Leadership: A Skill that can be Taught
January 30, 2013
By Jed Blanton
MSU Institute for the Study of Youth Sports
At the MHSAA and the ISYS, in the milieu of work we conduct centered on understanding and developing leadership in young athletes, there is one definition that seems to govern our approach and serve as a foundation for the research questions and training clinics that follow it.
Penned by Peter Northouse, that definition states “leadership is a process, whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.”
Choosing to frame ‘leadership’ as a process, rather than as some personality characteristic destined only for those naturally-born leaders, allows the concept of leadership to be utilized and taught as a skill, or set of skills. If a coach can agree with the philosophy that leadership can be learned, we can begin to design a series of strategies to enhance leadership in our young athletes.
First, I’m going to discuss what most coaches already know about teaching skills. Teaching skills is essentially an effort of behavior modification. A coach sometimes is able to choose athletes who already possess a certain level of competency within the skills necessary for their sport; sometimes coaches must work with whoever shows up on the first day of practice.
In either case, coaches tend to conduct a subconscious assessment of skills that must be learned (that they must teach), whether complex strategies or mere fundamentals. When teaching athletic skills to young people, coaches must break down the multitude of steps involved.
Think about a lay-up in basketball or the high jump in track & field. Either skill itself is actually a combination of several skills, and the ability to pay attention to very specific cues in the environment. Coaches teach the approach, the proper hand/arm placement, the essential cues to focus on, and the follow-through. Coaches can devote segments or entire practices to particular skills – breaking down all the steps, creating drills to practice the steps, and offering the full practice of the skill in a competition-like environment.
During this episode of developing a skill in our athletes, to get them to perform in a very specific way, our interactions often mirror what behavioral psychology has known for decades: People respond to reinforcements and punishments. Coaches positively reinforce their athletes with compliments, clapping hands, and congratulations. Our words and actions shape how the individual learning the skill makes adjustments to receive more praise.
These shifts of their body and miniscule changes in their actions to get to the desired behavior of their instructor are “learning.” Similarly, coaches often threaten punishment of extra sprints or difficult drills to give athletes a clue as to what behaviors they should avoid. Often, something as simple as a disapproving glance can be reinforcing enough to change whatever behavior the athlete shouldn’t be practicing. The simple “good job” or the threat of sprints essentially shapes how our athletes behave athletically.
This same approach can work toward leadership development.
What would it look like for a coach to reinforce and punish athletes toward leadership development in the same vein they develop athletic skills? If coaches could determine what three or four behaviors they’d like their athlete leaders to showcase, and then positively reinforce those skills with compliments and thanks, and potentially punish athletes with disapproving glances or even lectures after practice, leadership can be learned like any other athletic skill.
Phil Jackson, the multiple championship-winning NBA coach, has been quoted saying he would try to give two compliments for every criticism with his professional teams. The Positive Coaching Alliance – a national nonprofit organization that strives to educate coaches on ways to enhance the youth sport experience – suggests a ratio of five positive comments to every negative criticism. Research has consistently shown that people respond better and more rapidly to positive reinforcement than to punishment.
All too often, coaches wait for leaders to emerge, rather than teach the leadership they desire. Imagine if coaches waited for players to figure out the offensive plays and strategies instead of teaching players where to move, how to move, and why they are moving there. Adopting a similar approach with your athlete has the potential to expedite the behaviors you’d most ideally want them to possess. Using tactics of positive reinforcement can help these young players to become excellent leaders in a shorter period of time than merely hoping someone steps up.
I’ll leave you with a simple list of suggestions of how coaches can teach leadership, just like they teach any other necessary athletic skill.
- Develop goals with your athletes regarding leadership. What kinds of things do your athletes value or feel would help the team? How can they practice leading their teammates in that way?
- Develop your own goals toward teaching leadership. What would it look like if a coach made it a goal to compliment three players on specific leadership behaviors each practice? Think about the ultimate team captain for your team, and develop strategies to teach your players how to be that captain.
- Break down leadership skills into smaller and easier to practice chunks, just like an athletic skill. Then create an environment where the athletes can practice these skills. By organizing your team into smaller groups, or even partners, you can assign leadership roles within each group. Asking certain players to lead various parts of practice (stretches, lay-ups, circuit training), you are giving them a sense of ownership over their athletic experiences and responsibility over their teammates.
- Positively reinforce the desired behaviors. How would it make a player feel if their coach pulled them aside and thanked them for their specific leadership behavior after a practice or game? A “job well done” or an approving thank you can go a long way in making a young athlete feel they are developing into the leader you desire them to be.
Blanton is a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University in the department of Kinesiology, specializing in the PsychoSocial Aspects of Sport and Physical Activity, and a research assistant for MSU's Institute for the Study of Youth Sports. He has served as a facilitator at MHSAA Captains Clinics the last three years and currently is assisting the association with its student leadership programs.
Century of School Sports: Upper Peninsula Helps Makes Michigan's School Sports Story Unique
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
May 27, 2025
From the parking lot of the MHSAA office in East Lansing, it’s a shorter drive to Kentucky than to Crystal Falls Forest Park High School on the far western border of the Upper Peninsula.
That little fun fact illustrates just a bit of what makes Michigan – made up of two large peninsulas surrounded by four of the world’s largest freshwater lakes and connected by one of its longest bridges – a fascinating place to live and serve as a statewide athletic association.
It also provides a little bit of context in explaining how Upper Peninsula athletics have occupied their own unique space both literally and figuratively in that statewide landscape dating back to well before the creation of the MHSAA in December 1924.
