Athlete Leadership in Sport Teams: Current Understanding and Future Directions.

Leadership is a fundamental aspect of sports performance, particularly within team sport environments. Over the past 25 years there has been significant research exploring the role of the coach/manager in this regard. However, this only represents one aspect of leadership within the sporting domain. Equally important, although far less examined is the concept of athlete leadership. The role of athlete leaders, both formal (e.g., the captain) and informal (such as motivators and cultural architects) can have a significant impact upon a range of team related factors including satisfaction, cohesion and team dynamics. However, the mechanisms through which this impact occurs are less well understood. Also, while the development of leadership skills has been proposed as an important aspect of coach development programs there is very little consensus regarding the approaches that should be adopted in developing athlete leaders and their associated leadership skills. This paper will review the existing literature relating to athlete leadership seeking to provide clarity regarding current understanding. Building upon this base the paper will then highlight future areas for research and theoretical development.status: publishe

The impact of athlete leaders on team members’ team outcome confidence: A test of mediation by team identification and collective efficacy

Research on the effect of athlete leadership on pre-cursors of team performance such as team confidence is sparse. To explore the underlying mechanisms of how athlete leaders impact their team's confidence, an online survey was completed by 2,867 players and coaches from nine different team sports in Flanders (Belgium). We distinguished between two types of team confidence: collective efficacy, assessed by the CEQS subscales of Effort, Persistence, Preparation, and Unity; and team outcome confidence, measured by the Ability subscale. The results demonstrated that the perceived quality of athlete leaders was positively related to participants' team outcome confidence. The present findings are the first in sport settings to highlight the potential value of collective efficacy and team identification as underlying processes. Because high-quality leaders strengthen team members' identification with the team, the current study also provides initial evidence for the applicability of the identity based leadership approach in sport settings

Why the chosen ones may not always be the best leaders: Criteria for captain selection as predictors of leadership quality and acceptance

There seems to be some initial evidence that team captains are selected based on non-leadership factors such as team tenure, technical abilities, being the daughter of the club president, or playing position. This is concerning since players expect their ideal team captain to have superior motivational and social skills. Adding to this literature on captain selection, the present study investigates relationships between the reasons for which team captains are selected and their (a) perceived leadership quality; and (b) perceived acceptance. To accomplish this, we recruited 450 coaches and 198 players from Flemish football and volleyball teams. Participants evaluated 41 reasons on the extent to which they played a role 18 in the selection of their team captain. Additionally, participants rated their team captain’s leadership quality and level of acceptance. The results consistently indicated that captains who were selected for having good motivational and social competencies were given higher ratings on perceived leadership quality and acceptance by participants. In conclusion, athletes who are motivated, good at motivating others and have superior social skills tend to be better suited for captaincy than those selected based on non-leadership factors

Characteristics and spread to the native population of HIV-1 non-B subtypes in two European countries with high migration rate

Background: Non-B subtypes account for at least 50 % of HIV-1 infections diagnosed in Belgium and Luxembourg. They are considered to be acquired through heterosexual contacts and infect primarily individuals of foreign origin. Information on the extent to which non-B subtypes spread to the local population is incomplete. Methods: Pol and env gene sequences were collected from 410 non-subtype B infections. Profound subtyping was performed using 5 subtyping tools and sequences of both pol and env. Demographic information, disease markers (viral load, CD4 count) and viral characteristics (co-receptor tropism) were compared between subtypes. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed and examined for clustering. Results: The majority of non-B infections were diagnosed in patients originating from Africa (55.8 %), individuals born in Western Europe represented 30.5 %. Heterosexual transmission was the most frequently reported transmission route (79.9 %), MSM transmission accounted for 12.2 % and was significantly more frequently reported for Western Europeans (25.7 % versus 4.3 % for individuals originating from other regions; p < 0.001). Subtypes A and C and the circulating recombinant forms CRF01_AE and CRF02_AG were the most represented and were included in the comparative analysis. Native Western Europeans were underrepresented for subtype A (14.5 %) and overrepresented for CRF01_AE (38.6 %). The frequency of MSM transmission was the highest for CRF01_AE (18.2 %) and the lowest for subtype A (0 %). No differences in age, gender, viral load or CD4 count were observed. Prevalence of CXCR4-use differed between subtypes but largely depended on the tropism prediction algorithm applied. Indications for novel intersubtype recombinants were found in 20 patients (6.3 %). Phylogenetic analysis revealed only few and small clusters of local transmission but could document one cluster of CRF02_AG transmission among Belgian MSM. Conclusions: The extent to which non-B subtypes spread in the native Belgian-Luxembourg population is higher than expected, with 30.5 % of the non-B infections diagnosed in native Western Europeans. These infections resulted from hetero-as well as homosexual transmission. Introduction of non-B variants in the local high at risk population of MSM may lead to new sub-epidemics and/or increased genetic variability and is an evolution that needs to be closely monitored

