or lead team meetings (Voelker, Gould, & Crawford, 2010). Given the simplified nature of their roles and responsibilities, as well as the lack of purposeful adult mentorship and teaching, the degree to which these athletes really learned about leadership is questionable. Still, other research suggests a tremendous need for leadership development in young people (Gould, Smith, White, & Chung, 2006; van Linden & Fertman, 1998). In particular, Gould and colleagues examined the perceptions of high school coaches on player life skill and social issues and found that poor leadership was the sixth most frequently cited problem among adolescent athletes today. The lack of purposeful initiative to teach young people how to lead, despite the apparent need to do so, parallels the general youth development literature (e.g., van Linden & Fertman, 1998). This article discusses a recent effort to reverse the deficit in youth leadership development through sport and hopefully will advance our understanding of youth leadership in general. More specifically, the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) partnered with the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) to develop the MHSAA Captain’s Leadership Training Program (CLTP). This program was designed to teach high school student-athletes leadership skills and to thereby enhance the high school sports experience. The philosophy, design, content, implications, and future directions of CLTP will be discussed.
YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY
Leadership is a highly valued construct, but it is not always easily defined or understood. Over time, we at ISYS have developed a leadership philosophy that serves as a foundation for all of our outreach work in this area. This philosophy is based on the latest leadership research conducted with adults (Anderson, 2007), youth leadership research and theory (Martinek & Hellison, 2009; van Linden & Fertman, 1998), our own research on youth sport leadership (Voelker, Gould, & Crawford, 2010; Voelker, Gould, & Griffes, 2010; Voelker et al., 2010), and our staff’s five years of experience in conducting CLTP. The fundamental principles of this youth leadership development philosophy follow: 1. Leadership is a complex process that involves the effort of an individual (i.e., a leader) to help groups identify and achieve personal and group goals.
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2. Effective leadership results from the reciprocal interaction of leader characteristics (e.g., traits, orientations, behavioral skills), follower characteristics (e.g., traits, orientations, behavioral skills), and situational influences (e.g., resource availability, such as program funding). 3. All young people can and need to learn leadership skills. However, certain youth will have characteristics and previous experiences that will increase their capacity to lead and enhance their leadership effectiveness. 4. Youth leadership development occurs in stages beginning with awareness of one’s leadership capacity and the development of basic skills (e.g., making eye contact when communicating, focusing on positive reinforcement) and moving to more abstract interpretations of and interventions into one’s environment (e.g., understanding the complexity of leader-follower dynamics, developing and sharing a team vision, eliciting positive behaviors from followers). 5. Learning how to lead is multi-faceted. Much of the literature suggests that leadership may be developed through experience (observational and experiential learning), trial and error, mentorship, and formal education—the focus of our initiative (e.g., Doh, 2003; Kempster, 2006; Kouzes & Posner, 1987; Martinek & Hellison, 2009). 6. Effective youth leadership development requires experiential learning. Young people in a leadership role need supervising adults to allow them to make “meaningful” decisions and to become active agents in their own development. Cultivating leadership in young people is difficult when adults dominate their sport environment. 7. Of all the venues that may be used to develop leadership in young people, sport appears to be one of the most underutilized. Highly valued in many societies, sport is an activity that young people are highly motivated to pursue and where youth believe their actions have important consequences. However, based on our research and personal and professional experiences, we have found that captainship is increasingly treated as a right and a status symbol that is granted when an athlete demonstrates outstanding athletic ability or reaches their senior year. Efforts to give high school captains real leadership opportunities are not occurring enough and when they do occur, captains are often ill prepared to handle them. When captainship is treated in this way, selfish entitlement is promoted and life skill development is undermined. Captainship, in our view, is therefore an underrecognized opportunity to teach young people about real leadership.
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THE MHSAA CAPTAIN’S LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM
CLTP has been developed over the last five years through a partnership between the MHSAA and ISYS. Its purpose is to teach current and future
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captains how to be effective leaders in sport and to thereby improve the quality of high school athletics. By providing leadership training opportunities in sport, it is our hope that youth will learn lessons that will equip them for other leadership opportunities later in their lives. In its present form, the program is comprised of two parts: (a) a one-day in-person clinic; and (b) a self-study captain’s guide (available upon request from the first author).
Clinic Phase
The MHSAA offers several one-day captains’ leadership training clinics each fall and spring semester. Typically, 4 to 8 clinics are held per academic year throughout the state with between 100 and 200 athletes attending each time. Attendees include male and female, sophomore and junior high school athletes who have been purposefully selected to attend by their high school athletic departments. Some attendees are already captains. Others have not yet served in a formal captaincy role but have been identified as possessing the leadership potential to become one in the future. The athletes are bussed from school with chaperones, including coaches and athletic directors. Table 1 contains a typical clinic schedule. In the introductory session, each participant is provided with a six-chapter guidebook (i.e., Becoming an Effective Team Captain: Student-Athlete Guide) to complement the material presented in each session. A MHSAA presenter conducts an ice breaker activity with the goal of alleviating anxiety about the day (e.g., Shoe activity—all youth take off one shoe and place in a massive pile, athletes pick up the shoe of another person, find its owner, and get to know that person; Lineup activity—all youth line up in order according to their birthday without talking). The program’s purposes and expectations are outlined, with the bulk of the time spent emphasizing the importance of leadership and that leadership skills can be learned. These messages are conveyed through PowerPoint slides and DVD interviews with high school captains who discuss their captaincy experiences, including the challenges they have faced. The focal point of the clinic is comprised of three breakout sessions. These typically consist of 20–25 clinic attendees randomly selected from different schools. Breakout sessions are led by graduate students, faculty, and an occasional undergraduate intern involved in ISYS research and outreach.
