Leadership in Sports

Posted: August 25th, 2021

Leadership in Sports

Name of Students

Institutional Affiliation

Leadership in sports

            Leadership refers to the ability of an individual to offer guidance to others in a group, organization or a team.  As such, leadership has become not only a popular research topic but also a practical one in different human settings. One thing that is clear is that a good team needs a good leader to steer it to great heights. The question of what makes a good leader is one that many people do not manage to answer. Some argue that a good leader must exercise authority and dominance over the team members. While it may be partially true, there is more to being a leader than the two traits indicated above. Sports make one area in which the presence or absence of good leadership determines the outcomes. In most of this semester’s readings, the issue of leadership in sports has been given prominence as will be discussed in this essay. The readings also offer several insights which are useful in the present and future life of an individual.

            Intercollegiate athletics makes an important segment of the sporting industry in the United States. This leads to an increase in the number of participants. Consequently, a growing industry demands strong leadership due to the changing dynamics in administration and business aspects. The modern era is also characterized by an increase in the number of women in athletics. As a result, changes are necessary for terms of management and financing. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is the body mandated with overseeing the success of these games. The schools participating vote for the leaders on the basis of one school one vote. The management of the organization provides one important lesson in leadership which debunks the myth that leaders are born and not made. Some of the most successful leaders in the organization’s history were people who did not believe that they had the capacity to lead. Through their interaction with other leaders, their talents got nurtured making the successful leaders they became. An example of such a leader is Rebecca Jones who is the athletics director(Masteralexis, Barr, & Hums, 2005). In spite of her skills being tested in terms of budget cuts, she displayed good leadership qualities which entail keeping an open-door philosophy and being open to ideas.

            The readings offer important lessons on ethics in leadership. It has been argued that sport managers have to make ethical decisions on different aspects that have a bearing on their sport. Whenever scandals such as those of Lance Amstrong come into play, managers must demonstrate leadership by making the right decisions. Being a sports manager is similar to dealing with many struggles in life since in both, one faces several ethical dilemmas. The lessons learned for the present and the future entail the best way to approach an ethical dilemma. One must the question f whether the action they want to take is right or wrong. The questions of fairness and the desire to do no harm should also be guiding principles. In addition, a leader should not run away from controversy as long as what they are doing lies with the principles of morality and ethics.

If the evolution of high school and youth sport is anything to go by, it should teach that leadership is a dynamic concept. Leaders must learn to adapt to new situations and deal with the challenges that novel situations present. Organizations mandated with overseeing sports for high school and youths not affiliated to high schools have had to deal with their fair share of challenges but thanks to committed leadership, the organizations have continued to grow in leaps and bounds. The number of leaders in these organizations is quite huge but the ability of each of them to play their part has led to new skills and expertise. Although contemporary issues continue to plague the high school sports industry, the resilience of the leaders involved has ensured the continued survival of the sports.

            The readings have several teachings on the importance of teamwork in sports. The lessons are further extrapolated into other fields of human activity such as business. For example, most people are amazed when the United States Basketball team loses to other countries in spite of the team having the best players in the world. The author, however, asserts that it is not enough to take good players to a tournament if they cannot make a good team. While other countries had players who were not as experienced as those of the United States, they managed to work as a team (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009). In business organizations, sharing of knowledge and information is just as critical as players sharing the ball in a basketball match. Indeed, it is important for individuals to put the interests of the team before the selfish gains of personal glory. Using the analogy of a rally driver, one may be tempted to think that the person behind the wheel is the most important ingredient for success. However, if one of the team members such as the ones adding fuel fails to play their part well, the driver may not win the race. In a similar manner, life will present circumstances where one will be required to shelve their interest and do what is best for the team.

            Another important attribute of leadership that features prominently in the readings is the importance of love. One of the authors states confidently that for one to succeed as a leader, it is important to have the values of a parent. Some of the qualities that one should possess are dependability, character, accountability, good judgment, discipline, and consistency, among many others(Mixon, Treviño, & Minto, 2004). In a strange twist of events, it emerges that one may possess all the above qualities but lack the most defining one which is love. While this may seem far-fetched, most of the authors argue that they have tried to implement this in their endeavors. Although they achieved different levels of success, they postulate that no quality is more important. An example of a person who tried this is a coach who endeavored to love all the members of his team. Therefore, the lesson learned here is that love makes a good leader.

            In conclusion, the issue of leadership is discussed at lengths in most of the lectures and the readings. The teachings of these texts are applicable to different circumstances in life both in the present and the future as discussed above. Good leaders have been shown to be resilient, team players, dynamic, and open to change. In addition, they should possess the most important quality which is love. The readings deny several myths about leadership, such as one of leaders being born and not made.  These lessons will serve as important guiding principles for anyone interested in becoming a leader.

References

Masteralexis, L. P., Barr, C. A., & Hums, M. A. (2005). Principles and practice of sport management. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning

Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. Talentsmart.

Mixon, F. G., Treviño, L. J., & Minto, T. C. (2004). Touchdowns and test scores: Exploring the    relationship between athletics and academics. Applied Economics Letters, 11(7), 421-    424.