Our Research

So why does FullyEquipped seek to encourage and increase student-athlete participation at underfunded local schools?

Decades of research show that athletic involvement can lead to greater personal development, improved academic performance, and break the cycle of poverty. High school and elementary student-athlete participation is often hindered in many lower income communities due to inadequate resources, lack of funding, and disbelief in the value add of sports.

By providing the means for athletic participation including necessary equipment, adequate facility conditions, proper nutrition, and more, we hope to give young men and women the opportunity to reap the rewards of athletic participation.

Educating communities about the lifelong value of athletics and prioritizing the necessary funding are vital to realizing the positive benefits that result from participation. Listed below are just a few examples of the advantages related to high school and elementary athletic involvement.

ACADEMIC OUTCOMES

Increased commitment and fondness to school and academic pursuits.¹
- High school athletes are significantly more likely to have a higher GPA compared to non-athletes.
- Students who participate in high school team sports through 12th grade have a “school-based identity that correlates to positive academic performance.”
Significantly less disciplinary action taken against compared to non-athletes.²
High school athletes are 14% less likely to dropout from high school²
Tend to be enrolled in honors courses and earn higher grades than non-athletes.1
Various surveys have shown young athletes earn up to 40% higher scores on standardized tests.³

[W]hen you live in the projects and you live in those circumstances there’s nothing you can — you can’t get away from it. But sports carried me away from being in a gang or being associated with drugs. Sports was my way out.
— LeBron James

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Improved leadership abilities – 25% of student-athletes identify themselves as leaders.⁴
Greater self-confidence⁵
7% more likely to be enrolled in a 4-year college following graduation.⁶
Increased prosocial behavior that persists for 55 years past athletic participation.⁵
- More likely to volunteer time and donate to charity.
Earn between 4.2% to 14.8% more on average, amounting to between $800 and $3,000 per year.⁴

Individual commitment to a group effort–that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
— Vince Lombardi

SOCIAL AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Valuable life skills are developed through competitive sports.⁵
- Teamwork
- Flexibility/Adaptability
- Accountability
- Leadership
- Communication and Relationship Formation
These intangible benefits are considered especially valuable to employers and explain an athlete’s ability to receive more lucrative job opportunities.⁵

Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.
— Nelson Mandela

HEALTH BENEFITS

Teens who participate in sports are 8 times as likely to become active adults.3
Athletes demonstrate lower rates of risky behavior including smoking, drug use, and unplanned pregnancy.3
Physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in America, by 20-35%.⁷
Regularly physically active individuals are 20-30% less likely to develop depression and dementia.⁷

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
— John F. Kennedy

SOURCES

Student Council, Volunteering, Basketball, or Marching Band: What Kind of Extracurricular Involvement Matters? – Jacquelynne S. Eccles, Bonnie L. Barber, 1999 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0743558499141003 (accessed Nov 15, 2019).
ELDRIDGE, J. A.; PALMER, T. B.; GILLIS, K.; LLOYD, R.; SQUIRES, W. G.; MURRAY, T. D. Comparison of Academic and Behavioral Performance between Athletes and Non-Athletes. Int J Exerc Sci 2014, 7 (1), 3–13.
Kids Sports Facts https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/kids-sports-facts (accessed Dec 5, 2019).
Barron, J. M.; Ewing, B. T.; Waddell, G. R. The Effects of High School Athletic Participation on Education and Labor Market Outcomes. The Review of Economics and Statistics 2000, 82 (3), 409–421. https://doi.org/10.1162/003465300558902.
Kniffin, K. M.; Wansink, B.; Shimizu, M. Sports at Work: Anticipated and Persistent Correlates of Participation in High School Athletics. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 2015, 22 (2), 217–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051814538099.
Shifrer, D.; Pearson, J.; Muller, C.; Wilkinson, L. College-Going Benefits of High School Sports Participation: Race and Gender Differences over Three Decades. Youth Soc 2015, 47 (3), 295–318. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X12461656.
Malm, C.; Jakobsson, J.; Isaksson, A. Physical Activity and Sports—Real Health Benefits: A Review with Insight into the Public Health of Sweden. Sports (Basel) 2019, 7 (5). https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7050127.