Exploring Canadian Elite Female Youth Hockey Teams' Shared Leadership Through Coach and Athlete Leaders' Experiences

Effective coach and athlete leadership is fundamental to optimal sport performance (Cotterill & Fransen, 2016). Guided by emerging frameworks (e.g., Fransen et al., 2014, 2017), this study explored shared coach and athlete leadership within Canadian elite youth female hockey teams. Fifteen coach and athlete-leader dyads (i.e., N=30) were purposefully sampled from youth female high-performance leagues (i.e., U18 AAA) for representation across Canada. Participants engaged (individually) in semi-structured interviews focused on their sport experiences, leadership approaches (e.g., implicit/explicit), and team outcomes (e.g., performance, positive youth development). Results emerged through four interconnected themes: (a) establishing a shared structure: collective collaboration (b) building a shared philosophy: ‘we before me’, (c) developing a shared foundation: caring and supporting, and (d) attaining shared goals: (re-) defining success. Findings advance understanding of shared coach and athlete leadership, offer practical implications to enhance leadership development, and provide insights for fostering healthy shared leadership models.