TABLE 1 Typical Clinic Schedule 9:00 AM–9:55 AM: Introduction 10:00 AM–10:50 AM: Breakout Session 1: What You Need to Know as a Leader 10:55 AM–11:45 AM: Breakout Session 2: Handling Common Team Problems 11:50 AM–12:20 PM: Lunch 12:25 PM–12:50 PM: Breakout Session 3: Getting Your Questions Answered 12:55 PM–1:30 PM: Closing: Where to Go From Here
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In the first breakout session, the major components of leadership are introduced (e.g. positive peer modeling, communication, motivation, and team cohesion). The athletes then take part in various exercises and discussions that help them derive how they may assess and improve their skills as a captain in key leadership areas (e.g., how to approach and talk to their coach with player issues, how to motivate teammates). In the second breakout session, the athletes have an opportunity to identify common team problems and collaborate with peers on how they might handle each difficult situation as a leader. In the last breakout, athletes are encouraged to ask questions, receive feedback from adults in the room, and participate in goal-setting exercises specifically pertaining to their leadership development. All of these sessions are primarily athlete-discussion driven with minimal, if any, emphasis on PowerPoint lectures. More detail on the purpose and content of each breakout session is provided in Table 2. In the closing session, a MHSAA presenter recaps the day, reviews the major take-home messages, and emphasizes the importance of applying what they learned to their scholastic sport experiences. Unlike the previous sessions, the closing session is organized to allow coaches and athletes from the same school to sit together, collaborate, and develop an action plan for putting their newly acquired knowledge into practice. The athletes and administrators are also encouraged to use the clinic as a starting point to engage in a regular dialogue about the captaincy experience at their respective schools. Each participant is encouraged to continue using the six-chapter guidebook they received at the beginning of the day.
The Self-Study Team Captain’s Guide
While we have found the clinics to be a good way to teach young people about leadership, we did not believe that the clinics alone would be enough. For this reason we have written a six-chapter guidebook titled, Becoming an Effective Team Captain: Student-Athlete Guide. Each chapter of this self-study guide discusses a specific leadership area (e.g., motivation, communication, team building). Content includes basic information on the topic, examples of athletes, coaches and statespersons who are effective in implementing the leadership skill, and practical guidelines for using the information as a captain (see Table 3). All chapters contain a number of exercises for the athletes to complete in the clinic and on their own. For example, they may create a profile of their captain capabilities, identify the characteristics of the most and least effective communicators they have observed in sport and otherwise, work through specific case examples, or list their motivational strengths and areas for improvement. While the guide is designed to parallel and complement the information contained in the clinic, it can also be used
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TABLE 2 CLTP One-Day Clinic Structure Session Purpose(s) Session Content and Structure Introductions Introduce and review Student-Athlete Guide Conduct large group exercise on what is effective leadership Complete Leadership Performance Profiles (Rate self on skills of positive modeling, communication, motivation, team cohesion, other) Facilitate strategy development exercise (Small group discussions on improving each leadership component in oneself and others) Summary and Close
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Session Title
Breakout Session 1: What You Need to Know as a Leader
Breakout Session Two: Handling Common Team Problems
To assist the athletes in arriving at a definition of effective leadership that includes the principles of positive peer modeling, communication, motivation, and team cohesion. To assist the athletes in conducting a brief self-analysis of their leadership skills. To assist the athletes in devising strategies for developing the 4 domains of effective leadership in themselves and others (i.e., positive peer modeling, communication, motivation, and team cohesion). To show the athletes that there is a range of tough situations that they should be prepared to face as a captain (being a team leader is more complex that wearing a “C”). To assist the athletes in developing strategies for coping with and resolving these difficult situations. To assist the athletes in developing strategies for coping with and resolving difficult leadership situations.
Breakout Session Three: Getting Your Questions Answered
To prepare the athletes, coaches, and athletic directors for collaborating in the closing session. To answer any remaining questions.
Present difficult questions/scenarios commonly associated with being a captain (e.g., how do you motivate unmotivated teammates?) Allow athletes to choose difficult questions/scenarios that they would like to discuss in length Facilitate large or small group discussion on how to address each difficult question/scenario based on things that worked for the athletes in the past, things they have seen work for others, strategies discussed in the first session, the student-athlete guide, and facilitator input Summary and Close Invite athletes to ask captaincy questions that may not have been answered Facilitate behavior change exercise (Identification of 3–5 habits to Stop (e.g., ignoring freshman), Start (e.g., communicating with coach), Do more of, and Do less of) Summary and Close
Youth Sport Leadership TABLE 3 Becoming an Effective Team Captain: Student-Athlete Guide Content 1. Introduction—About the Captain’s Guide – Why you are here – What to expect – How to use the guide 2. My Role as a Team Captain – Captain roles and responsibilities – Assessment of leadership abilities (strengths and areas for improvement) – Complexity of leadership and its components (leader, followers, situation) – Key leadership principles – Case examples of effective leaders and captains 3. Effective Communication – Characteristics of most and least effective communicators – Keys to effective communication (verbal, nonverbal, listening) – Communicating with coaches 4. Team Motivation—The Captain’s Central Role – Motivational duties as a captain – Characteristics of motivated teams – Guidelines for understanding and improving team motivation 5. Team Building & Cohesion – Characteristics of effective teams – Development of team unity, identity and pride, respect, trust, and responsibility – Assessment of team cohesion – Strategies for improving team cohesion 6. Handling Tough Team Situations – Assessment of common team problems experienced and the effectiveness of your response – Strategies for making tough decisions, resolving conflict, and handling tough team situations (e.g., losing streaks, tough losses, poor performance, poor off-the-field decisions) – Development of a plan for handling common team problems 7. Recommendations from Captains and Coaches – E.g., Don’t put yourself above others and get too caught up in being a captain 8. Using What You Learned – Assessment of leadership lessons learned and how they will be used – Development of a leadership plan for your school/team
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if one did not attend the program (e.g., if a captain wanted to share it with a co-captain who was not in attendance).
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED What Has Gone Well
At the end of each clinic, the MHSAA staff asks participants to evaluate the content of each session as well as the effectiveness of the instructors through brief informal written surveys. Thus far, the athletes have consistently reported that they have found the workshops to be both helpful and enjoyable and that the instructional staff is knowledgeable of the topics they
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introduce. One of the program components that coaches and athletic directors particularly enjoy is that their athletes have an opportunity to meet their opponents, develop relationships with identified leaders in other schools, and foster peer collaboration. In addition to the attendees, the MHSAA staff has also been very pleased with the program and its development. More specifically, they believe that CLTP not only exposes athletes to key principles of leadership, but that it also provides them with practical strategies for exercising more effective leadership skills both in and out of their sport environment. While not its primary intent, CLTP has served as an excellent training tool for sport psychology graduate students in developing their understanding of the high school athlete and coaching population. Novice presenters have also been provided with a valuable mentorship experience by pairing with experienced facilitators. All presenters have been able to enhance their presentation, teaching, and rapport-building skills through the experience. Finally, we have learned a great deal about developing leadership skills from conducting this program. It has also raised several questions that have led ISYS researchers to initiate a series of studies on youth sport leadership, including an examination of the high school captaincy experience and the perspective of coaches on developing leadership skills in high school athletes.
