An ethnographic person-centered study of leadership development in high school basketball team captains

ABSTRACT

Using Kouzes and Posner’s (2002. The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass) Five Exemplary Practices of Leadership as a framework, four captains of a high school boys’ basketball team participated in a qualitative person-centered ethnography regarding their perceptions of leadership development over the course of a season. The study found that the captains each perceived improvement in their use of voice in leadership situations, and not much improvement in other self-defined specific leadership areas. The captains also perceived that their improvement was a maturation process driven by necessity and precipitated by observation, personal experience, mentoring and coaching, and increased confidence. Finally, captains described hindrances to their leadership, including personal circumstances and difficult teammates. Implications of these findings for athletic coaches are discussed, including specific ideas for providing mentoring and instruction for team captains and other team members.

KEYWORDS:

• Leadership
• leadership development
• mentoring
• coaching
• basketball
• confidence
• improvement
• captain

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Jason Mead holds an Ed.D. degree in Curriculum Leadership from Northern Illinois University and an M.A. degree in Mathematics Education from DePaul University. He also holds B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research interests include Leadership and leadership development of high school athletes.

Todd A. Gilson obtained Ph.D. degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Michigan State University, M.S. in Human Performance from Oregon State University, B.S. in Sport Management from Ohio Northern University. His research interests include effective leadership in high-expectancy positions, relationship of confidence and performance, and motivation within achievement contexts.

Mary Beth Henning obtained Ph.D. degree in Curriculum & Instruction from Pennsylvania State University, M.S.Ed. degree in Secondary Education from the University of Toledo, B.A. in Political Science & Urban Studies from The College of Wooster.

Notes

1 This study was delimited in scope by focusing on one varsity boys’ basketball team over the course of the season, rather than researching leadership development of team captains in multiple sports or across genders.