Claudia Zeppetelli, Gordon A Bloom, Todd M Loughead

Elite women athletes may be at a greater risk for mental health issues than their male counterparts. Some reasons for this include structural gender inequalities for women athletes, and societal expectations around gender roles which place disproportionate pressure on women to prove their legitimacy in elite sport. While attention has been placed on the role of the coach supporting athlete mental health and well-being, the role of formal captains and assistant captains remains underexplored. These individuals are required to fulfill team needs and are in positions of influence (e.g., cultivating team culture), making it crucial to know how they deal with team mental health. Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand how athlete leaders manage and support athlete mental health and well-being in elite women’s ice hockey. Eight current/recently retired Canadian university women ice hockey (i.e., U Sports) players with at least one season experience as a formal athlete leader will be recruited to participate in a semi-structured interview, which will then be analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis. With increasing women’s ice hockey participation in Canada and worldwide, this study can increase our knowledge on the areas of athlete leadership and women’s mental health. Our results will highlight athlete leader perceptions of their role supporting team mental health, which can help inform athlete leadership training and practices for better coach-athlete leader relationships.