Obtaining Valid Laboratory Data in Clinical Trials Conducted in Resource Diverse Settings: Lessons Learned from a Microbicide Phase III Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND: Over the last decade several phase III microbicides trials have been conducted in developing countries. However, laboratories in resource constrained settings do not always have the experience, infrastructure, and the capacity to deliver laboratory data meeting the high standards of clinical trials. This paper describes the design and outcomes of a laboratory quality assurance program which was implemented during a phase III clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of the candidate microbicide Cellulose Sulfate 6% (CS) [1]. METHODOLOGY: In order to assess the effectiveness of CS for HIV and STI prevention, a phase III clinical trial was conducted in 5 sites: 3 in Africa and 2 in India. The trial sponsor identified an International Central Reference Laboratory (ICRL), responsible for the design and management of a quality assurance program, which would guarantee the reliability of laboratory data. The ICRL provided advice on the tests, assessed local laboratories, organized trainings, conducted supervision visits, performed re-tests, and prepared control panels. Local laboratories were provided with control panels for HIV rapid tests and Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae (CT/NG) amplification technique. Aliquots from respective control panels were tested by local laboratories and were compared with results obtained at the ICRL. RESULTS: Overall, good results were observed. However, discordances between the ICRL and site laboratories were identified for HIV and CT/NG results. One particular site experienced difficulties with HIV rapid testing shortly after study initiation. At all sites, DNA contamination was identified as a cause of invalid CT/NG results. Both problems were timely detected and solved. Through immediate feedback, guidance and repeated training of laboratory staff, additional inaccuracies were prevented. CONCLUSIONS: Quality control guidelines when applied in field laboratories ensured the reliability and validity of final study data. It is essential that sponsors provide adequate resources for implementation of such comprehensive technical assessment and monitoring systems. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00153777 and Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN9563838

Leadership as social identity management : introducing the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) to assess and validate a four-dimensional model

This work has been supported by a grant (FL110100199) from the Australian Research Council awarded to the second author, a grant from the Research Foundation Flanders awarded to the fifth author, and a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC no. 70962001) awarded to the sixth author.Although nearly two decades of research have provided support for the social identity approach to leadership, most previous work has focused on leaders' identity prototypicality while neglecting the assessment of other equally important dimensions of social identity management. However, recent theoretical developments have argued that in order to mobilize and direct followers' energies, leaders need not only to ‘be one of us’ (identity prototypicality), but also to ‘do it for us’ (identity advancement), to ‘craft a sense of us’ (identity entrepreneurship), and to ‘embed a sense of us’ (identity impresarioship). In the present research we develop and validate an Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) that assesses these dimensions in different contexts and with diverse samples from the US, China, and Belgium. Study 1 demonstrates that the scale has content validity such that the items meaningfully differentiate between the four dimensions. Studies 2, 3, and 4 provide evidence for the scale's construct validity (distinguishing between dimensions), discriminant validity (distinguishing identity leadership from authentic leadership, leaders' charisma, and perceived leader quality), and criterion validity (relating the ILI to key leadership outcomes). We conclude that by assessing multiple facets of leaders' social identity management the ILI has significant utility for both theory and practice.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Is perceived athlete leadership quality related to team effectiveness? A comparison of three professional sports teams

Objectives Researchers have argued that leadership is one of the most important determinants of team effectiveness. The present study examined the extent to which the perceived quality of athlete leadership was related to the effectiveness of elite sports teams. Design Three professional football teams (N\ua0=\ua0135) participated in our study during the preparation phase for the Australian 2016 season. Methods Players and coaching staff were asked to assess players’ leadership quality in four leadership roles (as task, motivational, social, and external leader) via an online survey. The leadership quality in each of these roles was then calculated in a social network analysis by averaging the indegree centralities of the three best leaders in that particular role. Participants also rated their team's performance and its functioning on multiple indicators. Results As hypothesized, 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 realizing 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. Conclusions High-quality athlete leadership is positively related to team effectiveness. Given the importance of high-quality athlete leadership, the study highlights the need for well-designed empirically-based leadership development programs

Coaching the coach : intervention effects on need-supportive coaching behavior and athlete motivation and engagement

The present intervention study examined whether youth sport coaches can be trained in adopting a need-supportive (i.e., autonomy support and structure) coaching style to the benefit of youth athletes' autonomous motivation and engagement. Participants were 43 coaches (33 men, 10 women) and 326 youth athletes (221 boys, 105 girls), active in 12 team or individual sports. Sport coaches were randomly assigned to either a control or intervention condition. The training involved a workshop trajectory spanning four sessions on how to incorporate a (more) need-supportive coaching style. As for coaches' self-reported coaching style, results of multilevel modelling revealed positive effects on autonomy support and control at posttest, and additional effect on structure and control from pre-test to follow-up (i.e., 4 months later) compared to coaches in the control condition. As for athletes' reports, multilevel modelling showed that athletes of coaches in the intervention, relative to those involved in the control group, perceived their coach to be more autonomy-supportive, more structuring, and less chaotic from pre-to posttest, with these effects being more pronounced for athletes of team sports. Further, athletes of coaches in the intervention group reported being more autonomously motivated and more engaged compared to those of coaches in the control group. Overall, the present findings indicate that sport coaches can become more skilled in adopting a need-supportive coaching style, to the benefit of athletes' autonomous motivation and engagement

Factors associated with the continuum of care of HIV infected patients in Belgium

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