Grounded in the Cognitive Evaluation Theory, a mini-theory of Self-Determination Theory, this experimental field study sought to examine the impact of competence support of both coaches and athlete leaders on athletes' competence satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and subjective as well as objective performance. Male basketball players (N = 120) were allocated to groups of 5 players. These groups were then randomly assigned to a control group or to 1 of 3 experimental conditions. In these experimental conditions, either the coach, the athlete leader, or both provided motivational feedback to their team. The provision of motivational feedback by either the coach or the athlete leader was sufficient to increase athletes' competence satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and objective performance (i.e., enhanced execution time without a decrease in scoring percentage) relative to the control group. Interestingly, when both the coach and the athlete leader provided competence support, a surplus effect was observed on objective performance compared with when only the coach provided competence support. Furthermore, structural equation modeling revealed that players' competence satisfaction mediated the relationship between the provided competence support and players' intrinsic motivation, while a direct effect was observed on objective performance. In conclusion, the study findings indicate that also athlete leaders can adopt a motivating role, and that by doing so, their impact is as strong as the impact of the coach. Both coaches and athlete leaders can thus boost athletes' objective performance and foster competence satisfaction, with the latter resulting in increased intrinsic motivation.

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Leading together towards a stronger 'us': an experimental test of the effectiveness of the 5R shared leadership program (5R S ) in basketball teams

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Some sports coaches believe that empowering the players in their team can undermine their own leadership status. In business organizations, however, recent theorizing on shared leadership refutes this belief by suggesting that the most effective leaders engage in behaviors to strengthen the leadership qualities of their followers. The present study sought to investigate this perspective within sports teams. Social network analyses were performed to study the leadership structure within a stratified sample (across sport, gender, and competitive level) of 64 sports teams, encompassing 64 coaches and 776 players. Next, we related the perceived leadership quality of the coaches to specific characteristics of their teams' leadership networks. The results highlighted that the perceived leadership quality of the coach was positively related to the density of the team's leadership networks (i.e., the average leadership qualities of all players). This finding held for the four leadership roles of task, motivational, social, and external leadership. This outcome suggests that the best coaches are the ones who adopt a shared leadership approach and who strengthen the leadership quality of their players. However, our findings also suggest that the perceptions of coaches and players on the team's leadership dynamics often differ. Consequently, coaches could benefit from the analysis of leadership networks to gain insight in their team's leadership structure. Based on this knowledge, coaches could then correctly identify the best leaders in the team, as perceived by the other team members. By creating and developing these leaders, coaches then become better leaders themselves.