Join a club! Or a team – both can make good citizens

Abstract

Sports participation in high school has positive effects on students’ later civic engagement. But that is true of nearly all forms of extracurricular participation in high school – whether a group is explicitly civic (student government or a service club) or far removed from civic life (an academic club or a music group). Indeed, the civic advantages of sports are not as clear as the civic benefits of some other groups. If almost all forms of extracurricular participation enhance civic engagement, then we should shift our focus away from the special advantages of sports and commit to strengthening the whole array of voluntary groups in our schools.