What We Have Changed
THE MOVE
FROM
LECTURE
TO
FACILITATION
When we first began CLTP five years ago, we designed and delivered lecture sessions organized by topic, such as motivating teammates, effective communication, and team building. While these were well received by clinic attendees, we as presenters felt that we did not connect enough with the athletes. At the same time, we were becoming better informed about the youth development literature which suggests that giving young people a sense of empowerment is far more effective than following a more adult-dominated model (e.g., Martinek & Hellison, 2009; van Linden & Fertman, 1998; Walker & Larson, 2006). Because of these experiences, we modified the program to give athletes a greater sense of control and responsibility in their own leadership development. More specifically, athletes are no longer given information and told to use it. Lecture is therefore minimal. Rather than “spoon-feeding” the athletes information from expert authority figures, the program follows a far more egalitarian model where the athletes are challenged to come up with answers to big leadership questions themselves and encouraged to ask for help along the way. Through small and large group discussions and activities, the athletes have an opportunity to collaborate with their same-age
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peers on various topics (e.g., how is leadership defined, what are the components of leadership, how do you develop these components in yourself and others, how do you handle tough leadership situations). The program facilitators guide, assist, and mentor the athletes by introducing them to basic leadership content, outlining the structure of each session, and providing examples, including those from their own sport-leadership experiences. In a recent qualitative study examining the best coaching practices for developing leaders, half of the coaches interviewed reported that one of the biggest mistakes of coaches is not giving their captains enough responsibility or an opportunity to lead (Gould, Voelker, & Griffes, 2010). With the abovementioned teaching methodology, athletes actually have a voice. INCREASED EMPHASIS
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ON
LEARNING LEADERSHIP
A major change has also taken place in the introductory session of the clinic. Formerly, this opening session provided a standard overview of leadership with large group icebreakers. Based on the results of our own line of research on youth captainship and other recent studies in the area, we have identified a need to additionally emphasize leadership as a skill that can be learned. For example, in a recent qualitative study examining the high school captaincy experience of 13 former high school captains, a surprising number of participants reported that they believe that leaders are only born (Voelker et al., 2010). What may be gleaned from this finding is that not every CLTP participant believes there is something they can change about their leadership potential, ability, skills, or effectiveness. This attitude defeats the purpose of attending a clinic to improve leadership. The introductory session to the program now therefore emphasizes leadership as a skill that can be developed and refined with time, experience, mentorship, and education.
Current Challenges
STIMULATING DISCUSSIONS One of the difficulties of our new program design is that there is a significant amount of reliance on the instructor to stimulate and maintain discussion. Giving the athletes more responsibility for their own leadership development in each session also means that the athletes must be active and involved participants. Challenging and assisting athletes in their learning rather than directing and telling athletes what to do often takes a more skilled instructor, teacher, and mentor. This task is made especially difficult because instructors have no prior experience with the specific athletes attending and because the participants are often hesitant to speak up in a new social situation. To help in this regard, ISYS provides training for all facilitators and presenters. Table 4
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TABLE 4 Presenter Recommendations to Trainees Include time for questions at the end if possible. Make sure you plan how you will introduce yourself. Be confident but don’t brag. Talk about your experiences and training briefly (less than 30 seconds) (e.g., “My name is Darlene Smith. I am a third-year PhD student in sport psychology at Michigan State University. I was the captain of the women’s soccer team at Penn State, as well as the assistant captain of the girls’ field hockey team in high school”). Plan out the priorities to cover in each session. Then know what you will cut out if you don’t have enough time. By all means keep it active. Lectures don’t work well with this group. Be enthusiastic. Bring positive energy. Ask questions. Get them engaged. If you bring energy to them, they will give energy back. Don’t be afraid to challenge them subtly and slightly if they are not participating. Do this in a jovial manner, not a frustrated one (e.g., “Don’t raise your hands all at once!” ☺). Have fun. Remember that you are helping the state’s youth and if one person gets it, then you have done our youth a great service. Be sure to mention/refer to the student-athlete guide at least once during your presentation. We have created this guidebook and want them to use it (e.g., “On page 8 of your guidebook, you can find more information on effective communication skills”; or “The material we will be covering in this session is discussed in chapter 3 of your guidebook”). Don’t wait until the night before to prepare even if you have done the presentation before! A professional prepares completely even when he or she feels they have the presentation mastered. We promise you this—you can be sharper, even if you are a veteran. The captains are most receptive when the presentations are conversational, when you make the information relevant to them (e.g., by using illustrative examples), and when you connect with the group (vs. reading off the screen). These objectives are easier to achieve if you know the presentation information inside and out. Remember, these presentations are not lectures! Try to get the group involved in some way for every PowerPoint slide you have (e.g., through questions, activities, etc.)—the more the captains participate, the more they will get out of the sessions. Don’t be afraid to adjust during and/or between sessions. Understand that you are not going to reach, please, or entertain everyone, but it is a good idea to pay attention to what is working, what isn’t working, and make changes when necessary. Be enthusiastic and model interest in the material. Try chatting with the captains before and between sessions. The more they get to know you, the more likely they are to be involved once your presentation starts.
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provides several best practice recommendations that our own presenters have offered to those in training.
GETTING
THE
RIGHT STUDENT ATHLETES INVOLVED
We quickly discovered that some athletes viewed the program as a day off of school rather than an opportunity to develop athletic and leadership potential. These athletes were simply not paying attention, and instructors had to work even harder to engage them. In a few cases, athletes were asked to leave the session. One way we are trying to resolve this issue is by having the MHSAA implement a more rigorous and standardized selection process that increases the likelihood of inviting athletes who really want to be there. Some could argue that the athletes who are not as interested in leadership
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development are also those who need it the most and who might benefit if only they were exposed to leadership training. The best method for selecting participants is still under consideration.
DETERMINING
THE
LEADERSHIP CAPACITY
OF
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
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Developmental research tells us that while high school students may look like adults, they differ developmentally in many ways. For example, while they have the ability to be empathic and focus on the needs of others, they are still more egocentric, or self-focused, than adults (Kegan, 1982). This developmental consideration certainly affects their leadership capacity since much of leadership requires self-sacrifice and a focus on the welfare of others. We constantly find ourselves asking questions like, what is the capacity for youth leaders to develop transformational leadership skills, like playing a role in developing the team’s vision? Or, given the emphasis on peer approval, how likely is it that youth leaders will feel comfortable calling out teammates who are not giving maximum effort or conforming to team rules? We are hoping to provide answers to questions like these by continuing to acquire information through research and professional practice.
