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Basic Information
Full Name: Jonathan Cottrell
UC Email: cottrejp@mail.uc.edu
College: College of Business
Major: Finance
Title of Project: Leadership in Sport (Soccer)
Thematic Area (choose only one): Leadership
Expected Project Start Date: Spring 2014 – January 06th
Expected Project End Date: End of Spring Semester
Project Information
1. Provide a detailed abstract of your proposed honors experiential learning project.
WHAT?
Having a huge interest in sport especially soccer, I want to explore what it takes to be the best leader possible,
since I feel that a leader can change a team for the better. I will look at the main components of leadership in
sport; specifically within soccer since that is the sport I play. I want to try and discover how someone can develop
as a leader and try to see the major factors in leadership development. That is why I will focus on researching the
characteristics of leaders, to see what makes a person a successful leader and what makes them an ineffective
leader.
WHY?
With sport getting so competitive these days I feel like the people involved with sport are put under a lot of
pressure whether it is on or off the field. That’s why leadership is such a huge component in sports because a
great leader can support a team and bring success. However I feel that leadership is not fully understood, and with
my research I want to try and make people aware including myself on how to become the most successful leader
possible.
HOW?
There are many ways in which I can study leadership, I think the best way to do so is taking different positions
such as observing, participating and researching to try and understand more. That’s why I have chosen these main
ideas to conduct my research:
o Overseeing my coaches leadership skills
o Looking at my teams captains leadership skills
o Looking at my leadership skills as a player on the field and off the field
o Looking at past and present successful/unsuccessful leaders in soccer
o Attending CPAWS leadership meetings
o Reading leadership books specifically sport related
o Looking on the Internet for information on leadership in sport
TIME?
My research will be ongoing throughout the spring season and will consist of direct contact, research and
reflection. I will look to get 2 hours of direct contact a week, 2 hours of research a week and 2 hours of reflection
a week. Broken down my time schedule will look like:
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6 hours per week
24 hours per Month
Months of January/February/March/April
Total hours = 96
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Clearly and thoroughly address how each of the following elements will be exhibited in your work:
2. Connection to Learning Outcomes within the Honors Thematic Area (identified above)
Possesses knowledge of various leadership theories and identifies with the characteristics of leadership.
There is such a vast amount of resources out there for me to look into so I will try to get as diverse a range of
information as possible. I will read a number of books from current and past leaders to find leadership theories
and identify characteristics of leaders; surely there is no better way of learning leadership skills than from top
leaders themselves. Within the world of soccer there have been many great leaders over the years, the two that I
will focus on are Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson, both who have had great success yet are so different in so
many ways. I will also look to attend CPAW leadership meetings on campus. These meetings give a great insight
from many different speakers as to what makes successful leaders. Getting as much information from as many
different people will be beneficial for me, as it will broaden my knowledge on leadership. Lastly I will do some
in-depth research to find out more about the six different leadership styles:
 The Pacesetting Leader
 Authoritative Leader
 Affiliative Leader
 Coaching Leader
 Coercive Leader
 Democratic Leader
Identifies the various characteristics of a leader in a given situation/role.
Since there are so many different roles that a leader can be involved in within sports and specifically soccer I will
try to cover the main positions that I think have the most impact on the game. Firstly the most obvious role I will
focus on is the leadership of a coach. This will involve me looking at the traits of soccer coaches and how they
can be a successful or an unsuccessful leader. Secondly another vital leadership position within sport that I will
look to understand more is the position of the captain. Being a soccer player myself I have been captain and
played under many captains with different characteristics. I want to pin point what are the most important
characteristics that a captain must possess to help support and guide his team through periods of good and bad
times. The last role I want too look at is individuals players themselves. Players are all leaders in some way that’s
why I think it is important for me to look at how an individual who is not the coach or captain can effect the game
and what leaderships traits they must retain. Another important part to this study is to not just look at the
characteristics of a leader whilst they are on the field but to try and see their action off the field. To try and get an
overall conclusion of all these different leadership roles I will look at some past and present examples of good and
bad leaders and analyze their characteristics.
Has the ability to relate, communicate and work effectively with peers.
I think a major factor of being a successful leader in any position is being able to communicate. If you look at one
of the top traits an employer will look for in an employee is communication skills. But I want to know what sets a
leader apart from any individual and what makes a successful leader with in the world of sport. Being able to
relate to your players as a coach also as a captain is something I personally feel is extremely essential if you want
to be a successful leader. That’s why throughout my research I will look to focus on what others look for in a
leader, the most efficient ways to relate and work with peers and how to efficiently and successfully communicate
as a leader.
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3. Connection to Goals and Academic Theories (include reference list, as appropriate)
A. This project relates to my development in many ways such as:
There are many ways in which my project on leadership development relates to me personally. Looking at my
soccer career here at UC I would like to become the captain of the men’s soccer team in the near future. Hopefully
this project will help me develop the necessary traits to become a successful leader and reach my goal of
becoming team captain. I would love the chance to be able to lead my team to success and know that this project
really helped me do that would be an incredible feeling for me as a player and leader. Leadership skills will also
help with my future academic goals of taking responsibility for group projects as well as taking care of myself
making sure I graduate with the highest grades possible. Looking further into the future I think the leadership
skills possessed by people involved in sports such as coaches; captain and players can translate into everyday
skills, which I can use once I graduate from college. Whether I continue with soccer or if I go into a different area
of expertise I feel that the knowledge I gain from this project will stay with me for life.
