Do Coaches Who are Servant Leaders Promote Virtue in their Athletes?

People notice when athletes behave badly. How coaches’ leadership style influences the virtuous behavior in their athletes is understudied. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III soccer athletes were surveyed (N = 274) to gauge how they behave during games, how they think about competition, and how they perceive their coaches’ servant leadership. Sporting behavior was measured by recording the accumulation of cautions and ejections (yellow and red card aggregates) for teams (N = 17) issued throughout a season. Correlational analyses suggest that when athletes perceive their coaches as servant leaders, athletes tend to show respect for rules and officials, and concern for opponents. Perceived coach servant leadership positively relates to one of the best-known social psychological factors in predicting sportspersonship: partnership contesting orientation. When athletes perceive their coaches as servant leaders, incidence of unsportspersonlike behavior on the field, as reflected in yellow and red card team aggregates, tends to diminish.