LACK
OF
SUPERVISING TEACHER/COACH INVOLVEMENT
Another notable challenge is that coaches and athletic directors attending the program have served primarily as chaperones but not participated in sessions despite an invitation. In turn, the athletes attending the program have not generally had the support or accountability for implementing what they have learned on their teams and in their schools. Possible solutions to this and other issues described above are discussed next.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS Develop a Concurrent Program for Supervising Coaches
Our current design and structure is far more consistent with “what works” based on the youth development literature and continues to be well received by our audience. Still, we are looking at future developments. One of our biggest goals is to develop a concurrent program for coaches and athletic directors on how to develop youth leadership through sport, while incorporating the content that the athletes are learning in their own sessions. The same leadership philosophy would be emphasized (e.g., sport participation alone does not breed leadership—it must be proactively developed). Session topics would include leadership training methods they can use with
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their own athletes and how to develop a sport leadership development initiative in their own schools. The biggest mistakes and recommendations for working with team captains informed from the results of a series of recent studies (e.g., Gould, Voelker, & Griffes, 2010) would also be discussed. Like the guide for student-athletes, a manual designed specifically for coaches and athletic directors would also be created.
Hold Participants More Accountable
Another important goal is to develop an accountability piece to the program. Athletes are not developing real leadership if they use nothing they learned in their everyday lives. In turn, we would like to better encourage coaches and athletic directors to follow-up with their athletes and reinforce the implementation of leadership skills learned in the program. For example, feedback might be provided to captains via a leadership report card. We have also pondered the idea of developing a protected online group for current and future captains to collaborate on leadership issues.
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Develop a Complete Program
With more research and professional practice in this area, we ultimately hope to produce a Youth Sport Leadership Development Package. This package would include tested program materials designed to allow athletes, coaches, and athletic directors to implement their own leadership groups, programs, and mentorship experiences in the schools. In this way, a youth sport leadership initiative could be more easily implemented statewide and beyond.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
To this point, we have provided an abundance of information on how we have approached leadership development through sport. In sharing our philosophy as well as our biggest successes and challenges, our hope is to bring attention to this very important but under-acknowledged life skill. As sport consultants, it appears commonplace to address issues of confidence, focus, motivation, team building, and communication with our athletes and teams. Fewer have addressed performance enhancement from a leadershipbuilding perspective. After all, we are only beginning to develop models, research initiatives, and guidelines for doing so, as previously illustrated. In addition to addressing leadership development with athletes and teams, conducting statewide programs for high school athletics is another possible source of consulting revenue.
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For coaches, leadership also appears to be under-recognized. That is, many coaches appear to be frustrated with the leadership on their teams, but few appear to proactively develop leadership skills in their athletes. Coaches can play numerous roles in the leadership development process. For example, coaches can be cultivators of leadership themselves by serving as positive role models, providing a mentorship experience to captains, teaching their captains about leadership principles, and providing feedback on their captain’s leadership skills throughout the season. Coaches can use the same principles of empowerment and autonomy by giving their captains an opportunity to lead and providing a legitimate leadership role with clear expectations and reasonably challenging responsibilities. Coaches can also promote and support other venues by encouraging their athletes to attend sport leadership development initiatives and by holding their own athletes accountable for what they have learned. For everyone involved in facilitating leadership development through sport, we recommend consulting the relevant literature, collaborating with others on the topic, and doing your own leadership exploration. What is leadership to you, why is it important, and how can you best develop it in the young people you work with? Numerous initiatives have involved young people in volunteer work and service learning projects and then called it a leadership development program. We are questioning how much leadership development is occurring if leadership skills are not proactively taught. Similarly in sport, we encourage you to ask yourselves how much our athletes are learning about leadership just by being there and to what degree we need to do something more to develop leaders for our future.
REFERENCES
Anderson, N. B. (Ed.). (2007). Leadership [Special issue]. American Psychologist, 62(1), 1–47. Doh, J. P. (2003). Can leadership be taught? Perspectives from management Educators. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2, 54–67. Gould, D., Carson, S., Fifer, A., Lauer, L., & Benham, R. (2009). Social-emotional and life skill development issues characterizing today’s high school sport experience. Journal of Coaching Education, 2, 1–25. Gould, D., Voelker, D. K., & Griffes, K. (2010). Best coaching practices for developing team captains. Manuscript in preparation. Gould, D., Smith, P., White, J., & Chung, Y. (2006). Future directions in coaching life skills: Understanding high school coaches’ views and needs. Athletic Insight: The Online Journal of Sport Psychology, 8, 1–11. Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kempster, S. (2006). Leadership learning through lived experience: A process of apprenticeship? Journal of Management and Organization, 12, 4–22.
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Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. P. (1987). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. Martinek, T., & Hellison, D. (2009). Youth leadership in sport and physical education. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan. van Linden, J. A., & Fertman, C. I. (1998). Youth leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Voelker, D. K., Gould, D., & Crawford, M. J. (2010). The experience of high school sport captains. Manuscript submitted for publication. Walker, K., & Larson, R. (2006). Adult-driven youth programs: An oxymoron? The Prevention Researcher, 13, 17–20.
