Sports can help build great workers

Editor's note: Nancy Justis is a former competitive swimmer and collegiate sports information director. She is a partner with Justis Creative Communications.

By Nancy Justis, correspondent

I am not going to debate the pros and cons of travel teams in youth sports at young ages. I'm not going to argue whether emphasizing winning instead of having fun is happening at too young an age.

I'm going to cite studies proving youth sports can have long-term positive effects on those who participate - how youth sports can change lives and energize a community.

The most recent example is from the 2014 Little League World Series. The Jackie Robinson West All Stars from the south side of Chicago advanced to the championship game against a team from South Korea. Though the All Stars lost, their experience will flourish forever in the lives of the players and the city of Chicago.

Called the 'pride of Chicago” by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the team consisted of all black players from areas struggling with poverty and gang violence. They overcame the negatives in their lives and became a unifying force, bridging those neighborhoods divided by violence, hopefully for longer than a day.

Nelson Mandela once said 'sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they can understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

The Olympics are another example of bridging neighborhoods, though on a much larger scale. I don't expect that event to cure all the ills of the world, but at least for a month, a few thousand athletes put aside governmental and religious differences to parade together in the name of sportsmanship.

More data is needed to prove a link between sport and future skills development, but sport is increasingly recognized for its ability to grow skills that help not only on the field but in life skills as well.

Stephanie Vozza, who writes about business and time management, found collegiate athletes make some of the best employees. She quoted Vincent McCaffrey, CEO of Game Theory Group, a Greenville, N.C.-based recruiting and career services firm that focuses on placing athletes in their first jobs.

'Most 22-year-olds have no track record from an employment standpoint, but the experience a student-athlete has developed bodes well in the workplace,” he said, adding some of his best co-workers were former athletes.

He gives several reasons why former athletes prove to be valuable in the workplace.

- 'You can train an employee on the day-to-day job requirements, but you can't change work ethics. Athletes already have that dedication.”

- Athletes already have had some of the toughest bosses around - their coach. 'Athletes know how to handle hard conversations in the workforce.”

- Athletes have the ability to work with others toward a common goal. 'Athletes know how to be a good follower as well as how to take control of a situation. They understand roles ... they are comfortable taking the lead as well as providing support.”

- They manage time well. '(They) learn how to juggle everything. ... This translates into a highly organized employee.”

Can getting a dream job really start at age six?

A recent study by Kevin Kniffin, a behavioral science professor at Cornell University, also shows athletes who played youth and high school sports make better employees and have better career opportunities.

In 'Sports at Work: Anticipated and Persistent Correlations of Participation in High School Athletics”, he writes, 'People expect former student-athletes to display significantly more leadership, self-confidence, and self respect than those who were active outside of sports - such as being in the band or on the yearbook staff.”

Not to bash music and high school journalism, but he also found 'men who participated in varsity-level high school sports on an average of 60 years earlier appeared to demonstrate higher levels of leadership and enjoyed high-status careers.

' ... there are certain prosocial activities and traits that are prized within sports teams, and they seem to spill over into working relationships.”

So, when you encourage your child to go out there and kick the ball and throw the pass, not only look at it as a play for fun exercise, but also know youth sports help cultivate 'Better Athletes, Better People” (www.positivecoaching.org).

l Tell us what you think by emailing Justis at njustis@cfu.net