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More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
leTTer from The execUTive DirecTor All of us who are involved in growing the sport of tennis are well aware of the wide range of benefits the sport
can provide. Tennis has helped shape our lives, and our experiences in the sport motivate us to redouble our
efforts to make tennis the sport of opportunity for all.
The United States Tennis Association (USTA), the national governing body for tennis in the United States,
is committed to effectively promoting the sport as a means of healthful recreation and physical fitness; to
establishing and maintaining good sportsmanship in tennis; and to encouraging the development of good
health, outstanding character and responsible citizenship through involvement in the sport. USTA Serves,
Incorporated, the national charitable foundation of the USTA, seeks to expand the reach of our sport and
its myriad benefits to at-risk youth and people with disabilities through programs utilizing the powerful
integration of tennis and education.
This USTA Serves Special Report, More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health, is the first nationwide
study to analyze the educational, behavioral and health benefits for adolescents who participate in tennis.
Using data from Monitoring the Future (MTF), a highly respected, federally funded survey, the researchers
compared the education and health profiles of tennis players with other high school athletes, as well as with
high school students who do not participate in sports. The results confirm USTA Serves’ belief in tennis as
a sport of opportunity and validate our mission to support programs that enhance the lives of children and
families through the integration of tennis, health and education.
While most people may not be surprised to learn that the majority of adolescent tennis players score better
than most other athletes (and all non-athletes) on education and social behavior, what is less known is
that those benefits also cross all socioeconomic levels in varying degrees. This is particularly important
information as we work not only to grow tennis, but also to increase our efforts to make the face of the sport
more closely resemble the face of our country.
The MTF data and large sample size made it possible to create demographic profiles of U.S. tennis
participants by gender, several racial and ethnic groups, family socioeconomic level and geographic region.
Not all data is presented in this Executive Summary. We encourage you to read the full report, which is
available online at ustaserves.com.
We believe you will find the information in this study to be both interesting and insightful, and feel strongly
that the findings included here will be of use in our shared efforts to grow our sport and enhance lives
through it.
Sincerely,
Deborah Slaner Larkin Former Executive Director, USTA Serves
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health i
foreworD AnD AcknowleDgemenTSThe More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health Executive Summary presents the major findings from
a first-of-its-kind nationwide study that compares the educational and health profiles of adolescent tennis
participants with participants in other non-contact sports and contact sports, as well as high school students
who do not participate in sports. The results confirm USTA Serves’ belief in tennis as a sport of opportunity
and validate our mission to support programs that enhance the lives of children and families through the
integration of tennis, health and education. A more detailed report is available from ustaserves.com.
About Those involved
USTA Serves, Inc., is the national charitable foundation of the USTA. Its mission is to support, monitor and
promote programs that enhance the lives of at-risk youth and people with disabilities through the integration
of tennis, education and health programs. USTA Serves encourages children to pursue their goals and
highest dreams by succeeding in school, improving their health and nutrition, and becoming responsible
citizens. USTA Serves has funded hundreds of programs in 172 cities and 47 states, providing more than 18
million hours of mentoring, tutoring, nutritional guidance and tennis instruction to more than 300,000 youths.
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis and the recognized leader in promoting and
developing the sport’s growth on every level in the United States, from local communities to the crown jewel
of the professional game, the US Open. The USTA is a progressive and diverse not-for-profit organization
whose volunteers, professional staff and financial resources support a single mission: to promote and
develop the growth of tennis. The USTA is the largest tennis organization in the world, with 17 geographical
sections, more than 770,000 individual members and more than 8,800 Organizational Members, thousands
of volunteers and a professional staff dedicated to growing the game.
The study was conducted by the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) on behalf of USTA Serves. The WSF,
founded in 1974, is the leader in promoting sports, health and education for girls and women. With Billie
Jean King as its founder and ongoing visionary, the Women’s Sports Foundation continues to have a
profound impact on female athletics, from its vigorous advocacy of Title IX legislation to providing grants,
scholarships and grassroots programs for underserved girls and groundbreaking research.
The study was authored by Don Sabo, Ph.D., Center for Research on Physical Activity, Sports, and Health,
D’Youville College; Phil Veliz, Ph.D., University of Michigan; and Lisa Rafalson, Ph.D., D’Youville College.
ii More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
Acknowledgements
USTA Serves provided relevant evidence-based policy recommendations for future planning and action.
We gratefully acknowledge the leadership and expertise of Deborah Slaner Larkin and Judie Eisenberg,
president and founder of Proposal Pro, who authored the recommendations.