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Journal of Sport Psychology in Action
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uspa20
Youth Sport Leadership Development: Leveraging the Sports Captaincy Experience
Daniel Gould & Dana K. Voelker
a a a
Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA Available online: 06 Oct 2010
To cite this article: Daniel Gould & Dana K. Voelker (2010): Youth Sport Leadership Development: Leveraging the Sports Captaincy Experience, Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 1:1, 1-14 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2010.497695
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Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 1:1–14, 2010 Copyright © Association for Applied Sport Psychology ISSN: 2152-0704 print / 2152-0712 online DOI: 10.1080/21520704.2010.497695
Youth Sport Leadership Development: Leveraging the Sports Captaincy Experience
DANIEL GOULD and DANA K. VOELKER
Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
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Leadership has been identified as an important but underdeveloped life skill among youth athletes. This article discusses a recent effort to develop leadership by taking a formal educational approach to the sport captaincy experience. More specifically, the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports has partnered with the Michigan High School Athletic Association to create the MHSAA Captain’s Leadership Training Program. The program’s design, structure, and content are discussed as well as our biggest successes, challenges, and future directions. Implications for sport consultants, coaches, and other practitioners are provided. KEYWORDS youth sports, motivation, coaching, youth development, captainship, sport, leadership When children and youth are enrolled in sports, it is believed that they will benefit from their experience. Parents, coaches, and school administrators often assume that in addition to physical fitness, children and youth will acquire important life skills just by being there (Gould, Carson, Fifer, Lauer, & Benham, 2009). However, initial research indicates that mere sport participation does not guarantee life skill development, particularly leadership. In a recent interview study examining the high school captaincy experience, all 13 former high school captains reported that they were not trained or prepared by their coaches for their leadership role (Voelker, Gould, &
The authors would like to acknowledge the many contributions of Andy Frushour and Andy Osters of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, not only in terms of the program’s overall development, but relative to the tremendous effort they have currently put into scheduling and organizing the captains’ clinics. Address correspondence to Daniel Gould, Michigan State University, Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, 210 IM Circle, East Lansing, MI 48824. E-mail: [email protected] 1
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Crawford, 2010). Moreover, captains most often reported that their leadership duty was organizational in nature, like calling the coin toss and choosing the team’s attire. Conclusions from this study indicated that captains were not given opportunities to exercise advanced leadership skills like helping coaches plan practice or lead team meetings (Voelker, Gould, & Crawford, 2010). Given the simplified nature of their roles and responsibilities, as well as the lack of purposeful adult mentorship and teaching, the degree to which these athletes really learned about leadership is questionable. Still, other research suggests a tremendous need for leadership development in young people (Gould, Smith, White, & Chung, 2006; van Linden & Fertman, 1998). In particular, Gould and colleagues examined the perceptions of high school coaches on player life skill and social issues and found that poor leadership was the sixth most frequently cited problem among adolescent athletes today. The lack of purposeful initiative to teach young people how to lead, despite the apparent need to do so, parallels the general youth development literature (e.g., van Linden & Fertman, 1998). This article discusses a recent effort to reverse the deficit in youth leadership development through sport and hopefully will advance our understanding of youth leadership in general. More specifically, the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports (ISYS) partnered with the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) to develop the MHSAA Captain’s Leadership Training Program (CLTP). This program was designed to teach high school student-athletes leadership skills and to thereby enhance the high school sports experience. The philosophy, design, content, implications, and future directions of CLTP will be discussed.
YOUTH LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PHILOSOPHY
Leadership is a highly valued construct, but it is not always easily defined or understood. Over time, we at ISYS have developed a leadership philosophy that serves as a foundation for all of our outreach work in this area. This philosophy is based on the latest leadership research conducted with adults (Anderson, 2007), youth leadership research and theory (Martinek & Hellison, 2009; van Linden & Fertman, 1998), our own research on youth sport leadership (Voelker, Gould, & Crawford, 2010; Voelker, Gould, & Griffes, 2010; Voelker et al., 2010), and our staff’s five years of experience in conducting CLTP. The fundamental principles of this youth leadership development philosophy follow: 1. Leadership is a complex process that involves the effort of an individual (i.e., a leader) to help groups identify and achieve personal and group goals.
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2. Effective leadership results from the reciprocal interaction of leader characteristics (e.g., traits, orientations, behavioral skills), follower characteristics (e.g., traits, orientations, behavioral skills), and situational influences (e.g., resource availability, such as program funding). 3. All young people can and need to learn leadership skills. However, certain youth will have characteristics and previous experiences that will increase their capacity to lead and enhance their leadership effectiveness. 4. Youth leadership development occurs in stages beginning with awareness of one’s leadership capacity and the development of basic skills (e.g., making eye contact when communicating, focusing on positive reinforcement) and moving to more abstract interpretations of and interventions into one’s environment (e.g., understanding the complexity of leader-follower dynamics, developing and sharing a team vision, eliciting positive behaviors from followers). 5. Learning how to lead is multi-faceted. Much of the literature suggests that leadership may be developed through experience (observational and experiential learning), trial and error, mentorship, and formal education—the focus of our initiative (e.g., Doh, 2003; Kempster, 2006; Kouzes & Posner, 1987; Martinek & Hellison, 2009). 6. Effective youth leadership development requires experiential learning. Young people in a leadership role need supervising adults to allow them to make “meaningful” decisions and to become active agents in their own development. Cultivating leadership in young people is difficult when adults dominate their sport environment. 7. Of all the venues that may be used to develop leadership in young people, sport appears to be one of the most underutilized. Highly valued in many societies, sport is an activity that young people are highly motivated to pursue and where youth believe their actions have important consequences. However, based on our research and personal and professional experiences, we have found that captainship is increasingly treated as a right and a status symbol that is granted when an athlete demonstrates outstanding athletic ability or reaches their senior year. Efforts to give high school captains real leadership opportunities are not occurring enough and when they do occur, captains are often ill prepared to handle them. When captainship is treated in this way, selfish entitlement is promoted and life skill development is undermined. Captainship, in our view, is therefore an underrecognized opportunity to teach young people about real leadership.
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THE MHSAA CAPTAIN’S LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM
CLTP has been developed over the last five years through a partnership between the MHSAA and ISYS. Its purpose is to teach current and future
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captains how to be effective leaders in sport and to thereby improve the quality of high school athletics. By providing leadership training opportunities in sport, it is our hope that youth will learn lessons that will equip them for other leadership opportunities later in their lives. In its present form, the program is comprised of two parts: (a) a one-day in-person clinic; and (b) a self-study captain’s guide (available upon request from the first author).
Clinic Phase
The MHSAA offers several one-day captains’ leadership training clinics each fall and spring semester. Typically, 4 to 8 clinics are held per academic year throughout the state with between 100 and 200 athletes attending each time. Attendees include male and female, sophomore and junior high school athletes who have been purposefully selected to attend by their high school athletic departments. Some attendees are already captains. Others have not yet served in a formal captaincy role but have been identified as possessing the leadership potential to become one in the future. The athletes are bussed from school with chaperones, including coaches and athletic directors. Table 1 contains a typical clinic schedule. In the introductory session, each participant is provided with a six-chapter guidebook (i.e., Becoming an Effective Team Captain: Student-Athlete Guide) to complement the material presented in each session. A MHSAA presenter conducts an ice breaker activity with the goal of alleviating anxiety about the day (e.g., Shoe activity—all youth take off one shoe and place in a massive pile, athletes pick up the shoe of another person, find its owner, and get to know that person; Lineup activity—all youth line up in order according to their birthday without talking). The program’s purposes and expectations are outlined, with the bulk of the time spent emphasizing the importance of leadership and that leadership skills can be learned. These messages are conveyed through PowerPoint slides and DVD interviews with high school captains who discuss their captaincy experiences, including the challenges they have faced. The focal point of the clinic is comprised of three breakout sessions. These typically consist of 20–25 clinic attendees randomly selected from different schools. Breakout sessions are led by graduate students, faculty, and an occasional undergraduate intern involved in ISYS research and outreach.
