Coaches' Perceptions of Athlete Leadership

Leadership has been cited as a vital component contributing to the achievement, personal satisfaction, and enhanced well being of athletes (Chelladurai & Riemer, 1998; Dupuis, Bloom, & Loughead, 2006). Coaches believe that athlete leadership is a central component to team success, however, the majority of research examining athlete leaders has been generated from the athlete's perspective. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify ice hockey coaches. perceptions of the factors influencing the development of athlete leadership. Semistructured open-ended interviews were conducted with six high performance ice hockey coaches of 16 to 20 year old athletes. Cote, Salmela, and Russell's (1995) guidelines were used to inductively analyze and interpret the data. Results revealed three higher-order categories, which were called personal experiences and characteristics, daily coach tasks, and athlete leadership. The results provided evidence that coaches had a clear understanding of the qualities they looked for in their leaders, used similar approaches to develop the leadership skills in their athletes, and understood the impact athlete leaders had on their team. Practically, these findings provide coaches, sport administrators, and athletes with new information on how to identify their leaders, cultivate positive relationships with them, and help them develop their leadership skills.