Research Shows Strong Link Between Athleticism And Leadership

Teamwork. Dedication. Character. Leadership. Determination. Who knew that when young girls participate in organized sports, they are learning and developing crucial traits for future success in the corporate world? As athletes, albeit intuitively, they may have known it all along.

Here in the US, the groundbreaking federal law in 1972, commonly known as Title IX, changed everything. It prohibited sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding and mandated gender equality in athletics, among other areas. It is one of the key reasons why women’s athletics participation in high school and college has skyrocketed, increasing by 90 percent (by some estimates) over the past four decades.

The benefits of girls playing sports are diverse and far-reaching. Many studies have highlighted results in lifelong improvements in women’s health, education and careers. Title IX’s requirement of gender equality in athletics not only ensures that young women are not treated as second-class citizens and relegated to the sidelines when it comes to athletics, but has profound, oftentimes life-changing, implications in their lives.

Professional skills development starts very early in kids' lives, unwittingly, takes place on rain-soaked soccer fields, sun-drenched beaches and the ubiquitously deafening school gyms throughout the academic year.

We can all nostalgically recollect that first character-defining moment, whether it was waking up at half past four on a Saturday morning, for a three-hour car ride, in order to compete in a regional sports competition, or the daily grueling regimen of running mile-after-mile with the hope of winning the cross-country league championship.

So many young girls have long toiled away, sacrificing sleep-overs and parties in order to reach peak fitness levels, and that is clearly evident by our numerous female corporate and heads-of-state leaders. For many of us, much like our predecessors, we have spurned the limitations of traditional professional roles for the opportunity to make the world a better place, and it all started with that first pitch or daunting hill, which we overcame beautifully.