Why Some FFA Members Compete for Years and Still Struggle to Lead: The Practice Gap
Hard Truths, Common Myths, and Leadership Troubleshooting
Most FFA advisors can name a member who wins everything and still cannot get a committee to finish a task. That is not a contradiction. Contest preparation and group leadership use different muscles, and it is possible to train one for years while neglecting the other. This article is analysis, not research. It compares what contests train with what leadership frameworks describe, identifies a practice gap and suggests ways to close it.
- Key takeaway: contests reward individual or small-team performance in structured settings, while leadership asks for motivating others, managing projects and building trust in unstructured ones.
- Caution: this is this site’s argument, built from FFA descriptions and a workplace framework, not an empirical finding.
What Contests Train
FFA describes its events in terms of well-defined tasks. The extemporaneous speaking event has a topic, a time limit and a judging rubric (source). Nevada advisor Don Noorda’s advice for coaches stresses written practice schedules, knowing the rubric and practicing with the same scoring sheets used in the contest (source). Preparation of this sort develops mastery in a bounded setting with a coach shaping the work.
What Leadership Frameworks Describe
NACE defines leadership as recognizing and capitalizing on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals, with behaviors such as motivating others by encouraging them and building mutual trust, and planning, initiating, managing, completing and evaluating projects. Its teamwork definition adds managing conflict and being accountable for shared deliverables (source). None of those behaviors is scored in a typical contest room.
The Practice Gap
| Contest preparation | Leading a team | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Defined by a rubric | Defined by the group |
| Who sets the schedule | Usually a coach | You and others |
| Feedback | Scores and judges’ comments | Slow, indirect, often silent |
| Failure looks like | A low placing | A project that quietly stalls |
A member who spends years in the left column may get little practice in the right one. The table is this site’s analysis.
Evidence That Practice Moves Members
The Stillwater FFA chapter’s “Shark Tank” process, in which a member pitches an activity and then becomes the person in charge, according to its advisor, forces exactly the practice contests do not (source). Trey Myers, the 2025–26 president, offered this advice in FFA’s profile: the three most dangerous words are “I got this,” because success depended on a supportive group (source).
Closing the Gap
- Volunteer to lead one chapter project from idea to evaluation.
- Ask two teammates for feedback on how you ran it.
- Take on a task where you cannot succeed alone.
- Pair contest practice with a role in which you teach someone else.
Questions Readers Ask
Are contests useless for leadership?
No. They teach preparation, communication and handling pressure. The point is that they are not enough alone.
How do I know if I have a gap?
Ask whether you have ever led something where nobody handed you a rubric.
Honest Limits
No study of FFA members is cited here, and the gap is an inference. Many contest participants also lead well, and some chapters build leadership practice into contest teams.
On this site, Trey Myers served as sentinel, reporter and chapter president, Breanna Holbert served in chapter and section offices and Seth Derner did Creed Speaking. Their bios do not describe a contest-to-leadership gap.
Sources
- National FFA Organization: Extemporaneous Public Speaking
- National FFA Organization: 8 Ways to Conquer Competition Season (2024)
- NACE: What Is Career Readiness?
- National FFA Organization: Your How-To Guide for High-Caliber Chapter Programming (2024)
- National FFA Organization: Oklahoma Roots, National Reach (2025)