Author's abstract: Numerous researchers have examined preferred sport leadership behaviors from both the coach and athlete perspectives (Beam, Serwatka, & Wilson, 2004; Chelladurai, & Carron, 1983; Freakley, Czech, Harris, & Burdette, 2012; Turman, 2013; Weinburg, & Gould, 2010). However, there is limited research in student-athlete personality dispositions and how those might influence student-athlete perceptions of preferred leadership behaviors. The purpose of the present study was to examine views of leadership in light of certain personality dispositions. This research examined the potential influence of optimism (Abramson, et al, 2000) on qualitative descriptions of preferred leadership behaviors using the Revised Leadership Scale for Sport (Zhang, & Jensen, 1998) to structure the interview questions. 106 NCAA Division I studentathletes in a southeastern university completed the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), the results of which were split into three groups: low optimists, middle optimists, and high optimists. The low and high groups of student-athletes were considered for the qualitative interview. There were several similarities between the two groups regarding instructive behavior, feedback behavior, relatability, coach traits, and situational actions, but there are also several differences between the two groups in how the student-athletes prefer their coach to approach them. These differences are highlighted best in the category Reactive Behaviors with the high optimistic theme Encourages implying preference for a coach to focus on present emotions in order to attain future success while the low optimistic theme Reassures Athlete of Ability implies the 2 preference for a coach to focus on past successes in order to attain success in the present. The category Coach Orientation (relationship- v results/task-focused) was much more convoluted than expected following past research. All four categories and emergent themes are described in full. The results reveal a deep difference in individual student-athlete perspective according to optimism levels and potential future research in discussed further

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and difference between how NCAA Division I, team sport student-athletes perceive their own leadership behaviors and how their head coaches perceive the same student-athletes' leadership behaviors. In addition, further analysis examined perceptions between student-athletes and head coaches based on the student-athletes' gender and academic year in school. The study included 121 NCAA Division I, team sport student-athletes and their respective head coaches from two institutions in the Midwest. One of the institutions was a medium sized, four-year, co-educational private university and the second was a large sized, four-year, coeducational public university. The first research question examined the demographic profile of the collegiate student-athletes participating in this study. The second research question studied the relationship between how NCAA Division I student-athletes perceived themselves demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and their respective head coaches' perceptions of these behaviors. Using Pearson product-moment correlation, three significant relationships existed between student-athletes and their head coaches for Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, and Enable Others to Act. The third research question undertook paired samples t-tests to investigate the difference between how NCAA Division I student-athletes perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. Paired samples t-tests revealed significant differences between student-athletes and head coaches for each practice, Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The fourth research question explored the difference between how NCAA Division I female and NCAA Division I male student-athletes perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. The researcher used ANOVAs and paired samples t-tests to analyze the question. ANOVAs revealed statistically significant differences for the practices of Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. Paired samples t-tests revealed statistically significant differences for both genders with all Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership. The final question studied the difference between how NCAA Division I student athletes, by academic year in school, perceived themselves as demonstrating the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 2008; Kouzes & Posner, 2013; Kouzes & Posner, 2014) and how their respective head coaches perceived them demonstrating these behaviors. Similar to the fourth question, the researcher used ANOVAs and paired samples t-tests to analyze the data. ANOVAs revealed seven significant differences for four of the practices, Model the Way, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. In addition, paired samples t-tests showed differences in 18 out of a possible 20 cases involving academic year in school and The Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership. In conclusion, scores between student-athletes and coaches for Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, and Enable Others to Act showed a small, positive relationship; therefore, as student-athletes' scores increased so did their head coaches' scores. ANOVAs revealed significant mean differences in scores between female student athletes and their respective head coaches to male student-athletes and their head coaches. For all five practices, paired samples t-tests showed that the difference between mean student-athletes scores and mean head coaches scores were significant and that gender was not a differentiator when comparing scores for the practices. The independent variable with the most influence was academic year in school. Six-of-the-seven significant findings revealed smaller mean differences in scores between the upper-level student-athletes and coaches compared to lower-level student-athletes and coaches. Finally, significant differences existed in 18 of 20 possible cases comparing the mean scores of student-athletes to their head coaches for the Five Practices of Exemplary Student Leadership when examining student-athlete academic year in school.

