Thirteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

There is no shortage of anecdotal and testimonial “evidence” on the notion that participation in sports is a pathway to developing leadership skills and, in general, leaders. Little to no empirical evidence of such a relationship, however, exists. Arguments for such a relationship usually focus on the expectation that being on a sports team and learning how to work closely with others to achieve a shared goal develops traits that are transferable to other areas of life’s endeavors. Experiencing team-building skills through sports, the argument seems to go, develops behaviors or techniques that will increase productivity in other organizations. Based on a survey that we administered to nearly 6000 graduates of the United States Naval Academy (USNA), and our ability to link the survey results to the extensive student records maintained by USNA, we empirically investigate two hypotheses: 1) Participation on intercollegiate athletic teams is statistically significantly correlated with, other observable characteristics equal, attaining a leadership position during one’s active-duty Navy or Marine Corps career. 2) Participation in a “team” sport (soccer, football, basketball, baseball, etc.) is a more significant determinant, other things equal, of attaining a leadership position than participation in an “individual” sport (golf, track, wrestling, swimming, etc.) during one’s active-duty Navy or Marine Corps career. We test these hypotheses using standard multivariate regression techniques. Our dataset contains a host of “leadership outcomes” beyond simply rank attained, and we also observe the scope of one’s sports participation (e.g., whether and which years a varsity letter was attained).