More than sport: A social-identity intervention to support transitions out of elite sport.

Elite athletes often make large personal sacrifices to pursue excellence, but there is insufficient support for them when they leave elite sport. Identity loss is central to athletes' transition trajectories and hence the management of identity change is a crucial area for support. The More Than Sport (MTS) program is a novel digital intervention that aims to provide this support-helping athletes manage identity change in the process of leaving elite sport. The present research aims to study elite athletes' experiences with the MTS program and their perceptions of its usefulness in managing the transition away from elite sport. We undertook a qualitative study with athletes (N = 25) from three countries (the United Kingdom, Australia and Belgium) using reflexive thematic analysis to explore their experiences of the program and their feedback on program content. We identified three key themes and eight subthemes. The first key theme was Value of the Program, and this was underpinned by four sub-themes that centred on Program importance and novelty, how Positive and confronting experiences afford insight, the Value of developing shared understanding, and Realising the value of social groups. The second key theme was Engagement with Program Elements and here participants commented on Program content and Delivery format. The final key theme was Time and Place for Identity Management Programs which included the sub-themes of Optimal timing and Additional program beneficiaries. Overall, the results highlight the value of MTS specifically, and identity management efforts more broadly, to help elite athletes adjust successfully to life beyond sport.

"I'm more than my sport": Exploring the dynamic processes of identity change in athletic retirement.

Retirement is one of the most impactful career transitions athletes face. Researchers recognise the role that athletic identity plays in this, but analysis of identity content and change processes is limited. Addressing this gap, we conducted a qualitative study exploring the experience of identity change in 21 competitive and successful elite athletes who had retired from sport. All participated in a one-session psychoeducational program that explored the challenges of transitioning out of sport before being interviewed about their understanding of identity in sport, and their experiences negotiating identity loss and change in retirement. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified three themes: (i) the role of identity and self-categorizations in shaping sport performance, (ii) adjusting to identity loss (with subthemes indicating that this experience varied depending on the extent to which a person had multiple or exclusive identities), and (iii) attempts to remoor identity in the transition (with subthemes of searching for a new identity and actively repurposing identity). We interpret these themes through the lens of the Social Identity Model of Identity Change and show that this provides a framework for extending our understanding the complexities of identity change associated with retirement from elite sport.

Unlocking the power of 'us': Longitudinal evidence that identity leadership predicts team functioning and athlete well-being.

The social identity approach has become an important framework for understanding effective leadership. The present study is the first to longitudinally examine the relative impact of coaches' and athlete leaders' identity leadership on athletes' identification with their team, as well as the subsequent relationships with key team and individual outcomes. To investigate these research questions, 18 sport teams (N = 279) completed a questionnaire early and late in their season competition. To analyse these data, we conducted structural equation modelling and controlled both for baseline values and the nested structure of our data. Results revealed that it was mainly the identity leadership of athlete leaders (and not of the coach) early in the season that predicted athletes' team identification later in the season. This increased team identification in turn fed into both team outcomes (i.e., task climate, team resilience, team performance) and individual outcomes (i.e., well-being, burnout, and individual performance). The mediating role of team identification suggests that by building a shared sense of 'we', athlete leaders can improve the team's effectiveness and enhance athletes' well-being. Accordingly, we conclude that empowering athlete leaders and strengthening their identity leadership skills is an important way to unlock sport teams' full potential.

Will the real leaders please stand up? The emergence of shared leadership in semi-professional soccer teams.

