What factors contribute to make a good leader and how might your style of leadership vary to be successful when involved in individual, racket and team sports?

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What factors contribute to make a good leader and how might your style of leadership vary to be successful when involved in individual, racket and team sports?

Anthony Gullan

        To be able to be a successful leader you must be able to understand what leadership is.

        ‘Leadership is the process by which a particular individual fulfils the expectations of a group or team and develops an environment in which the group is motivated, rewarded and helped to achieve its goals’ (Physical Education And The Study Of Sport)

        “The process of influencing individuals and groups towards set goals” (Barrow 1977)

        Leaders can influence the team and create a positive atmosphere, resulting in better performance.  There are a variety of leadership styles, which I will cover later.  The leaders can set goals for the team that are realistic and get the team working together well.  In sport there is a range of leadership roles:

  1. Captain
  2. Coach
  3. Manager
  4. Physical Education Teacher
  5. Sports Leader

Leadership is important in influencing behaviour in sport.  Leadership involves personal relationships and affects the motivation of individuals and groups.  An effective leader has a number of qualities.  Here is a spider diagram that I have done to display some of them:

        How does someone become a leader?  Carron (1982) suggested that an individual could become a leader in two ways.  The first way, called an emergent leader, comes from within the group because of their skills or because they are appointed by the rest of the team.  This method creates a good atmosphere within the team because they have chosen who they want to lead them. The second, called a prescribed leader, is appointed from an external source to the team.  This could also include being suggested by an outside source and then being approved by the remainder of the team.  This method stops there from any divides happening within the team because the leader is chosen for them.  However it does mean that the leader was not chosen by the individuals in the team.

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Another theory is called the Great Man Theory.  This is an early instinct theory, stating that leaders are normally male and are born to be leaders because of their personality traits.  This theory ignores situational factors and interactions with others.  An example of this would be Winston Churchill becoming a football manager.  Because he was a natural leader he would be able to the lead the team well, but would need to acquire the football knowledge.

The Social Learning theory is the opposite of the Great Man theory.  This states that leaders learn their skills through social learning and ...

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