In this essay, the main focus will be to discuss, theskills, qualities and characteristics of three different leadership roles,explain and analyse their importance and evaluate their impact within differentsport and exercise activities or environments. The three leadership roles thatwill be talked about in this essay are the captain role, the coach role and theofficial role. which will each be related to basketball, football (soccer)(paragraph about general leadership skills maybe) Captain:First of all, we have the captain role which, in sports, isa title attributed to a team member. A captain is a person or member of a teamwhich is generally granted with the responsibility of representing histeammates when interacting with the game officials regarding their decisionsand leading his team in terms of strategies and other game aspects.
A captainis often more highly respected by his teammates as he is the leader of the teamand usually stores more experience than the rest of the team members. Inaddition to this, the captain is easily recognised in many sports as he is presentwhen the officials do the coin toss at the initiation of a game. In football andmany other sports, a captain is further recognised as he differentiates himselffrom his teammates by wearing an armband, this marks the player’s role(captain). On the other hand, in a sport such as basketball, there is noarmband or any other piece of material worn by a captain to mark his leadingrole. Also, the position of a player in a team sport can be in correlation withthe captain role. For example, in Basketball, most of the captains are pointguards, these are the players that dictate the game and make decisions aboutdifferent plays.
Other than physical signs, there are other aspects that acaptain generally includes in his way of playing and acting as a team member. Oneof the most important traits of a team captain is maturity and all the otherqualities will, in the end, relate to maturity. In fact, most captains, areabove the majority of the team members in terms of maturity. The definition ofmaturity varies in each and every sport but in general a mature player makesmore thoughtful, correct decisions. An example of this could be assisting ateammate in scoring rather than being greedy and taking a shot when there islittle to almost no chance of scoring in football, this will of course requirea lot of humility from the captain (which again relates to maturity) as theperson scoring will get more recognition for the goal in the end as opposed tothe person making the pass for the goal (captain in this scenario).
Maturitycan be a characteristic or skill for a captain on and off the pitch. Maturityoutside the pitch could involve dealing with the media, interviewers and/orpost-match conferences which will also relate to having knowledge or experienceon how to act in situations where provocative comments/questions aremade/asked. Another major skill that a captain requires is communicationskills. This quality is developed by years of practicing a game. Experiencegained over the years of playing will lead to having good speaking skills.
Mostof the captains have acquired a high level of communication ability and knowhow to talk to their players. For example, in football when his team is losingat half-time, a captain should know how to motivate his players so that theycome back with full intensity in the second half. Other forms of communicationskills involve telling a player what to do on the pitch without demotivatingthem, encouraging them instead of bringing them down mentally and all thesecommunication skills link back to experience and maturity of a captain.
A lastgreat skill or quality that a leader or captain should have is personality.Personality which is affected every single day since the captain is born withhis life experiences should be adapted to the sports environment he is in. Bythis we mean that a captain should know how to earn respect from his teammembers, his coach, his fans and so forth. They should know that there are manyprinciples to keeping respect from their teammates such as having humour but atthe same time being professional when being around them. They should keep abalance between having fun and being serious without having their respect beingchallenged every time. This also relates to having good communication skills.Another way of showing good personality is by showing the youngers hisconfidence, his enthusiasm, his passion and his determination no matter thesituation (not giving up when loosing a game).
Coach:Second of all, there is the coach role which falls into thecategory of leadership roles. In sports, this role involves the personoperating a team by giving them instructions as well as providing them with thetraining sessions that will improve them and benefit them when games areplayed. Some coaches focus on one player and coach him individually whereasothers train a group of individuals. In this essay, we will focus on coachesfor team sports such as basketball and football which differs from the skillsof a coach for a single sport.
The coach does not take part in the activity inthe way that he does not literally practice the sport while his team is doingso. He/she rather stays outside and gives directions that the players shouldexecute. There are several things a good manager or coach should know how todo, here are some of them. Most high level coaches have a great understandingof the game either because they played it or because they’ve studied the gamefor a long time, and one of the great qualities that they develop is analysisof games and situations.
For example, in Basketball, a coach usually comes onthe game day prepared to face the opposition and eventually beat them usingtactics that he put up as efficient and important when analysing the opposingteam’s past performances. This also applies for football; a coach will verymost likely know the way a team plays before coming to play against them in agame. He will know the team’s strengths and weaknesses and he will try to makea plan (tactics) on how to beat them. This is all thanks to the analysingskills which is a crucial attribute for a coach. Another feature for a coachshowing good leadership skills is observation which slightly differs from analysis.Observation is more improvised in a way then analysis, for example, in afootball game the coach should, depending on the situation know what playerscould make a positive impact on the game or know what tactical changes mightmake a difference. In very tactical games where the two coaches are very strongin terms of football strategies and the games are very tight a slight changecan “unlock” or make the team’s win more likely to occur.
In other words, theseobservation skills often lead to great turnovers. Demonstration and delivery gohand in hand and are two characteristics a coach should have to be a good leader. A coach with good demonstrationskills and delivery skills means that he is very easily understood. This comesfrom having a good relationship with his players and making his points, tacticsand ways of playing/philosophy clear to all of his players.
This will helpduring matches as it would make it easier to guide the players on how to playin a game. Also when a coach skilful in demonstration and delivery is givingout quick instructions, his players will execute what he says in the correctway as they understand what he means. Furthermore, delivery is the way hedelivers his training sessions. This will alter between putting up highintensity sessions and fun-based or game-based sessions depending on thecoach’s goals. A coach who has developed good delivery skills will know how tokeep his players interested and focused rather than being boring and working ononly one aspect of the game. Official:Finally, also seen as a leader in sports is the official whois also known as the referee.
In general or in most of the sports, he is accompaniedby a small number of other assistant referees. In football, for example, thereis one referee, two assistant referees and sometimes a fourth official ispresent
