Stakeholders’ perceptions and recommendations of a high school leadership development programme for athletes in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This study examined the perceptions of key stakeholders of a high school athlete leadership development training programme. Participants included 36 athletes (males = 23, females = 13) from two team sports (rugby n = 11 and volleyball n = 6) and two individual sports (bowling n = 8 and table tennis n = 11), as well as four coaches representing each of these sports and four teachers. Individual interviews were conducted for coaches, teachers, and athlete leaders, while athletes took part in focus group interviews. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse all data sets. Results showed that the athlete leadership programme developed qualities such as responsibility, role modelling, motivation, communication, perseverance, and team unity that would help athlete leaders perform their roles and responsibilities. The results also highlighted some limitations including earlier involvement from key stakeholders, tailored training for athlete leaders, and a more effective transfer of learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Athlete leadership
• coaching
• high school sport
• stakeholders
• learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Interview guide can be obtained upon request from the first author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Koon Teck Koh

Koon Teck Koh is an Associate Professor and Head of Department for the Physical Education and Sports Science Department at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His keen interest in using sport and physical education as a platform to teach values and character explicitly to athletes and students, guided by experiential learning theory. Recently, his research interest has extended to the use of Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) to enhance the teaching and learning in physical education and sport settings.

Leong Seng Morris Koh

Leong Seng Morris Koh was a Master student with the Physical Education and Sports Science Department at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is actively involved in the athletics scene. His interest in education through sports has enthused him to look into ways to enhance his pedagogical approach to enrich student learning through physical education.

Gordon A. Bloom

Dr. Gordon A. Bloom is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His research examines coaching effectiveness related to the knowledge, leadership skills, and behaviours employed by both elite and youth sport coaches that create positive environments for excellence and participation in sports.

Todd M. Loughead

Dr. Todd M. Loughead is Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Windsor in Canada. His research interests include group dynamics in sport, with a particular interest in the development of athlete leadership skills for all athletes and its impact on team functioning.