TABLE 1 Typical Clinic Schedule 9:00 AM–9:55 AM: Introduction 10:00 AM–10:50 AM: Breakout Session 1: What You Need to Know as a Leader 10:55 AM–11:45 AM: Breakout Session 2: Handling Common Team Problems 11:50 AM–12:20 PM: Lunch 12:25 PM–12:50 PM: Breakout Session 3: Getting Your Questions Answered 12:55 PM–1:30 PM: Closing: Where to Go From Here
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In the first breakout session, the major components of leadership are introduced (e.g. positive peer modeling, communication, motivation, and team cohesion). The athletes then take part in various exercises and discussions that help them derive how they may assess and improve their skills as a captain in key leadership areas (e.g., how to approach and talk to their coach with player issues, how to motivate teammates). In the second breakout session, the athletes have an opportunity to identify common team problems and collaborate with peers on how they might handle each difficult situation as a leader. In the last breakout, athletes are encouraged to ask questions, receive feedback from adults in the room, and participate in goal-setting exercises specifically pertaining to their leadership development. All of these sessions are primarily athlete-discussion driven with minimal, if any, emphasis on PowerPoint lectures. More detail on the purpose and content of each breakout session is provided in Table 2. In the closing session, a MHSAA presenter recaps the day, reviews the major take-home messages, and emphasizes the importance of applying what they learned to their scholastic sport experiences. Unlike the previous sessions, the closing session is organized to allow coaches and athletes from the same school to sit together, collaborate, and develop an action plan for putting their newly acquired knowledge into practice. The athletes and administrators are also encouraged to use the clinic as a starting point to engage in a regular dialogue about the captaincy experience at their respective schools. Each participant is encouraged to continue using the six-chapter guidebook they received at the beginning of the day.
The Self-Study Team Captain’s Guide
While we have found the clinics to be a good way to teach young people about leadership, we did not believe that the clinics alone would be enough. For this reason we have written a six-chapter guidebook titled, Becoming an Effective Team Captain: Student-Athlete Guide. Each chapter of this self-study guide discusses a specific leadership area (e.g., motivation, communication, team building). Content includes basic information on the topic, examples of athletes, coaches and statespersons who are effective in implementing the leadership skill, and practical guidelines for using the information as a captain (see Table 3). All chapters contain a number of exercises for the athletes to complete in the clinic and on their own. For example, they may create a profile of their captain capabilities, identify the characteristics of the most and least effective communicators they have observed in sport and otherwise, work through specific case examples, or list their motivational strengths and areas for improvement. While the guide is designed to parallel and complement the information contained in the clinic, it can also be used
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TABLE 2 CLTP One-Day Clinic Structure Session Purpose(s) Session Content and Structure Introductions Introduce and review Student-Athlete Guide Conduct large group exercise on what is effective leadership Complete Leadership Performance Profiles (Rate self on skills of positive modeling, communication, motivation, team cohesion, other) Facilitate strategy development exercise (Small group discussions on improving each leadership component in oneself and others) Summary and Close
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Session Title
Breakout Session 1: What You Need to Know as a Leader
Breakout Session Two: Handling Common Team Problems
To assist the athletes in arriving at a definition of effective leadership that includes the principles of positive peer modeling, communication, motivation, and team cohesion. To assist the athletes in conducting a brief self-analysis of their leadership skills. To assist the athletes in devising strategies for developing the 4 domains of effective leadership in themselves and others (i.e., positive peer modeling, communication, motivation, and team cohesion). To show the athletes that there is a range of tough situations that they should be prepared to face as a captain (being a team leader is more complex that wearing a “C”). To assist the athletes in developing strategies for coping with and resolving these difficult situations. To assist the athletes in developing strategies for coping with and resolving difficult leadership situations.
Breakout Session Three: Getting Your Questions Answered
To prepare the athletes, coaches, and athletic directors for collaborating in the closing session. To answer any remaining questions.
Present difficult questions/scenarios commonly associated with being a captain (e.g., how do you motivate unmotivated teammates?) Allow athletes to choose difficult questions/scenarios that they would like to discuss in length Facilitate large or small group discussion on how to address each difficult question/scenario based on things that worked for the athletes in the past, things they have seen work for others, strategies discussed in the first session, the student-athlete guide, and facilitator input Summary and Close Invite athletes to ask captaincy questions that may not have been answered Facilitate behavior change exercise (Identification of 3–5 habits to Stop (e.g., ignoring freshman), Start (e.g., communicating with coach), Do more of, and Do less of) Summary and Close
Youth Sport Leadership TABLE 3 Becoming an Effective Team Captain: Student-Athlete Guide Content 1. Introduction—About the Captain’s Guide – Why you are here – What to expect – How to use the guide 2. My Role as a Team Captain – Captain roles and responsibilities – Assessment of leadership abilities (strengths and areas for improvement) – Complexity of leadership and its components (leader, followers, situation) – Key leadership principles – Case examples of effective leaders and captains 3. Effective Communication – Characteristics of most and least effective communicators – Keys to effective communication (verbal, nonverbal, listening) – Communicating with coaches 4. Team Motivation—The Captain’s Central Role – Motivational duties as a captain – Characteristics of motivated teams – Guidelines for understanding and improving team motivation 5. Team Building & Cohesion – Characteristics of effective teams – Development of team unity, identity and pride, respect, trust, and responsibility – Assessment of team cohesion – Strategies for improving team cohesion 6. Handling Tough Team Situations – Assessment of common team problems experienced and the effectiveness of your response – Strategies for making tough decisions, resolving conflict, and handling tough team situations (e.g., losing streaks, tough losses, poor performance, poor off-the-field decisions) – Development of a plan for handling common team problems 7. Recommendations from Captains and Coaches – E.g., Don’t put yourself above others and get too caught up in being a captain 8. Using What You Learned – Assessment of leadership lessons learned and how they will be used – Development of a leadership plan for your school/team
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if one did not attend the program (e.g., if a captain wanted to share it with a co-captain who was not in attendance).
