Gender differences in the perceived impact that athlete leaders have on team member emotional states.

Emotional contagion has been recognized as a variable influencing individual behaviour and team functioning. In particular, leaders within the team have been suggested to have a significant impact on their teammates through the expression of their emotions. As a result, the aim of this study was to provide greater insight into how different athlete leaders impact the emotional state of their team members, and whether gender differences existed in these relationships. Participants were 295 university student-athletes (200 male and 95 female) recruited from four universities in the UK. Data were collected in a two-step process. First, a voting/rating procedure was conducted within team to identify dominant task, motivational, social and external leaders. Then, participants completed the emotional contagion subscale of the Measure of Empathetic Tendency to rate the impact different athlete leaders had upon their emotional state. A MANOVA was conducted to explore gender differences in reported emotional susceptibility by leadership role. Subsequent ANOVAs highlighted significant differences between leadership role scores for female participants only. The results suggest that female athletes are more susceptible to emotional influence than male athletes. Furthermore, female athletes experienced a greater variation in the perceived emotional influence of different leadership roles in the team.

Athlete Leadership Development Within Teams: Current Understanding and Future Directions.

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.

Leading together towards a stronger 'us': An experimental test of the effectiveness of the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) in basketball teams.

OBJECTIVES: Leadership has been suggested to be a key factor in gaining a competitive advantage as a team, with shared leadership being a better predictor of team functioning than vertical leadership. Although the benefits of shared leadership are well-documented, evidence about how to implement a shared leadership structure remains sparse. This leaves coaches with three key challenges: (1) identifying the best leaders; (2) defining what roles those leaders should fulfill; and (3) developing their leadership skills. Solutions to these challenges have been proposed in the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) - a leadership development program that seeks to implement an effective structure of shared leadership within sports teams. DESIGN: To test the effectiveness of 5RS program, we conducted an experimental-comparison group intervention in which eight national-level basketball teams (N = 96) completed a questionnaire at two points in time (i.e., pre- and posttest). The teams in the intervention condition completed the 5RS program, in which we identified the leadership structure in their teams (through Shared Leadership Mapping), appointed the best leaders in their leadership role, and then developed their identity leadership skills. RESULTS: The results revealed that the 5RS program was successful in strengthening athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, and as a result also team members' identification with their team. Furthermore, in contrast to athletes in the comparison condition, athletes in the 5RS condition were able to maintain their levels of intrinsic motivation and commitment to team goals, while also reporting improved well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides encouraging evidence that, by implementing a structure of shared leadership and by promoting athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, the 5RS program is able to improve the team's functioning and the well-being of its members.

Unpicking the Emperor's New Clothes: Perceived Attributes of the Captain in Sports Teams.

Much importance has been assigned to the role of the team captain. In this article, we test whether today's team captains live up to these high expectations. Furthermore, we provide greater insight into the selection procedures leading to a captain's appointment and assess how this process impacts upon the captain's perceived leadership qualities. Adopting a mixed methods design, a total of 398 participants (226 players and 172 coaches) listed the attributes of both their current team captain and their ideal captain. Altogether, participants listed 635 attributes for their current team captain and 919 attributes for their ideal team captain. Both inductive and deductive approaches were used to analyze these qualitative data. Furthermore, quantitative data were obtained on the perceived influencers in the captain's selection process. The results indicated that, although players and coaches expect their team captains to have good motivational and social leadership skills, the selection process is often underpinned by non-leadership factors, such as experience, sport-specific competence, or irrelevant attributes, such as being the daughter of the club president. This discrepancy held for both coaches' and players' perspectives, for male and female teams, across sports, and across competition levels. Although coaches were identified as main influencers in the selection process, giving players the deciding vote did not result in captains with better perceived leadership skills. The significant gap between participants' expectations of the captain and reality highlights the need for implementing a structure of shared leadership. Furthermore, evidence-based leadership development programs are needed to maximize the team's leadership potential.

Training-Monitoring Engagement: An Evidence-Based Approach in Elite Sport.

