Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of Effectiveness

Sport is viewed as an arena for positive life skill development, including leadership development. In 2015, the NFHS launched an online Captain’s Leadership Training Course. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the course in improving leadership knowledge and ability. A...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lauren F. Walker, Daniel R. Gould
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648559/full
_version_ 1818576410324762624
author Lauren F. Walker
Daniel R. Gould
author_facet Lauren F. Walker
Daniel R. Gould
author_sort Lauren F. Walker
collection DOAJ
description Sport is viewed as an arena for positive life skill development, including leadership development. In 2015, the NFHS launched an online Captain’s Leadership Training Course. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the course in improving leadership knowledge and ability. An electronic survey was sent to a sample of athletes (n = 202, 129 female), ages 13–19 (M = 17.01, SD = 0.10) in eight United States states who had completed the NFHS course within the last 3–18 months. Most athletes (92.6%) completed the course based upon their coach’s recommendation. The course was viewed to be moderately to very useful (M = 2.49, SD = 1.00) in helping them in preparing to be a team captain. Participants believed the course to be very to extremely effective in building their knowledge on motivation (M = 1.96, SD = 0.89), communication (M = 1.90, SD = 0.80), decision making (M = 2.03, SD = 0.91), peer modeling (M = 1.91, SD = 0.86), team cohesion (M = 1.96, SD = 0.88) and problem solving strategies (M = 2.00, SD = 0.85). Canonical correlation analyses showed that athletes who felt they were more reflective tended to rate the effectiveness of the course lower than their peers. Additionally, analyses did not show any clear demographic characteristics that distinguished between perceptions of the effectiveness of the course, showing the value found in the course was high with all types of scholastic athletes. Athletes felt the course could be improved most in the area of learning how to manage conflict with their peers and coaches. Future research in scholastic leadership should seek to understand the impact of the course prospectively across a high school sport season.
first_indexed 2024-12-16T06:13:34Z
format Article
id doaj.art-753f023c6f124793ad4c8b4bd78e9ffa
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1664-1078
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-16T06:13:34Z
publishDate 2021-03-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Psychology
spelling doaj.art-753f023c6f124793ad4c8b4bd78e9ffa2022-12-21T22:41:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-03-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.648559648559Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of EffectivenessLauren F. Walker0Daniel R. Gould1Department of Exercise Science, Elon University, Elon, NC, United StatesDepartment of Kinesiology, Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University, Lansing, MI, United StatesSport is viewed as an arena for positive life skill development, including leadership development. In 2015, the NFHS launched an online Captain’s Leadership Training Course. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the course in improving leadership knowledge and ability. An electronic survey was sent to a sample of athletes (n = 202, 129 female), ages 13–19 (M = 17.01, SD = 0.10) in eight United States states who had completed the NFHS course within the last 3–18 months. Most athletes (92.6%) completed the course based upon their coach’s recommendation. The course was viewed to be moderately to very useful (M = 2.49, SD = 1.00) in helping them in preparing to be a team captain. Participants believed the course to be very to extremely effective in building their knowledge on motivation (M = 1.96, SD = 0.89), communication (M = 1.90, SD = 0.80), decision making (M = 2.03, SD = 0.91), peer modeling (M = 1.91, SD = 0.86), team cohesion (M = 1.96, SD = 0.88) and problem solving strategies (M = 2.00, SD = 0.85). Canonical correlation analyses showed that athletes who felt they were more reflective tended to rate the effectiveness of the course lower than their peers. Additionally, analyses did not show any clear demographic characteristics that distinguished between perceptions of the effectiveness of the course, showing the value found in the course was high with all types of scholastic athletes. Athletes felt the course could be improved most in the area of learning how to manage conflict with their peers and coaches. Future research in scholastic leadership should seek to understand the impact of the course prospectively across a high school sport season.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648559/fullleadershipyouthsportcaptainlife skills
spellingShingle Lauren F. Walker
Daniel R. Gould
Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of Effectiveness
Frontiers in Psychology
leadership
youth
sport
captain
life skills
title Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of Effectiveness
title_full Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of Effectiveness
title_fullStr Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of Effectiveness
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of Effectiveness
title_short Evaluation of the NFHS Online Captains Leadership Course: Student Athletes’ Views of Effectiveness
title_sort evaluation of the nfhs online captains leadership course student athletes views of effectiveness
topic leadership
youth
sport
captain
life skills
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648559/full
work_keys_str_mv AT laurenfwalker evaluationofthenfhsonlinecaptainsleadershipcoursestudentathletesviewsofeffectiveness
AT danielrgould evaluationofthenfhsonlinecaptainsleadershipcoursestudentathletesviewsofeffectiveness