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED What Has Gone Well
At the end of each clinic, the MHSAA staff asks participants to evaluate the content of each session as well as the effectiveness of the instructors through brief informal written surveys. Thus far, the athletes have consistently reported that they have found the workshops to be both helpful and enjoyable and that the instructional staff is knowledgeable of the topics they
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introduce. One of the program components that coaches and athletic directors particularly enjoy is that their athletes have an opportunity to meet their opponents, develop relationships with identified leaders in other schools, and foster peer collaboration. In addition to the attendees, the MHSAA staff has also been very pleased with the program and its development. More specifically, they believe that CLTP not only exposes athletes to key principles of leadership, but that it also provides them with practical strategies for exercising more effective leadership skills both in and out of their sport environment. While not its primary intent, CLTP has served as an excellent training tool for sport psychology graduate students in developing their understanding of the high school athlete and coaching population. Novice presenters have also been provided with a valuable mentorship experience by pairing with experienced facilitators. All presenters have been able to enhance their presentation, teaching, and rapport-building skills through the experience. Finally, we have learned a great deal about developing leadership skills from conducting this program. It has also raised several questions that have led ISYS researchers to initiate a series of studies on youth sport leadership, including an examination of the high school captaincy experience and the perspective of coaches on developing leadership skills in high school athletes.
What We Have Changed
THE MOVE
FROM
LECTURE
TO
FACILITATION
When we first began CLTP five years ago, we designed and delivered lecture sessions organized by topic, such as motivating teammates, effective communication, and team building. While these were well received by clinic attendees, we as presenters felt that we did not connect enough with the athletes. At the same time, we were becoming better informed about the youth development literature which suggests that giving young people a sense of empowerment is far more effective than following a more adult-dominated model (e.g., Martinek & Hellison, 2009; van Linden & Fertman, 1998; Walker & Larson, 2006). Because of these experiences, we modified the program to give athletes a greater sense of control and responsibility in their own leadership development. More specifically, athletes are no longer given information and told to use it. Lecture is therefore minimal. Rather than “spoon-feeding” the athletes information from expert authority figures, the program follows a far more egalitarian model where the athletes are challenged to come up with answers to big leadership questions themselves and encouraged to ask for help along the way. Through small and large group discussions and activities, the athletes have an opportunity to collaborate with their same-age
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peers on various topics (e.g., how is leadership defined, what are the components of leadership, how do you develop these components in yourself and others, how do you handle tough leadership situations). The program facilitators guide, assist, and mentor the athletes by introducing them to basic leadership content, outlining the structure of each session, and providing examples, including those from their own sport-leadership experiences. In a recent qualitative study examining the best coaching practices for developing leaders, half of the coaches interviewed reported that one of the biggest mistakes of coaches is not giving their captains enough responsibility or an opportunity to lead (Gould, Voelker, & Griffes, 2010). With the abovementioned teaching methodology, athletes actually have a voice. INCREASED EMPHASIS
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ON
LEARNING LEADERSHIP
A major change has also taken place in the introductory session of the clinic. Formerly, this opening session provided a standard overview of leadership with large group icebreakers. Based on the results of our own line of research on youth captainship and other recent studies in the area, we have identified a need to additionally emphasize leadership as a skill that can be learned. For example, in a recent qualitative study examining the high school captaincy experience of 13 former high school captains, a surprising number of participants reported that they believe that leaders are only born (Voelker et al., 2010). What may be gleaned from this finding is that not every CLTP participant believes there is something they can change about their leadership potential, ability, skills, or effectiveness. This attitude defeats the purpose of attending a clinic to improve leadership. The introductory session to the program now therefore emphasizes leadership as a skill that can be developed and refined with time, experience, mentorship, and education.
Current Challenges
STIMULATING DISCUSSIONS One of the difficulties of our new program design is that there is a significant amount of reliance on the instructor to stimulate and maintain discussion. Giving the athletes more responsibility for their own leadership development in each session also means that the athletes must be active and involved participants. Challenging and assisting athletes in their learning rather than directing and telling athletes what to do often takes a more skilled instructor, teacher, and mentor. This task is made especially difficult because instructors have no prior experience with the specific athletes attending and because the participants are often hesitant to speak up in a new social situation. To help in this regard, ISYS provides training for all facilitators and presenters. Table 4
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TABLE 4 Presenter Recommendations to Trainees Include time for questions at the end if possible. Make sure you plan how you will introduce yourself. Be confident but don’t brag. Talk about your experiences and training briefly (less than 30 seconds) (e.g., “My name is Darlene Smith. I am a third-year PhD student in sport psychology at Michigan State University. I was the captain of the women’s soccer team at Penn State, as well as the assistant captain of the girls’ field hockey team in high school”). Plan out the priorities to cover in each session. Then know what you will cut out if you don’t have enough time. By all means keep it active. Lectures don’t work well with this group. Be enthusiastic. Bring positive energy. Ask questions. Get them engaged. If you bring energy to them, they will give energy back. Don’t be afraid to challenge them subtly and slightly if they are not participating. Do this in a jovial manner, not a frustrated one (e.g., “Don’t raise your hands all at once!” ☺). Have fun. Remember that you are helping the state’s youth and if one person gets it, then you have done our youth a great service. Be sure to mention/refer to the student-athlete guide at least once during your presentation. We have created this guidebook and want them to use it (e.g., “On page 8 of your guidebook, you can find more information on effective communication skills”; or “The material we will be covering in this session is discussed in chapter 3 of your guidebook”). Don’t wait until the night before to prepare even if you have done the presentation before! A professional prepares completely even when he or she feels they have the presentation mastered. We promise you this—you can be sharper, even if you are a veteran. The captains are most receptive when the presentations are conversational, when you make the information relevant to them (e.g., by using illustrative examples), and when you connect with the group (vs. reading off the screen). These objectives are easier to achieve if you know the presentation information inside and out. Remember, these presentations are not lectures! Try to get the group involved in some way for every PowerPoint slide you have (e.g., through questions, activities, etc.)—the more the captains participate, the more they will get out of the sessions. Don’t be afraid to adjust during and/or between sessions. Understand that you are not going to reach, please, or entertain everyone, but it is a good idea to pay attention to what is working, what isn’t working, and make changes when necessary. Be enthusiastic and model interest in the material. Try chatting with the captains before and between sessions. The more they get to know you, the more likely they are to be involved once your presentation starts.
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provides several best practice recommendations that our own presenters have offered to those in training.