PURPOSE: Poor athlete buy-in and adherence to training-monitoring systems (TMS) can be problematic in elite sport. This is a significant issue, as failure to record, interpret, and respond appropriately to negative changes in athlete well-being and training status may result in undesirable consequences such as maladaptation and/or underperformance. This study examined the perceptions of elite athletes to their TMS and their primary reasons for noncompletion. METHODS: Nine national-team sprint athletes participated in semistructured interviews on their perceptions of their TMS. Interview data were analyzed qualitatively, based on grounded theory, and TMS adherence information was collected. RESULTS: Thematic analysis showed that athletes reported their main reason for poor buy-in to TMS was a lack of feedback on their monitoring data from key staff. Furthermore, training modifications made in response to meaningful changes in monitoring data were sometimes perceived to be disproportionate, resulting in dishonest reporting practices. CONCLUSIONS: Perceptions of opaque or unfair decision making on training-program modifications and insufficient feedback were the primary causes for poor athlete TMS adherence. Supporting TMS implementation with a behavioral-change model that targets problem areas could improve buy-in and enable limited resources to be appropriately directed.

The experience of captaincy in professional sport: The case of elite professional rugby.

The captain is perceived to be an important member of the leadership structure within teams across many professional sports. However, while there is a general acceptance that this is the case, there is very little research exploring the role and associated demands at an elite level. As a result, the aim of this study was to explore the captaincy experiences of elite professional rugby union captains. The participants were eight male captains purposefully sampled for this study. Participants were interviewed individually to gain an understanding of each participant's captaincy experiences. The data were thematically analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Nine super-ordinate themes emerged in the study: role, skills, requirements, challenges, the coach, development, experience, context, and approach. Results suggest that the captaincy role is broader than previously highlighted, particularly at the elite level. Also, the study highlights inconsistencies in the selection of captains and a lack of formal developmental support for elite rugby captains. As a result, future research should explore the development of specific evidence-based approaches to captain selection and development.

Clinical outcomes of anatomic, all-inside, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: This paper reports the outcomes of patients undergoing ACL reconstruction using a TransLateral single bundle, all-inside hamstring technique at a minimum of two year follow-up. METHODS: The semitendinosus alone is harvested, quadrupled and attached in series to two adjustable suspensory fixation devices. Femoral and tibial sockets are produced using a retrograde drill. The graft is deployed, fixed and tensioned on both tibia and femur. Patients were evaluated preoperatively using the KOOS, Lysholm and Tegner scores and at six, 12 and 24months postoperatively. Objective assessment of knee laxity was performed using the KT-1000 along with goniometric measurement of range or motion. RESULTS: One hundred and eight patients, mean age 30.9years (range 15 to 61) were included. Mean follow-up 49.8months (range 30-66). The mean increase in KOOS at two years was 30.3 points; Lysholm, 33.1 points; Tegner Activity scale, 2.0 levels. These were all statistically significant (p<0.001). Range of motion in the reconstructed knee approximated the uninjured knee by 12months and was restored by two years. KT-1000 showed significant reduction in side-side difference to no more than 2.4mm at all postoperative time points (p<0.001). Re-rupture rate in this series was 6.5%, all following episodes of significant additional postoperative trauma to the knee. CONCLUSIONS: TransLateral all-inside ACL reconstruction demonstrates good medium term subjective and objective outcomes with a low complication and failure rate.

An exploration of pre-performance routines, self-efficacy, anxiety and performance in semi-professional soccer.

Whilst much research has suggested a positive link between pre-performance routines (PPRs) and performance, the specific mechanisms of the process have yet to be understood fully. It has been suggested that the PPR may influence performance through lowering the athlete's anxiety, and/or increasing their self-efficacy, but to date this has not specifically been explored in detail. As a result the aim of the current study was to explore the impact of specific individualised PPRs on performance, anxiety and self-efficacy in semi-professional soccer players. Participants were 20 male semi-professional soccer players (M = 19.45, SD = 2.81) recruited from clubs in England. Adopting a repeated measure design, players were tested on performance, anxiety, and self-efficacy pre- and post a 7-day intervention period in which the participants learnt a new PPR. The data were analysed using factorial mixed measures analysis of variance (ANOVAs), with the results revealing a significant difference in somatic anxiety for the experimental group and a decrease in performance for the control group. The study provides further support for the suggestion that the PPR can enhance performance by reducing experiences of anxiety prior to performance.