Young athletes of leadership and effective communication perceptions the case of Turkish Football Federation 3rd league

Abstract

Leadership behaviors of team captains in sports and the evaluation of effective communication levels in terms of demographic variables is the aim for study. The sample of the study consists of 106 football players who play football actively in the 3rd League of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF). Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis H test and Spearman correlation analyzes has been used for evaluating. The results show that there was a positive linear relationship between the perceived leadership behaviors of the athletes and their perceptions of effective communication. The significant difference between the education level variable, and the democratic behavior and autocratic behavior, which are the sub-dimensions of the perceptions of leadership in sports. The significant difference between the variable of position and the sub-dimensions of leadership in sports, social support and rewarding behavior. There is also a significant difference between the year playing football and democratic behavior, social support and rewarding behavior. No significant difference was found between perceptions of effective communication and demographic variables. Five predictor variables from the sub-dimensions of leadership in sports significantly explain approximately 30% of the total variance in effective communication scores. As a result, it can be concluded that the socially supported, rewarding, educational and instructive behaviors of team captains increase their effective communication skills with their athletes.