A very special thank you to Marjorie Snyder, Ph.D., and Don Sabo, Ph.D., who have been creating research
surveys and analyzing findings to promote sports and physical activity for girls and women as well as
boys and men for more than 30 years. They recognize the important role research findings play in effecting
systemic change in our society. Their scholarly insights, professionalism, work ethic and sense of humor
make life interesting—and considerably better.
USTA Serves is grateful for the consultative energy and scholarly insights of Michael Messner, Ph.D., as
well as Sr. Denise Roche, Ph.D., president of D’Youville College, for her ongoing support of the Center
for Research on Physical Activity, Sport & Health, and to Deana Monahan for her editorial and graphic
design skills.
Special thanks to USTA Serves board member Thomas Chen for his careful review and edit of the text;
the USTA Serves board of directors for its overall support; and USTA Serves staff members Karen Ford,
Ginalysse Ingles and Jackie Materasso for their ongoing commitment to further the mission of USTA Serves.
A special shout out to the many USTA staff members who gave their time, energy, insight and commitment
to bring these findings to all stakeholders: Dr. Brian Hainline, Chief Medical Officer; Dave Dellinger for his
design expertise; Chris Widmaier, Tom LaDue and Trina Singian for their support publicizing the report;
E.J. Crawford and Mark Preston for expert editing; and the cross-functional team of USTA staff led by Fred
Alleman, which consisted of D.A. Abrams, Kirk Anderson, Jason Brown, Karin Buchholz, Ingrid Chen, Valerie
Chin, April Croft, China Fanning, Karen Feldman, Barry Ford, Bill Leong, Bill Mountford, Don Roberts, David
Schobel, David Slade, Renee Tirado and Michelle Wisch, whose enthusiasm and insights helped make this a
stronger report.
This report may be downloaded from ustafoundation.com. This report may be reproduced and distributed
only in its entirety. Any material taken from this report and published or transmitted in any form, electronic or
mechanical, must be properly attributed to More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health, published by
the USTA.
Preferred citation: Sabo, D., Veliz, P. and Rafalson, L. (2013). More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and
Health. White Plains, NY: USTA Serves.
Published February 2013, by USTA Serves, 70 West Red Oak Lane, White Plains, NY 10604
© 2013, USTA Serves, All Rights Reserved.
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 1
execUTive SUmmAry
A body of research links sports participation to
physical, educational and social benefits for U.S.
adolescents. USTA Serves Special Report: More
Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health is the
first nationwide study to specifically compare the
educational and health profiles of adolescent tennis
participants with participants in other non-contact
sports (cross country, lacrosse, swimming, tennis
and track) and contact sports (basketball, baseball,
football, soccer, volleyball and wrestling), as well
as high school students who do not participate
in sports.
More Than a Sport shows that, when compared
to non-athletes and participants in many other
sports, young people who participate in tennis get
better grades, devote more hours to studying, think
about the future, aspire to attend and graduate
from university, and report lower suspension and
expulsion rates.
Despite a common perception that tennis and its
benefits accrue for only well-to-do Americans,
the study found that many educational and
social benefits were evident in tennis-playing
adolescents across upper, middle and lower family
socioeconomic levels. The “educational reach” of
tennis participation was not limited to adolescents
whose parents were college-educated (50%)
(typically from wealthier families), but is also present
in varying degrees among students whose parents
had some college, a high school degree or some
high school education (50%).
More Than a Sport is based on an analysis of the
Monitoring the Future data—a highly respected,
federally funded survey, which contains the
responses of a nationwide sample of U.S. high
school students—to compare the educational,
“The research findings validate USTA Serves’ mission to support programs that enhance the lives of children and families through the integration of tennis, health and education.”
social and health characteristics of tennis players
with participants in other sports as well as non-
athletes. The sample of 54,048 eighth and 10th
graders is representative of a large cross-section
of U.S. high school students by geography and
race/ethnicity between 2006 and 2010. A total of
4,278 tennis participants (8%) were included in the
national sample.
The research findings validate USTA Serves’
mission to support programs that enhance the lives
of children and families through the integration of
tennis, health and education. Many results reported
here support USTA Serves’ operating assumption
that tennis and education programs improve health,
build character, teach life skills and motivate at-risk
students to strive for academic excellence.
2 More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
1. Tennis is a unique catalyst for
educational advantage.
