Citizenship and Asset Building Through Athletics - Question 1

Which of the assets and citizenship characteristics are developed just through basic participation in a sports program?

Only a small number of assets are developed just because a student participates in athletics. Only four of the 40 developmental assets and none of the seven citizenship qualities were determined to develop automatically. The four assets developed just by participating in a sport are:

• The school provides clear rules and consequences. Most athletic programs or individual coaches have additional codes of conduct and/or rules for behavior that are in addition to school policies that apply to the rest of the students. In order to truly be an asset, however, these rules need to be enforced fairly, consistently, quickly, and uniformly for all athletes.



• The young person spends three or more hours per week in sports, clubs, or organizations at school or in the community. This is a given with most secondary school interscholastic athletic programs. Far more than three hours per week are usually required.



• The young person is motivated to do well in school. Athletic programs often have minimum standards of achievement in order to participate in athletics. Indeed, many surveys have shown that athletes maintain a higher grade point average than their non-athletic peers. The balance between athletics and academics is difficult for some students to maintain, however, and coaches will need to encourage these young people to place academic success first.



• The young person knows how to plan ahead and make choices. Because of practice and game schedules, in addition to other responsibilities, secondary school athletes have learned to plan ahead and make choices about their time. However, the group was not certain that participation in school athletics would necessarily mean that an athlete would know how to plan ahead and make choices in other areas of his or her life.