ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the theory, research, and best practice literature on youth leadership through sport and physical activity involvement in the hopes of helping researchers and practitioners to better understand and develop leadership as a life skill in sport and physical activity contexts. They are urged to do so as sport and physical activity contexts can and should be used to prepare young people to lead both on and off the field of play. As legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said, "Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work". Thousands of leadership studies have been conducted, so it is not surprising that a number of theories of leadership have been developed over the years. Several models of youth leadership have been discussed in the literature with one focusing on leadership development in youth generally and the second focusing on leadership development in physical activity contexts.
