Beyond a Letter on the Jersey: Elite Ice Hockey Captains' Perspectives of Honor and Sacrifice
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Authors
McCarthy, Meaghan M.
Issue Date
2010
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Being a captain in ice hockey has been perceived to be the most prestigious and greatest honor among leadership in professional sports (Day, Sin, & Chen, 2004). Although captaincy is a tradition observed by many teams, little research exists on being a captain. The purpose of this study is to understand the subjective experience of being a leader through the eyes of elite ice hockey captains, specifically in understanding the concepts of honor and sacrifice. Ten retired professional ice hockey players (8 NHL, 1 AHL, and 1 ECHL) spoke of their experiences as a captain in a semi-structured interview. Content analysis was the method used to analyze the transcribed interviews. 1,418 raw data themes emerged and were placed into 52 higher order themes, and 18 general dimensions. The results of the research describe in depth what it is to be a professional ice hockey captain. The areas of honor and sacrifice are explored as well as additional areas that emerged about the experiences of being a captain in professional hockey, and cultural components to the game of hockey. Future directions, limitations, and applications are presented.