Compared to non-athletes and participants in the
top nine high school sports, tennis players devote
more time each week to doing homework and are
more likely to report an average grade of “A” in
courses, and say they will “definitely” attend and
graduate from a four-year university. See Tables
1-ES through 4-ES on pages 4-5.
2. Tennis players reported significantly lower
rates of suspension from school and other
disciplinary measures than participants in
other sports as well as non-athletes.
Tennis players were less likely to be suspended
from school or to be sent to a school office due
to misbehavior than athletes in other sports or
students who did not participate in a sport. See
Table 5-ES and 6-ES on pages 5-6.
3. educational advantages among tennis
players occurred across and within all family
socioeconomic levels.
Half of U.S. adolescent tennis participants come
from families in which parents have less than high
school education, a high school degree only or
some college—indicators of middle- and lower-
socioeconomic levels. The perception that tennis is
a “country club” sport benefitting only one segment
of the population is at most only 50% correct. The
educational and social advantages associated
with tennis participation were strongest among
adolescents from higher-socioeconomic-level
families, but still present in families with middle- and
lower-socioeconomic levels and often higher when
compared to adolescents who participate in other
high school sports or do not participate in sports at
all. See Tables 7-ES through 10-ES on pages 6-8.
4. Adolescent tennis players are well-rounded.
Tennis players were engaged in extracurricular
activities and volunteered in their communities at
greater rates than other high school athletes and
students who did not participate in sports. See
Tables 11-ES through 16-ES on pages 8-11.
5. Tennis contributes to adolescent health.
Tennis participation was associated with low rates
of cigarette smoking, binge drinking and marijuana
use (see Tables 17-ES through 19-ES on pages
11-12). Tennis participants also were less likely to
be overweight or at risk for being overweight than
non-athletes and participants in many other sports,
especially contact sports (see Table 20-ES on page
13). Tennis appears to be helping to reduce the
risk for obesity among U.S. youth. Obesity among
adolescents is associated with greater lifelong risk
for cardiovascular disease, bone and joint problems,
and diabetes.
6. Adolescent participation in tennis varies by
race/ethnicity and gender, as well as across
geographic regions.
While Whites constituted 77% of all U.S. adolescent
tennis participants, Blacks were 9%, and Hispanics
were 14% of the total. Among all U.S. eighth- and
10th-grade adolescents who participated in tennis,
47% were male and 53% were female. One-third of
all adolescent tennis participants in the U.S. live in
the South, followed by 26% in the West, 20% in the
North Central states, and 20% in the Northeast. See
Tables 21-ES through 23-ES on pages 13-14.
key finDingS
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 3
Finally, the results of this study suggest several
policy implications.
1. Given the educational, social and health benefits
derived from tennis and the comparatively
lower rates of tennis participation among all
adolescents across the nation and geographic
regions, the opportunities for participation
should be increased. (See Tables 24-ES and 25-
ES on pages 14-15)
2. Nationally, fewer than one-quarter of adolescent
tennis participants are Black or Hispanic.
Targeted recruitment and retention programs
that increase participation among racial and
ethnic minorities should be encouraged. See
Table 25-ES on page 15.
3. Nationwide, there is evidence that fewer youth
from economically disadvantaged families
attend or persist through all four years of
college. Yet, across family socioeconomic
levels, higher percentages of tennis players
aspire to attend and graduate from university.
See Tables 9-ES and 10-ES on pages 7-8.
Funders should be encouraged to continue
to support more tennis scholarships
that reach students from economically
disadvantaged families.
conclUSion
How does a child end up with a tennis racquet
in hand? What kinds of shifts in self-image and
expectations are set in motion? Who else in the
family, school or community recognizes and pulls
a novice into the orbit of play? How do the social
networks around the game unfold in ways that
engage, inform and inspire young persons? To what
does the game lead? What cultural values and life
lessons are learned on the court and across the net,
and how do they mesh with the development of a
young person’s identity, friendship networks and
educational aspirations?
Many of the results discussed in this report provide
evidence that tennis participation positively
influences the lives of U.S. adolescents. While
tennis remains a predominantly White sport, gender
representation is equitable, and there is some
evidence that youth participation is expanding in
middle- and lower-socioeconomic levels. The data
paint a portrait of tennis players as well-rounded,
basically successful at school and involved with
extracurricular activities. Tennis players also
appear to be healthier overall and less prone to key
adolescent health-risk behaviors than non-athletes
and contact sports participants.
Some—but not all—types of sports do an effective
job at recruiting and retaining young participants, as
well as helping them to develop friendships, excel
on the academic front and adopt healthy behaviors.
The evidence uncovered here shows that tennis
is achieving these objectives and, in the process,
serves as a powerful catalyst for education and
health among U.S. adolescents.
policy implicATionS
4 More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
0
10
20
30
40
50
Table 1-ES: Percentage of U.S. Adolescents Indicating an Average Grade in School, by Type of Sport
29%
25%
40%
34%
3%
20%
13%
38%
48%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
A B C D
6%
43%
2%
Non-sportsParticipants
16%
40%42%
2%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Table 2-ES: Number of Hours Spent Doing Homework Throughout the Week, by Type of Athletic Involvement
68%
15%17% 20%
59%
48%
24%28%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
10 or more hours 5 to 9 hours 0 to 4 hours
21%
Non-sportsParticipants
54%
23% 23%
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 5
0
20
40
60
80
100
TennisParticipants
Table 3-ES: Percentage of U.S. Adolescents Who Said They De�nitely Will Go To College,
by Type of Sport
57%
71%
Non-contact-sports
Participants
Contact-sports
Participants
81%
Non-sportsParticipants
78%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
TennisParticipants
Table 4-ES: Percentage of U.S. Adolescents Who Said They Will De�nitely Graduate from a Four-Year University after High School,
by Type of Sport
51%
65%
Non-contact-sports
Participants
Contact-sports
Participants
75%
Non-sportsParticipants
69%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
TennisParticipants
Table 5-ES: Percentage of U.S. Adolescents Suspended at Least Once During the
Past School Year, by Type of Sport
27% 27%
Non-contact-sports
Participants
Contact-sports
Participants
17%
Non-sportsParticipants
23%
6 More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Table 6-ES: Percentage of Students Who Were Sent To The Of�ce Because of Misbehavior, by Type of Sport
7%
65%
28%
62%
7%4%
24%
73%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Never Sometimes Often
32%
Non-sportsParticipants
5%
68%
27%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Table 7-ES: Percentage of Students Who Indicated an Average Grade of “A” in School, by Type of Sport and Family Socioeconomic Level
53%
37%
48%
16%
29%
23%
35%30%
24%
High SELMiddle SELLow SEL
High SEL = 22%Middle SEL = 16%Low SEL = 13%
59%
19%
40%
Difference Between Tennis Participants and Non-sports Participants
Non-sports Participants Contact-sports Participants Non-contact-sports Participants Tennis Participants
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 7
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Table 8-ES: Percentage of Students Reporting 10 or More Hours Spent Doing Homework Throughout the Week, by Type of Sport and Family Socioeconomic Level
31%
23%
27%
11%
20%
15%
20%17%
14%
High SELMiddle SELLow SEL
High SEL = 11%Middle SEL = 10%Low SEL = 9%
34%
13%
24%
Difference Between Tennis Participants and Non-sports Participants
Non-sports Participants Contact-sports Participants Non-contact-sports Participants Tennis Participants
0
20
40
60
80
100
Table 9-ES: Percentage of Students Who Said They Will De�nitely Go to College, by Type of Sport and Family Socioeconomic Level
88%
74%
85%
43%
63%61%
74%69%
58%
High SELMiddle SELLow SEL
High SEL = 16%Middle SEL = 17%Low SEL = 20%
Non-sports Participants Contact-sports Participants Non-contact-sports Participants Tennis Participants
90%
53%
75%
Difference Between Tennis Participants and Non-sports Participants
8 More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
0
20
40
60
80
100
Table 10-ES: Percentage of Students Who Said They Will De�nitely Graduate from College, by Type of Sport and Family Socioeconomic Level
83%
68%
79%
38%
57%56%67%
61%
52%
High SELMiddle SELLow SEL
High SEL = 17%Middle SEL = 17%Low SEL = 19%
85%
47%
69%
Difference Between Tennis Participants and Non-sports Participants
Non-sports Participants Contact-sports Participants Non-contact-sports Participants Tennis Participants
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Table 11-ES: Extent of Participation in School-Based Music or Other Performing Arts During the Previous Year, by Type of Sport
13%
64%
24%
16%16%
47%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Never Slight to Moderate Considerable to Great Extent
23%
60%
35%
Non-sportsParticipants
18%
50%
32%
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 9
0
20
40
60
80
100
Table 12-ES: Extent of Participation in the School Newspaper or Yearbook During the Previous Year, by Type of Sport
7%
90%
6%11%
16%
76%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Never Slight to Moderate Considerable to Great Extent
4%
83%
9%
Non-sportsParticipants
14%
79%
8%
0
20
40
60
80
100
Table 13-ES: Extent of Participation in Community Affairs or Volunteer Work, by Type of Sport
50%
71%
19%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Never At least a few times per year
50%
29%
82%
Non-sportsParticipants
23%
77%
10 More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Table 14-ES: Percentage of Adolescents Who Said They Participate a Considerable to Great Extent in School-Based Music or Other Performing Arts During the Past Year,
by Type of Sport and Family Socioeconomic Level
37%34%
30%
15%
27%25%
30%
23%24%
High SELMiddle SELLow SEL
High SEL = 15%Middle SEL = 14%Low SEL = 13%
Non-sports Participants Contact-sports Participants Non-contact-sports Participants Tennis Participants
39%
17%
33%
Difference Between Tennis Participants and Contact-sports Participants
0
2
4
6
8
10
Table 15-ES: Percentage of Adolescents Who Said They Participate a Considerable to Great Extent in the School Yearbook or Newspaper During the Previous Year,
by Type of Sport and Family Socioeconomic Level
9%
5%
7%
4%
9%
7% 7%
6%
4%
High SELMiddle SELLow SEL
High SEL = 4%Middle SEL = 4%Low SEL = 5%
Non-sports Participants Contact-sports Participants Non-contact-sports Participants Tennis Participants
9%
5%
8%
Difference Between Tennis Participants and Non-sports Participants
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 11
0
20
40
60
80
100
Table 16-ES: Participation in Community Affairs or Volunteer Work, by Type of Sport and Family Socioeconomic Level
84%
63%
81%
39%
65%64%
76%
70%
52%
High SELMiddle SELLow SEL
High SEL = 25%Middle SEL = 28%Low SEL = 26%
Non-sports Participants Contact-sports Participants Non-contact-sports Participants Tennis Participants
88%
58%
80%
Difference Between Tennis Participants and Non-sports Participants
0
5
10
15
20
Table 17-ES: Percentage of Adolescents Who Indicated Binge Drinking During the Past Two Weeks, by Gender and Type of Sport
14% 14% 13%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Males Females
14%
17%
13%
Non-sportsParticipants
15%
13%
12 More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
0
3
6
9
12
15
Table 18-ES: Percentage of Adolescents Who Smoked Marijuana During the Past Month, by Gender and Type of Sport
15%
9%
11%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Males Females
13%14%
8%
Non-sports Participants
12%
8%
18
0
5
10
15
20
Table 19-ES: Percentage of Adolescents Who Smoked Cigarettes During the Past Month, by Gender and Type of Sport
16%
10%9%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Males Females
16%
11%
8%
Non-sportsParticipants
10%9%
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 13
Tennis
Table 21-ES: Percentage of Participants from Different Racial Groups Within Type of Sport
Non-contactSports
Contact Sports
0
20
40
60
80
100
77%
9%
67%
15%13%
73%
White Black Hispanic
14%18% 15%
Tennis
Table 22-ES: Percentage of Male and Female Participants Within Type of Sport
Non-contactSports
Contact Sports
Male Female
0
20
40
60
80
100
47%
53%
60%
40%
52%
48%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Table 20-ES: Percentage of Adolescents Who Are Overweight and at Risk of Being Overweight, by Gender and Type of Sport
40%
30%32%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports Participants
Contact-sports Participants
Males Females
33%
40%
25%
Non-sportsParticipants
38%
26%
45
14 More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health
Tennis
Table 23-ES: Percentage of Participants From Different Geographic Regional
Within Type of Sport
Non-contact Sports
Contact Sports
0
20
40
60
80
100
20%
34%
19%
35% 33%
18%
26%23% 24%
20%23% 25%
Northeast North Central South West
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80Table 24-ES: Percentage of U.S. Adolescent Participation
Among Different Racial Groups, by Type of Sport
9%5% 6%
59% 61% 60%
49%
41% 37%
Tennis ParticipantsNon-contact-sports ParticipantsContact-sports Participants
White Black Hispanic
More Than a Sport: Tennis, Education and Health 15
Table 25-ES: Percentage of Adolescent Tennis Players, by Geographic Region and Race/Ethnicity
0
20
40
60
80
100
9%
83%
8% 7%14%
71%
5%
73%
16%
Northeast WestSouth
87%
6%
23%
White Black Hispanic
North Central
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