With time and technology, the world indeed has become smaller – and Michigan with it. And over the MHSAA’s 100-year history – with help from achievements like the Mackinac Bridge – the Upper and Lower Peninsulas have come to a place of competing together in most sports, during most of the same seasons, but still with some exceptions to accommodate notable differences that remain.
Consider first these two:
• There are 53 MHSAA-member high schools in the Upper Peninsula, located across roughly 16,000 square miles of land. That’s compared to 701 Lower Peninsula member high schools spread over about 40,000 square miles.
• There is only one high school with more than 1,000 students in the Upper Peninsula – Marquette, with an enrollment of 1,021 this school year to rank as the state’s 127th-largest overall. Escanaba, Sault Ste. Marie and Kingsford are the only other high schools with at least 500 students.
With those comparisons as conversation starters, it’s easy to understand how schools above the Bridge face increased travel time, distance and expenses compared to most of their downstate friends – during both the regular season and MHSAA postseason – and not to mention frequently shorter fall and spring outdoor sport seasons because of winters that start sooner and end later.
To make competition as equitable and worthwhile as possible amid those challenges, the MHSAA has settled on a mix of statewide and U.P.-only championships – and with the Upper Peninsula taking the lead on devising its championship schedules.
This week alone will see Boys Tennis, Girls & Boys Golf and Girls & Boys Track & Field Finals competed in U.P.-only divisions. Upper Peninsula girls tennis, girls and boys cross country, and girls and boys swimming & diving programs also operate their postseason tournaments separately from the Lower Peninsula.
Among other sports, boys basketball played separate tournaments by peninsula from 1932-47, wrestling was contended in separate tournaments from 1967-87, girls volleyball was separate from its first season of 1975-76 until unifying in 1999-2000, and girls gymnastics also was separated by peninsula from 1972-73 until unification in 2003-04.
The Upper Peninsula’s voice in these matters goes back to the MHSAA’s predecessor organizations – beginning in 1904 when Ironwood’s first superintendent Luther L. Wright served on the Michigan State Teacher’s Association’s Committee on High School Athletics. Howard S. Doolittle – formerly representing Saginaw Eastern before becoming principal of Calumet High School – played a major role in bringing Upper Peninsula schools (and the then-Upper Peninsula Association) into the fold with the Lower Peninsula schools under the MHSAA’s predecessor Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association.
With the creation of the MHSAA and its Representative Council in 1924 came an elected member representing the Upper Peninsula – Escanaba superintendent R.E. Cheney during that first school year. A second representative was added a short time later so both the largest and smallest schools from that region had a vote. Gwinn’s Leo P. McDonald (1930-52) and Escanaba’s Dan Flynn (1988-2010) are among 11 Council members who have served at least 20 years, and as recently as 2014 the Council president hailed from just south of Lake Superior’s shores as Negaunee superintendent Jim Derocher finished his final term. Kingsford’s Chris Hartman and Calumet’s Sean Jacques currently serve as the U.P. reps.
The Upper Peninsula Association ceased when the MHSAA was created, but in 1933 the Council authorized the formation of the Upper Peninsula Athletic Committee, which from the start has taken a leading role in organizing the U.P.-only championships and continues as well to serve as an advisory board providing U.P. input on statewide topics of the day. Among its most memorable actions, the U.P. Athletic Committee played a large role in Upper Peninsula schools’ return to a statewide boys basketball tournament after 15 seasons of separation.
The most recent U.P. Athletic Committee meeting occurred April 24 and included members Hartman, Jacques, Mike Berutti (West Iron County), Vince Gross (Paradise Whitefish Township), Jack Kumpula (Lake Linden-Hubbell), Sam Larson (Menominee) and Paul Jacobson (Negaunee) along with Jim Bobula (Ontonagon), Don Gustafson (St. Ignace) and Dale Hongisto (Gladstone) in advisory roles.
They recommended and/or confirmed tournament sites for this spring’s Upper Peninsula Regional and Finals championships, some 2025-26 U.P. Finals and hosts for the U.P.’s Districts, Regionals and Quarterfinals in both girls volleyball this fall and girls and boys basketball for next winter. Committee members also discussed coaches education opportunities for this fall and the possibility of further U.P. involvement in future L.P.-only tournaments, among other topics.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
May 20: From Nearly A to Z, Schools Repped by 221 Nicknames - Read
May 13: These Record-Setters were Nearly Impossible to Defeat - Read
May 6: 200+ Representatives Fill All-Time Council Roster - Read
April 29: MHSAA Programs Prioritize Health & Safety - Read
April 23: Patches Signify Registered Officials' Role in MHSAA Story - Read
April 16: Student Advisory Council Gives Voice to Athletes - Read
April 9: State's Storytellers Share Spring Memories - Read
April 2: Sharp Leadership Synonymous with MHSAA Success - Read
March 25: Athletic Directors Indispensable to Mission of School Sports - Read
March 18: 2025 Finals Begin Next Half-Century of Girls Hoops Championships - Read
March 11: Boys Basketball's Best 1st to Earn MHSAA Finals Titles - Read
March 5: Everything We Do Begins with Participation - Read
Feb. 25: Slogans & Logos Remain Unforgettable Parts of MHSAA History - Read
Feb. 19: MHSAA Tickets Continue to Provide Fan-Friendly Value - Read
Feb. 11: We Recognize Those Who Make Our Games Go - Read
Feb. 4: WISL Conference Continues to Inspire Aspiring Leaders - Read
Jan. 28: Michigan's National Impact Begins at NFHS' Start - Read
Jan. 21: Awards Celebrate Well-Rounded Educational Experience - Read
Jan. 14: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation - Read
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read