Major Findings

Pre-College Sport Experiences
We began the survey interview by asking respondents to think about their earliest memory of playing informal sports or physical games such as kick ball, jump rope, and tag. Most respondents (73 percent) reported that they were between the ages of 4 and 6 when they began playing informal sport games. Four activities accounted for two-thirds of the first games that respondents remembered playing: tag, soccer, baseball (including whiffle ball and tee ball), and kick ball. Five other games accounted for another 19 percent: football, basketball, hide-and-seek, jump rope, and hockey. Men were more likely than women to remember first playing sports such as baseball, football, basketball, soccer, and hockey, whereas women were more likely to remember first playing informal games such as tag, kick ball, and jump rope.

Most respondents remembered playing their first games with friends (70 percent), followed by brothers (33 percent), fathers (30 percent), sisters (23 percent), others (20 percent), and mothers (11 percent). The biggest gender difference here is that women (36 percent) were far more likely than men (10 percent) to report playing with a sister. Finally, the vast majority (94 percent) reported that their earliest experiences playing informal physical games were either "very positive" (69 percent) or "somewhat positive" (25 percent).

Over 90 percent of the respondents reported that they participated in organized youth sports. Youth soccer was mentioned most often (69 percent), followed by Little League baseball (49 percent), town recreational basketball (41 percent), girls' softball (24 percent), and junior tennis (20 percent). Eighty percent of the men had played Little League baseball and over 76 percent had played youth soccer; 57 percent had played town recreational or church league basketball, and 22 percent had played Pop Warner football. The most popular organized youth sports among women were soccer (62 percent), girls' softball (49 percent), basketball (35 percent), tennis (30 percent), gymnastics (27 percent), and swimming (25 percent).

Virtually every respondent had played sport games in elementary school, and 88 percent played on a high school sport team that competed against other schools. The high school athletes competed in 29 different sports; over three-quarters competed on more than one sport team, with men (84 percent) more likely than women (69 percent) to play multiple sports. The most common interscholastic sports among men were soccer and basketball (35 percent), football (31 percent), track and field (28 percent), and baseball (24 percent). With the exception of football, these also were the most popular sports among women: track and field (32 percent), basketball (31 percent), soccer (26 percent), and softball (24 percent).

Holy Cross Intercollegiate Athletes
In recent years, according to statistics compiled by the Athletic Department, approximately 25 percent of the Holy Cross student body is a member of a varsity intercollegiate sport team. This figure corresponds to the sample data, as 34 percent of the respondents reported that they had been on a varsity team, but nearly one-quarter of these respondents were no longer on the team, yielding a total of 64 athletes, or 25.5 percent of the sample who were still participating. Three-quarters of these intercollegiate athletes reported that they were recruited to play sports at Holy Cross; this figure was somewhat higher-80 percent-for the athletes who were still competing.

Students who were no longer on a team had participated from one month to over three years. The following analyses describe the 71 varsity athletes who were either still competing or had competed for at least two years. Forty-six of these athletes were men and 25 were women. They played 14 different sports at Holy Cross, with the greatest numbers of athletes in the sample coming from football (15), track and field (14), crew (10), soccer (6), basketball and lacrosse (5).

Varsity athletes reported that they devoted an average of nearly 25 hours a week to their sport in-season. The time commitment and general devotion to their sport had various effects on athlete's academic lives. About two-thirds reported that they missed classes due to travel and/or competition once a month or more and over one-third missed class at least once every two weeks. Three-quarters of the athletes also said that at times they felt so emotionally and physically exhausted from practicing, playing, or traveling that they had trouble concentrating on their academic work. This effect occurred 1-2 times a week or more for 45 percent of the athletes. Finally, nearly three-quarters of the athletes reported that they had chosen not to take a course because it was being offered at a time that conflicted with the team's practice or playing schedule. A similar percentage also reported that their course selection was affected either "to a large extent" (14 percent) or "to some extent" (58 percent) by playing a sport at Holy Cross.

Among the group of 71 athletes, 20 (or 28 percent) said that they had suffered an injury during their playing career at Holy Cross that required surgery or long-term care and rehabilitation. Nine athletes in this group had more than one injury of this sort. When asked about specific consequences of such an injury, 47 percent reported that it caused them to miss classes, 40 percent that it caused them to fall behind in classes, and 20 percent that it caused them to be ignored by their teammates. One in four also reported that their injury forced them to leave the team. Finally, nearly one in five athletes said that they had had a chronic or nagging injury that did not prevent them from playing but that affected their ability to concentrate on their academic work.

Other Forms of Athletic Participation at Holy Cross
Holy Cross students also competed in club and intramural sports and attended varsity athletic events. Twenty-two percent of the respondents had competed in a club sport; 39 percent had played intramural sports. Non-varsity athletes were the predominant participants in the club sports; however, athletes and non-varsity athletes were equally likely to have played intramural sports. Overall, two-thirds of the sample had played either a varsity, club, or intramural sport at Holy Cross; four of five men and one of two women had participated.

Close to 100 percent of the respondents reported that they had attended at least one varsity intercollegiate athletic event at Holy Cross; moreover, most of them had attended several different games. While football attracted the most students, nearly three-quarters of the sample had attended a men's basketball game, close to 60 percent had attended a women's basketball game, and nearly 60 percent had gone to an ice hockey game. Over 80 percent of the sample identified themselves as sports fans, and most of these fans described themselves further as either "very enthusiastic" or "enthusiastic."

Varsity Athlete - Other Comparisons
There were few differences between varsity athletes and others on the attitudes, values, and behaviors that were measured. For example, varsity athletes and non-varsity athletes expressed similar levels of satisfaction with several aspects of campus life, such as the overall quality of instruction and their overall academic experience, student residence life, and the quality of social life. They assigned equal importance to several life goals, including raising a family, helping others who are in difficulty, performing community service, helping to promote racial understanding, keeping up to date with world events, and integrating spirituality into their lives. Consistent with the Shulman and Bowen's findings in The Game of Life, varsity athletes tended to value being very well off financially more strongly than other students, and they also were more likely to characterize themselves as politically conservative.

One clear difference between varsity athletes and other students was involvement in extracurricular activities other than sports. Athletes were much less likely than their classmates to have attended a public lecture, play or concert on campus, and male athletes were less likely to have participated in voluntary service activities such as Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD). Also, athletes reported that they drank alcoholic beverages less often than their classmates, although they tended to consume the same number of drinks when they chose to drink.

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