Athlete leadership: a review of the theoretical, measurement, and empirical literature

Athlete leadership is defined as an athlete who occupies a formal or informal leadership role within a team and influences team members to achieve a common objective. The area of athlete leadership has been shaped by theories and measurement tools from organizational and sport coaching literatures. The present article describes the conceptual developments within athlete leadership by providing an operational definition of this construct, followed by the theories and measurement tools used to examine athlete leadership. Finally, the present paper describes both qualitative and quantitative research that has emerged over the last decade. The results suggest the importance of this source of leadership within sport teams.