This might seem like a no brainer. Of course, leadership on the field impacts athletics. Every team has to have a leader out there on the field. One of the places we see this the most is in American Football. When a quarterback is more than a good passer but instead can use leadership to move the team forward, the whole team finds success. This is the case for most great quarterbacks, they were just as good at leading as they were at throwing. It’s not just football, every sport enjoys having a good leader on the field. Even individual sports have value in leadership principles. When we see leaders in individual sports they are pushing people to get better which makes the sport better and the competition more fierce. This isn’t a new concept. What I want to discuss is where does this leadership start? As soon as somebody becomes the captain of the team, is that when they become a leader?
Titles don’t make people leaders, the ability to have people follow is what makes a person a leader. This starts with an individual and how they lead their own life. In sports, we know there are many leadership traits that impact the way people play. Focus, vision, cooperation, are just a few that help athletes perform better. When these traits become part of a persons’ life they can start leading themselves and improving in their sports. Let’s take positivity as an example. There are two main things when it comes to positivity in leadership. One, the future is possible (not easy, not perfect, but possible). Two, failure is an opportunity to get better. You put both of these into an individual who is learning how to be the best athlete possible, and you get a recipe that allows for success. When they are practicing, they know what they are working towards is possible. It is possible to win the next game, it is possible to improve their time, it is possible to increase their shot percentage, whatever it is, they understand it is possible, which means they are going to put in the work to make it happen!
Failure is not the end of something. If every time an elite athlete failed they gave up we would not have more than one season of them. There would be a constant rotation of athletes. Failure SHOULD push us to try harder the next time. We should learn from failure. Failure is not the end of the world, instead, it is an opportunity for growth. Am I saying we should lose on purpose to learn? That would be ridiculous, but there are times where you and your athletes are going to fail. It’s inevitable. If your athletes understand the leadership principle of positivity they are going to desire to push on and see it as an opportunity to learn.
Can every athlete on your team be a leader? I would say yes. Are they going to be in a leadership position, such as captain or another leadership role? No, but they can still lead themselves and those around them. Helping athletes realize the potential of leading their own life will have a profound impact on themselves and their performance as well as the team as a whole. If you have a team full of people who lead themselves and lead their teammates at different times, you are going to have a team that pushes forward together and ends up performing well on the field.
As always, please understand if you want your athletes to lead themselves the best thing you can do is lead by example. If you struggle with leading yourself, so will the people you are leading. An example is necessary for people to understand what you mean. So before you go telling your athletes how to lead their lives, make sure you are doing that also. You can’t expect your athletes to become more, if you are not working towards the same end!