4 roles (1%) 3 roles (4%)

1 role (37%)

2 roles (15%)

0 roles (44%)

Towards a new athlete leadership classification: Using Social Network Analysis to investigate the leadership role of the team captain

Fransen, K.1, Van Puyenbroeck, S.1, Loughead, T. M.2, Vanbeselaere, N.1, De Cuyper, B.1, Vande Broek, G.1, & Boen, F.1 1 Department of Kinesiology, KU Leuven, Belgium; 2 Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor, Canada

STUDY 1 4451 participants

Methods: Social Network Analysis

Conclusions

# leadership roles provided by the team captain:

Katrien.Fransen@faber.kuleuven.be

In many teams, the team

captain is not perceived as

the best leader. Other players

within the team take the lead,

both on and off the field.

Teams are characterized by

shared leadership!

The coach, the captain, and

the informal leaders take the

lead together.

These findings question

the selection criteria

used to assign the

function of team captain.

Coaches should pay more

attention to identify and

improve the leadership

qualities of their captain and

other leaders in the team!

This research was supported by a

PhD Fellowship (Aspirant) of the

Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).

Acknowledgements

Players

(# = 3193)

Soccer (589)

Basketball (1959)

Volleyball (1287)

Handball (116)

Netball (118)Hockey

(127)

Ice hockey

(72)Rugby (84)

Water polo (99)

Very similar results

regardless of…

Sport

Male/Female teams

Level

Player/Coach

Task leader

Social leader External leader

Motivational leader

Very weak

leader

Weak

leader

Moderate

leader

Strong

leader

Very strong

leader

1. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

2. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

3. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

4. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

5. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

6. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

7. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

8. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

9. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

10. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

11. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

12. Name player 0 1 2 3 4

13. My coach 0 1 2 3 4

Please indicate for each of your teammates how well

you perceive their general leadership qualities?

STUDY 2: General leadership quality

0

1

2

3

4

General leadership

Task leadership

Motivational leadership

Social leadership

External leadership

All-round leadership

Ind

eg

ree

ce

ntr

alit

y

Team captain

Athlete leader

Coach

25 teams (N = 308)

Soccer

Basketball

High level Handball

Female team

Male team

High level

Low level

Volleyball

Low level

Coaches (# = 1258)

STUDY 2

21 teams (N = 267)

STUDY 3

Player 5

Team Captain

Player 1

Player 4

Player 2 Player 3

Player 10

Player 8

Player 7

Task leader

Coach Player 6

Player 9

Player 11

Player 8 Player 6

Player 10

Player 5

Team Captain

Coach Player 7

Player 1 Player 9

Player 4

Social leader

Player 11

Social leader

Player 2

STUDY 3: Role-specific leadership quality

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Task leadership

Motivational leadership

Social leadership

External leadership

All-round leadership

Nu

mb

er

of te

am

s (

N =

21

)

Best leader

Second best leader

Third best leader

Other

Indegree centrality =

Average received leadership

rating of all other players

Team gender Level of competition Sport