"Leadership in sports is an eminently important topic. With our forum we want to mediate scientific knowledge and to offer practitioners of high-performance sport a platform for exchange," says Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann. The full professor at the Chair of Sport Psychology, together with his team and along with Prof. Dr. Cliff Mallett from the Australian University of Queensland (UQ), organized the second "TUM & UQ Leadership Forum" held from October 15 to 17. Twenty-one practitioners in professional sport clubs as well as sport scientists from Australia, England, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Germany participated in the forum held at the TUM Science & Study Center Raitenhaslach. Among the guests was Tom Allen, a scientific staff member from FC Arsenal London, as well as Des O'Sullivan, an employee from the Australian record soccer champion of Essendon FC in Melbourne (AUS). Ten of the participants traveled here from Australia.
The focus of the Leadership Forum was on the discussion of experiences and the development of solutions based on concrete cases. Emphasis, in particular, was placed on the promotion of creativity and on conflict management from a systemic perspective. In addition, Prof. Beckmann and Prof. Mallett, as well as Chris Mächel and Vanessa Wergin, both research associates at the Chair of Sport Psychology, along with as Dr. James Vaughan (AIK Stockholm), described the psychological background and scientific realizations in their lectures.
"Regarding leadership, there is altogether a deficiency which exists in sports clubs", Beckman analyzes. This appears, for example, when coaches do not make use of the experiences of their players. In view of the multicultural composition of many teams in sport, in particular in professional soccer, the knowledge of cultural differences becomes ever more important in leadership, also for the managers. According to Beckman, it is important that trainers ask their players questions in order to thereby integrate them.
The symposium is to be further established in the coming years. For October 2019, the Chair of Sport Psychology is planning the 3rd Leadership Forum.
To the Homepage of the Chair of Sport Psychology
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann
Lehrstuhl für Sportpsychologie
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Telephone: 089 289 24541
Email: Juergen.Beckmann(at)tum.de
Text: Dr. Fabian Kautz
Photos: TUM/Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann