Differences in career forming ability between practitioners and non-practitioners of school-based extracurricular sports activities

Problem Statement: Recent achievements have revealed a relationship between participation in extracurricular school sports and future career, although the reason for the existence of such relationship is not well understood. To determine the relationship between sports and career, this study focuses on the career forming “basic general ability,” characteristic of career education in Japan. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the difference between practitioners and non-practitioners of school-based extracurricular sports activities in terms of basic general ability. Approach: Participants were 295 students and 26 teachers of two public junior high schools and two public high schools. The basic general ability of each student was assessed by plural teachers who knew the students well. Then, the average of each teacher’s assessment was calculated. Results: The results of covariance analysis (covariates were sex, school type and school grade) showed that practitioners’ basic general ability [p < .001] and all four subscale abilities (human network building and community forming [p < .001], self-understanding and self-control [p = .001], task handling [p = .033], and career planning [p = .002]) were significantly higher than those of non-practitioners. Conclusions: Basic general ability would be a factor associated with the future career of practitioners of school-based extracurricular sports activities.