GETTING
THE
RIGHT STUDENT ATHLETES INVOLVED
We quickly discovered that some athletes viewed the program as a day off of school rather than an opportunity to develop athletic and leadership potential. These athletes were simply not paying attention, and instructors had to work even harder to engage them. In a few cases, athletes were asked to leave the session. One way we are trying to resolve this issue is by having the MHSAA implement a more rigorous and standardized selection process that increases the likelihood of inviting athletes who really want to be there. Some could argue that the athletes who are not as interested in leadership
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development are also those who need it the most and who might benefit if only they were exposed to leadership training. The best method for selecting participants is still under consideration.
DETERMINING
THE
LEADERSHIP CAPACITY
OF
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
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Developmental research tells us that while high school students may look like adults, they differ developmentally in many ways. For example, while they have the ability to be empathic and focus on the needs of others, they are still more egocentric, or self-focused, than adults (Kegan, 1982). This developmental consideration certainly affects their leadership capacity since much of leadership requires self-sacrifice and a focus on the welfare of others. We constantly find ourselves asking questions like, what is the capacity for youth leaders to develop transformational leadership skills, like playing a role in developing the team’s vision? Or, given the emphasis on peer approval, how likely is it that youth leaders will feel comfortable calling out teammates who are not giving maximum effort or conforming to team rules? We are hoping to provide answers to questions like these by continuing to acquire information through research and professional practice.
LACK
OF
SUPERVISING TEACHER/COACH INVOLVEMENT
Another notable challenge is that coaches and athletic directors attending the program have served primarily as chaperones but not participated in sessions despite an invitation. In turn, the athletes attending the program have not generally had the support or accountability for implementing what they have learned on their teams and in their schools. Possible solutions to this and other issues described above are discussed next.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS Develop a Concurrent Program for Supervising Coaches
Our current design and structure is far more consistent with “what works” based on the youth development literature and continues to be well received by our audience. Still, we are looking at future developments. One of our biggest goals is to develop a concurrent program for coaches and athletic directors on how to develop youth leadership through sport, while incorporating the content that the athletes are learning in their own sessions. The same leadership philosophy would be emphasized (e.g., sport participation alone does not breed leadership—it must be proactively developed). Session topics would include leadership training methods they can use with
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their own athletes and how to develop a sport leadership development initiative in their own schools. The biggest mistakes and recommendations for working with team captains informed from the results of a series of recent studies (e.g., Gould, Voelker, & Griffes, 2010) would also be discussed. Like the guide for student-athletes, a manual designed specifically for coaches and athletic directors would also be created.
Hold Participants More Accountable
Another important goal is to develop an accountability piece to the program. Athletes are not developing real leadership if they use nothing they learned in their everyday lives. In turn, we would like to better encourage coaches and athletic directors to follow-up with their athletes and reinforce the implementation of leadership skills learned in the program. For example, feedback might be provided to captains via a leadership report card. We have also pondered the idea of developing a protected online group for current and future captains to collaborate on leadership issues.
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Develop a Complete Program
With more research and professional practice in this area, we ultimately hope to produce a Youth Sport Leadership Development Package. This package would include tested program materials designed to allow athletes, coaches, and athletic directors to implement their own leadership groups, programs, and mentorship experiences in the schools. In this way, a youth sport leadership initiative could be more easily implemented statewide and beyond.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
To this point, we have provided an abundance of information on how we have approached leadership development through sport. In sharing our philosophy as well as our biggest successes and challenges, our hope is to bring attention to this very important but under-acknowledged life skill. As sport consultants, it appears commonplace to address issues of confidence, focus, motivation, team building, and communication with our athletes and teams. Fewer have addressed performance enhancement from a leadershipbuilding perspective. After all, we are only beginning to develop models, research initiatives, and guidelines for doing so, as previously illustrated. In addition to addressing leadership development with athletes and teams, conducting statewide programs for high school athletics is another possible source of consulting revenue.
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For coaches, leadership also appears to be under-recognized. That is, many coaches appear to be frustrated with the leadership on their teams, but few appear to proactively develop leadership skills in their athletes. Coaches can play numerous roles in the leadership development process. For example, coaches can be cultivators of leadership themselves by serving as positive role models, providing a mentorship experience to captains, teaching their captains about leadership principles, and providing feedback on their captain’s leadership skills throughout the season. Coaches can use the same principles of empowerment and autonomy by giving their captains an opportunity to lead and providing a legitimate leadership role with clear expectations and reasonably challenging responsibilities. Coaches can also promote and support other venues by encouraging their athletes to attend sport leadership development initiatives and by holding their own athletes accountable for what they have learned. For everyone involved in facilitating leadership development through sport, we recommend consulting the relevant literature, collaborating with others on the topic, and doing your own leadership exploration. What is leadership to you, why is it important, and how can you best develop it in the young people you work with? Numerous initiatives have involved young people in volunteer work and service learning projects and then called it a leadership development program. We are questioning how much leadership development is occurring if leadership skills are not proactively taught. Similarly in sport, we encourage you to ask yourselves how much our athletes are learning about leadership just by being there and to what degree we need to do something more to develop leaders for our future.
REFERENCES
Anderson, N. B. (Ed.). (2007). Leadership [Special issue]. American Psychologist, 62(1), 1–47. Doh, J. P. (2003). Can leadership be taught? Perspectives from management Educators. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2, 54–67. Gould, D., Carson, S., Fifer, A., Lauer, L., & Benham, R. (2009). Social-emotional and life skill development issues characterizing today’s high school sport experience. Journal of Coaching Education, 2, 1–25. Gould, D., Voelker, D. K., & Griffes, K. (2010). Best coaching practices for developing team captains. Manuscript in preparation. Gould, D., Smith, P., White, J., & Chung, Y. (2006). Future directions in coaching life skills: Understanding high school coaches’ views and needs. Athletic Insight: The Online Journal of Sport Psychology, 8, 1–11. Kegan, R. (1982). The evolving self: Problem and process in human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kempster, S. (2006). Leadership learning through lived experience: A process of apprenticeship? Journal of Management and Organization, 12, 4–22.
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Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. P. (1987). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. Martinek, T., & Hellison, D. (2009). Youth leadership in sport and physical education. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan. van Linden, J. A., & Fertman, C. I. (1998). Youth leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Voelker, D. K., Gould, D., & Crawford, M. J. (2010). The experience of high school sport captains. Manuscript submitted for publication. Walker, K., & Larson, R. (2006). Adult-driven youth programs: An oxymoron? The Prevention Researcher, 13, 17–20.
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