Sarah Connor is the lead protagonist in the first Terminator movie. The terminator is a robot sent back to the past to kill Sarah, as she will lead the rebellion against the robots in the future.
Hate (love) to be that guy, but the terminator hunts her because she will give birth to her son, who is the rebel leader in the future. With the father being the time traveler soldier sent to protect her from the terminator.
Hate to be that guy, but given that she clearly instructs and directs John (as seen in the second film), she's leading the leader, thus making her the true leader the whole time
That's a really big stretch. Is my school teacher the person who achieved whatever it is I am doing, or am I? Are my parents?
Not to diminish her badassery, she is one of my favorite female movie leads, but to say she leads the resistance is simply wrong. She is dead by that time. She does, as you point out, drill her son in survival skills, military tactics, guerilla warfare, everything he will need to succeed.
But that still doesn't mean she is the leader of the resistance. By that logic the actual leader would be kyle (the soldier from the first) because he teaches the one who teaches the leader.
Hate to be that guy but he was a kid in that movie. He went on to be the rebel leader, without mom, as an adult, which is what the robots were trying to prevent