OBJECTIVES: High-quality leadership is often regarded as one of the main sources of competitive advantage. Especially within sport teams, a team's leadership structure has historically been considered to be stable across the season, with the coach and team captain as the formal, and often sole, leaders. In line with recent organizational research, the present study aims to broaden this perspective by also taking informal leaders into account and exploring how leadership structures among athletes within sport teams evolve over the course of a season. DESIGN: Using social network analysis, we analyzed the leadership structure of 20 semi-professional soccer teams (N=460 players, Mage=23.50 years; SD=4.55) at the start of the season and then again halfway through the season. More specifically, for each team we constructed a leadership network for four leadership roles (task, motivational, social, and external leadership) at these two time points. RESULTS: Findings suggest that leadership structures in sport teams can change considerably over the course of the competitive season, thereby challenging the classic view of stable, vertical leadership structures. The transition to more shared forms of leadership can be attributed to the emergence of informal leaders over time as players engage more strongly in leadership roles. Furthermore, our results suggest that as teams evolve towards shared leadership their functioning and performance benefits from these changes. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these findings, we recommend that coaches actively implement a structure of shared leadership and seek to develop the leadership qualities of formal and informal athlete leaders.

Leading together towards a stronger 'us': An experimental test of the effectiveness of the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) in basketball teams.

OBJECTIVES: Leadership has been suggested to be a key factor in gaining a competitive advantage as a team, with shared leadership being a better predictor of team functioning than vertical leadership. Although the benefits of shared leadership are well-documented, evidence about how to implement a shared leadership structure remains sparse. This leaves coaches with three key challenges: (1) identifying the best leaders; (2) defining what roles those leaders should fulfill; and (3) developing their leadership skills. Solutions to these challenges have been proposed in the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5RS) - a leadership development program that seeks to implement an effective structure of shared leadership within sports teams. DESIGN: To test the effectiveness of 5RS program, we conducted an experimental-comparison group intervention in which eight national-level basketball teams (N = 96) completed a questionnaire at two points in time (i.e., pre- and posttest). The teams in the intervention condition completed the 5RS program, in which we identified the leadership structure in their teams (through Shared Leadership Mapping), appointed the best leaders in their leadership role, and then developed their identity leadership skills. RESULTS: The results revealed that the 5RS program was successful in strengthening athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, and as a result also team members' identification with their team. Furthermore, in contrast to athletes in the comparison condition, athletes in the 5RS condition were able to maintain their levels of intrinsic motivation and commitment to team goals, while also reporting improved well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides encouraging evidence that, by implementing a structure of shared leadership and by promoting athlete leaders' identity leadership skills, the 5RS program is able to improve the team's functioning and the well-being of its members.

An experiment on the impact of coaches' and athlete leaders' competence support on athletes' motivation and performance.

PURPOSE: Grounded in the Cognitive Evaluation Theory, the present experiment aimed to compare the relative impact of competence support provided by coaches versus athlete leaders on players' competence satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and performance. METHODS: We recruited 18 existing competitive male basketball teams (ie, 126 players) to participate in the experiment. Each team was randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) the coach provided competence support (ie, by encouraging, providing positive feedback, and expressing team confidence); (b) the athlete leader provided competence support; or (c) neither the coach, nor the athlete leader provided competence support (ie, control condition). RESULTS: Teams in which the athlete leader provided competence support reported higher levels of competence satisfaction and intrinsic motivation than teams in the control condition, a difference that did not emerge when the coach provided competence support. Furthermore, teams in which either the coach or the athlete leader supported team members' competence performed better compared to teams in the control group. CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight the importance of providing competence support to enhance team performance. Given athlete leaders' unique impact on teammates' competence satisfaction and motivation, instructing athlete leaders how to provide competence support constitutes an important motivational pathway for coaches to optimize team functioning.

"Yes, we can!" review on team confidence in sports.

During the last decade, team confidence has received more and more attention in the sport psychology literature. Research has demonstrated that athletes who are more confident in their team's abilities exert more effort, set more challenging goals, are more resilient when facing adversities, and ultimately perform better. This article reviews the existing literature in order to provide more clarity in terms of the conceptualization and the operationalization of team confidence. We thereby distinguish between collective efficacy (i.e., process-oriented team confidence) and team outcome confidence (i.e., outcome-oriented team confidence). In addition, both the sources as well as the outcomes of team confidence will be discussed. Furthermore, we will go deeper into the dispersion of team confidence and we will evaluate the current guidelines on how to measure both types of team confidence. Building upon this base, the article then highlights interesting avenues for future research in order to further improve both our theoretical knowledge on team confidence and its application to the field.