B. Theories and Readings I plan to explore in my project:
Theories:
Having already done some research on leadership theories I was able to discover eight that I will focus my
research around. I will look to research each individual theory in greater depth and try to understand the main
thought process behind them. By looking at these different theories I hope to broaden my knowledge and pinpoint
what it takes to be a successful leader and how you can work at developing into the best leader possible. The eight
theories that I will focus on are:
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Trait Theories - What type of person makes a good leader?
"Great Man" Theories – Are there people out there who are born to lead?
Contingency Theories - How does the situation influence good leadership?
Situational Theories – What’s the best course of action for the situation?
Behavioral Theories - What does a good leader do?
Participative Theories – How does one take others inputs into account?
Management Theories – What role of management is most suited?
Relationship Theories – How does the leader connect to their followers?
Readings:
I hope to get an insight into the lives of two of the most successful leaders in soccer from a coach’s role. The first,
being Jose Mourinho, current manager of Chelsea FC, the second, being Alex Ferguson, previous manager of
Manchester United FC. The main reason I chose these two coaches is because they are both extremely successful
yet are both two exceptionally different leaders. Hopefully I will learn some characteristics of both coaches and
see some similarities in what made them so successful at what they do. Another reading I will also look at is The
Team Captain’s Leadership Manual. This manual is designed for both athletes and coaches of all sports, and is a
leader development program that helps builds effective leaders. I think this would be extremely helpful for me to
find out what it takes to be a good leader in the three different roles of coach, captain and player.
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Joes Mourinho – Autobiograhy
Alex Ferguson - Autoboigraphy
The Team Captain’s Leadership Manual – Jeff Janssen
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4. Initiative, Independence, and/or Creativity
I feel that leadership is vital in any sport however I will be focusing on soccer. Looking at two examples of soccer
coaches, Jose Mourinho who was an unknown soccer player has become one of the world’s best soccer coaches.
Whereas Maradonna one of the world’s greatest players of all time has had little success in coaching after retiring
from playing. It goes to show that there is more to being a good leader than just being good at the sport. I want to
try and understand what it takes to be the best leader at different levels and in different roles and try to adapt some
of those characteristics and use them for when I coach and play. Having already earned my first level-coaching
badge for soccer and having coached before I have had previous experience at being a leader and want to carry on
learning so I can keep improving my leadership skills. Another reason why this project is so important to me is
something I experienced this season during our soccer campaign. Unfortunately both our captains for UC were
unable to play due to injury and there were times on the field when we struggled and could have done with
someone leading us. That’s why I want to carry out this project so if we are ever in a situation like that again I can
step up and become a successful leader and help my teammates. Also once I graduate I feel that I can use the vital
leadership skills learned from this project in the real world and my future job since they are transferrable skills.
5. Reflection
Throughout my experience I will keep a journal on my computer making sure I record everything I learn as I
progress with my project. I will look to reflect on two main parts throughout my project, those being, direct
contact with coaches, captains and players as well as my own individual research on leadership. It is important for
me to focus on some core questions throughout the project so I can stay focused on what it is I really want to gain
knowledge and understanding on. Some questions I will focus on throughout my project are:
o What makes a successful leader?
o What makes an unsuccessful leader?
o What are the main characteristics of a leader?
o What are the main leadership theories?
o What are the different types of leaders?
o How can a successful leader help a team?
Also throughout my project I think it is important to split leadership up into three different areas within soccer.
That’s why I will focus on the leadership qualities of each of these three different roles:
o Coaches/Captains/Players
Whilst these three roles of leadership share many similar characteristics I think it is important to split it up so we
can see what the main traits of each individual are.
After my project has finished I will continue to reflect back on everything I have learned and look to use it in
future challenges on and off of the field. Part of this reflective process will be writing my reflective essay on the
leadership experience as a whole.
6. Dissemination
I will look to present all of my recorded data and all of the knowledge that I have gained through my experience
as a PowerPoint presentation. I feel this is the best way as I can get all of the vast information that I will have
researched into one presentation making it easy to present and understand. The group that I will look to present to
is the SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee). The SAAC is a committee here at the University of
Cincinnati that consists of two members from each sports team who are responsible for spreading important
information to their teammates. I feel that presenting to the SAAC will allow the members from each team to
spread the important factors they learn about leadership to their team captains as well as team members. If we can
improve leadership skills within the teams at UC hopefully this will lead to improved results. Also another
member of SAAC is Joe Luckey, the Senior Associate Director of Athletics at UC who has a close relationship
with all of the coaches in the sports department. Presenting to Mr Luckey will help the main points of my
presentation on leadership spread to the coaches, which will hopefully have a positive impact and will see
everyone benefit in the UC Sports Department.
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7. Project Advisor (list the person’s name, title, and contact information)
Coach Hylton Dayes
Head Coach UC Men’s Soccer
Email – Dayesh@ucmail.uc.edu
Coach Dan McNally
Assistant UC Men’s Coach
Email – Mcnalldl@ucmail.uc.edu
8. Budget (if applicable)
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No budget required