Fraser-Thomas, Jessica L.Church, Daniel David2023-12-082023-12-082023-12-08https://hdl.handle.net/10315/41675Effective 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.Author owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.KinesiologyPsychologyElectronic Thesis or Dissertation2023-12-08LeadershipShared leadershipTeam leadershipCoachingSports psychologyIce hockeyFemale ice hockeySportsPerformanceHigh-performanceCaptainsPositive youth development through sportTeam dynamicsTeam cohesionTeam cultureLeadership developmentAthlete leadership