PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate coaches' views on developing leadership and shared leadership capacity in particular in competitive youth football.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative examination focusses on the leadership philosophy of ten male coaches at the sub-elite competitive level in youth football in The Netherlands and applies the theory of shared leadership to examine coaches' views on developing leadership capacity.FindingsOnly few coaches have a clear philosophy on the development of leadership in general and/or shared leadership in particular. Most coaches do not have a distinct view on how to involve players in the team processes. Shared leadership development in youth teams occurs occasionally but can be implemented more intentionally.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this study lacks generalizability, coaches' views are required in understanding how shared leadership is to be developed in youth sport.Practical implicationsFor implementing shared leadership in football purposefully, a clear view on the development of youth is required, whereas coaches need to be taught, how to involve the individual players in team processes such as decision-making. In addition, leadership development in sport may have the potential of transfer of skills to other domains.Social implicationsLearning shared leadership at a young age by athletes can have a positive influence on relationships in teams on micro-level and might have an impact on meso-level within a football club because of its social constructionist approach.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to apply shared leadership at the micro-level of competitive youth football making use of football coaches' view.
Objectives Adherence to injury prevention programmes in football remains low, which is thought to drastically reduce the effects of injury prevention programmes. Reasons why (medical) staff and players implement injury prevention programmes, have been investigated, but player’s characteristics and perceptions about these programmes might influence their adherence. Therefore, this study investigated the relationships between player’s characteristics and adherence and between player’s perceptions and adherence following an implemented injury prevention programme. Methods Data from 98 of 221 football players from the intervention group of a cluster randomised controlled trial concerning hamstring injury prevention were analysed. Results Adherence was better among older and more experienced football players, and players considered the programme more useful, less intense, more functional and less time-consuming. Previous hamstring injuries, educational level, the programme’s difficulty and intention to continue the exercises were not significantly associated with adherence. Conclusion These player’s characteristics and perceptions should be considered when implementing injury prevention programmes.
This study analyses how the social construction of integrity takes place within the context of football in the Netherlands. Combining a contextual approach to sports integrity with the analytic lens of sensemaking, this qualitative multi-method case study analyses – in one extreme case in Dutch youth amateur football – why and when the ‘incident’ was perceived as an ‘integrity issue’, and how the meaning of (the) integrity (issue) was socially constructed by (interactions between) stakeholders involved in the case. Our findings show why, when, and how moral norms and values are (not) debated and at stake, and that the social construction of sports integrity is intertwined with the institutional context and the role of secondary stakeholders. It provides insights that can help sports organizations to identify risks in their moral sports culure and to develop measures or policies to safeguard integrity in sport.
