Developing sports leader competences for the European Sport Leadership Programme: the case of the University of Rome Foro Italico

Abstract

The development of employability and leadership are two of the main aims of university education. For a graduate expert in Sport and Exercise Sciences, it is crucial to develop soft skills and critical-reflexive abilities for the design and implementation of motor and sport activities in order to cope with sport for all principles, based on the specificity and needs of different population groups. The European Sport Leadership Programme (ESLP) is a pilot research project in Europe with the objective of fostering leadership development and improving employability among students enrolled in Sport Science degree programmes. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the ESLP project implemented at the University of Rome Foro Italico and to highlight the perception of how the students who actively participated in the project felt about the necessary soft skills to develop an effective leadership as well as a reflection on those skills that they thought they have developed or improved.