ABSTRACT: This quantitative study sought to determine the relationship between high school coaches' leadership behaviors and their athletes' self-efficacy and grit. Specifically, this study sought to determine whether the training and instructions, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support, or positive feedback of a coach impacted a student-athletes' self-efficacy and grit. This research also explored whether ethnicity and gender influenced perceptions. Survey data were collected from 378 former high school athletes from a public university in a rural areas in the southerner portion of the United States and 197 responded. Findings indicated that student-athletes' perceptions of their former high school coaches ' leadership behaviors did influence their self-efficacy and grit. In addition, the findings also indicated student-athletes' perceptions of coaches' leadership behaviors were also influenced by the students' ethnicity or gender. Implication for practice highlighted the importance of the student-athlete and coach relationship and how this relationship can impact student-athlete self-efficacy and grit.

Executives throughout corporate America have been critical of higher education due to a lack in leadership readiness of recent college graduates. The leadership epidemic of young professionals is being described as the Leadership-Succession Crisis in corporate America where a shortage of young, high potential leaders who are capable of replacing upper-level managers transitioning out of their current roles exists. Recent literature suggests Human Resource (HR) departments are recruiting and hiring former student-athletes as a possible solution to the Leadership Succession Crisis. Participation in sports has long been viewed to provide athletes with increased leadership ability dating back some 2,500 years to the ancient Olympic Games. Athletic involvement is widely believed to provide enhanced leadership development. Athletes have the opportunity to learn and grow in structured environments through ongoing relationships with teammates and coaches. However, limited empirical evidence exists when comparing leadership development of student-athletes with their non-athlete peers. The purpose of this study was to compare whether collegiate student-athletes are better leaders than their collegiate non-athlete peers based on their perceptions of their leadership skills. The study utilized the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (Student LPI) to measure self-perceptions of leadership behaviors of college students (n = 1,454). Kouzes and Posner's LPI is one of the most widely used leadership assessments in the business world and the Student LPI is one of the few leadership instruments designed for and validated on students. The instrument uses a 5-point Likert-scale to measure when students are "at their personal best" as leaders through five practices (Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart). Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to measure the relationship between athlete status (student-athletes (n = 660) and non-athlete peers (n = 794)) and division level (Division I ( n = 398), Division II (n = 328), Division III ( n = 728)) on the five leadership practices. The study provides empirical evidence that collegiate student-athletes reported engaging more frequently in four out of five leadership practices (Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Encourage the Heart) than their collegiate non-athlete peers. The results indicate that athletic involvement can serve as a type of leadership development experience for collegiate student-athletes, and that it is reasonable for HR departments to consider candidates with athletic backgrounds as more likely to possess some leader skills than their non-athlete peers during the hiring process.

Interpersonal relationships are crucial to athletic performance. This parallel qualitative and quantitative multi-method study examines student-athlete relationships with coaches, teammates, community, and the sport itself. The central tenets of the interpersonal communication Social Exchange Theory (SET) state that when undergoing a decision regarding future behaviors and interpersonal relationships, people weigh the perceived costs and the perceived benefits in an equation (cost-benefit analysis) to analyze if the perceived benefits of behavior or relationship is worth the perceived costs. To analyze this in the context of non-scholarship high-contact athletes playing National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III football, I used a qualitative framework to explore the lived experiences of NCAA student-athletes. Cost-benefit analysis among non-scholarship football players indicates two stages of risk reassessment where football players consider quitting. Once they enter the third stage, athletes suggest nothing would prevent them from continuing their playing careers, suggesting that once the athlete gets past the second stage of risk reassessment, they have determined the costs of playing a high-contact sport with greater risk of injury are worth the friendships and "the Brotherhood" that is formed among the teammates. According to SET, in interpersonal relationships the key attribute that distinguishes relationships that continue and do not is trust. To explore trust in NCAA student-athlete/coach relationships, I employed a qualitative analysis using NCAA data set collected in 2010. The data indicates that, when controlling for gender, perceived ethics, individual-level communication, and willingness to share personal information are related to trust in a coach. This is vital information for coaches and administrators on the collegiate level, and for risk communicators working with athletes in a team environment. These parallel studies yield data that shows how high-contact sport athletes think about risk and relationships in the context of athletics, and the importance of trust between coaches and athletes which could potentially lead to higher success on and off the field.