Leadership – Page 2 – The Sport Journal

Preferred leadership Styles of Student Athletes in a Midwest NAIA Conference

Authors: Todd D. Pitts, Ed. D, Gerald Nyambane, Ph.D., Stephen L. Butler Ed.D.

Corresponding Author:
Todd D. Pitts, Ed.D
6191 Kraft Avenue
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512
tpitts@davenport.edu
616-554-4716

Todd D. Pitts is an Associate Professor of Sports Management at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also serves as the university’s Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) to the NCAA.

Preferred Leadership Styles of Student-Athletes in a Midwest NAIA Conference

ABSTRACT
This study examined the leadership preferences of student-athletes competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) conference located in the Midwest region of the United States. Using Chelladurai’s Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) instrument, quantitative data were collected from student-athletes (N = 758) representing 9 universities competing in the conference. All 5 dimensions of leadership behavior were compared across student-athletes’ gender, coaches’ gender, task dependence nature of the sport played, and whether or not the student-athlete’s institution identifies itself as faith-based, or non-faith-based. The results from 2 sample t-tests indicated that training and instruction and positive feedback were the most preferred leadership dimensions. The results also confirmed findings from previous studies that autocratic behavior is the least preferred leadership dimension. In addition, the democratic behavior leadership dimension was preferred more by student-athletes participating in independent sports than student-athletes in team sports; corroborating findings in recent studies. (more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2018-11-21T11:37:24-06:00December 27th, 2018|Leadership, Research|Comments Off

TRANSFORM YOURSELF: Literature-based review of transformational leadership behaviors and practical applications for high school athletic administrators

Author: Chris Hobbs

Corresponding Author:
Chris Hobbs, CMAA, Ed.S.
120 Nottingham Rd
Royal Palm Beach, FL. 33411
coachchrishobbs@gmail.com
@coachchrishobbs
732.325.4772

Chris Hobbs is the Director of Athletics and Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. He holds a masters’ degree from the United States Sports Academy in Sport Coaching, a specialist degree in educational leadership from Liberty University, and is a certified master athletic administrator (CMAA) of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

TRANSFORM YOURSELF: Literature-based review of transformational leadership behaviors transformational leadership behaviors and practical applications for high school athletic administrators

ABSTRACT
Transformational leadership has risen to the top of many lists as the preferred leadership practice for organizations. Information on its effectiveness for an interscholastic athletic administrator in a high school is difficult to find. High school athletic departments continue to grow with nearly 8 million student-athletes participating in them (NFHS, 2017). The responsibilities of the leaders overseeing those departments is broadening by the day. Literature is beginning to provide insights into how transformational leadership is the preferred method for even athletic administrators. Leaders that are clear about their purpose, time, communication, and people are increasing organizational and individual effectiveness in athletic departments. Athletic administrators have a platform to transform entire communities through educational based athletics but first they must become informed on how to transform themselves into transformational leaders.
(more…)

U.S. Sports Academy2018-04-23T10:27:30-05:00May 3rd, 2018|Commentary, Leadership, Sports Management|Comments Off

DIY Sport Leadership Development Academies & Institutes: An Investigation of NCAA Division I Athletic Departments

Authors:
Mike Voight, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University
PEHP Kaiser Gym 1804
New Britain, CT 06050

Ann Hickey, Ph.D.
Whittier College
Whittier, CA

Author Note
Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to the first author at voightmir@ccsu.edu.

DIY Sport Leadership Development Academies & Institutes:
An Investigation of NCAA Division I Athletic Departments

Abstract
Over the past decade, leadership development (LD) has been a popular pursuit in collegiate athletics. In 2004, the first leadership development program, or academy, in collegiate athletics was the Carolina Leadership Academy (goheels.com). Even the governing body, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), has instituted formal LD programming for student-athletes, coaches, and administrators (NCAA, 2016). At individual universities, there has been an increase in the adoption of leadership development (LD) initiatives across NCAA Division I athletic departments. The general purpose of this investigation was to search for then analyze NCAA Division I athletic departments who have implemented “in-house” DIY LD programs and academies. A content analysis of the departmental websites was conducted (similar to the methodology employed by Hayden, Kornspan, Bruback, Parent, & Rodgers, 2013), to gain a frequency of the number of LD programs offered, the names of the LD initiatives, the nature of the facilitator positions, the mission and particular programming, and uniqueness’s of each program. A total of sixty-two LD academies were revealed, which consists of a range of program types, including monthly workshops and/or guest speakers for selected student-athletes, to programs for different classes (e.g., freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors), to programs specific to team captains, even fully integrated leadership processes which includes courses, mentoring, service projects, and global citizenship challenges. Future directions in leadership academy research include a more thorough review of programming, qualitative analysis of experiences and curricula, and a greater emphasis on evaluating the effectiveness of the LD initiatives.
Running Head: DIY DIVISION I LD ACADEMIES 3

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U.S. Sports Academy2017-02-16T07:46:34-06:00December 29th, 2016|Leadership|Comments Off

Leadership: Athletes and Coaches in Sport

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

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

*Corresponding Author:
Sharon P. Misasi PhD, AT.
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street
PE 002B
New Haven CT 06515
misasis1@southernct.edu

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

KEYWORDS: Coaching, Effective Leadership, Successful Leadership

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U.S. Sports Academy2016-06-14T15:30:09-05:00July 1st, 2016|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Leadership, Research, Sports Coaching, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off