Why Girls Who Play Sports Are Built to Lead
When you watch a young girl sprint down a soccer field or sink a basketball, you’re witnessing more than athletic skill. You’re watching a future leader in training. Research reveals a striking pattern: the vast majority of women who reach the highest levels of corporate leadership share one common thread – they were girls who play sports during their formative years!
The numbers tell a story that’s impossible to ignore. Research conducted by Ernst & Young “Why a female athlete should be your next leader” found that 94% of women who hold C-suite executive positions were former athletes. Think about that for a moment. Nearly every woman leading a major corporation played sports at some point in her life. Even more remarkable, 52% of these women competed at the collegiate level, compared to just 39% of women in other managerial roles.
This correlation doesn’t stop at the C-suite. According to a separate survey highlighted by Inc. Magazine, 80% of Fortune 500 female executives played sports during their younger years. The pattern shows up again and again across industries, companies, and generations.
What we’re looking at is not a coincidence. It’s evidence of something profound happening on courts, fields, and tracks that fundamentally shapes the trajectory of women’s careers for decades to come. The athletic field serves as a training ground for capabilities that become essential in boardrooms, executive offices, and leadership positions across every sector of the economy.
But what makes this connection so powerful? After all, millions of boys play sports too, yet we don’t see the same dramatic correlation with executive success. The answer lies in what sports provide specifically for girls – a socially acceptable space to develop qualities like competitiveness, assertiveness, and resilience that are often discouraged in other contexts but essential for leadership. For girls who play sports, the athletic field becomes a place where they can be strong, strategic, and competitive without apology.
The research from EY also revealed something else significant: C-suite women are more likely than their more junior female colleagues to mention competition as an important factor in their careers. This comfort with competition, this ability to channel competitive energy productively and perform under pressure, gets developed and reinforced through years of athletic participation. Girls who play sports learn to thrive in competitive environments rather than shy away from them.
What we’re talking about is systematic leadership development at scale. Sports participation creates opportunities for girls to build executive capabilities long before they enter any workplace. They learn teamwork by necessity, not through corporate training programs. They develop resilience through real wins and losses, not through case studies. They practice strategic thinking by reading plays in real-time, not through business simulations.
The implications are profound. If 94% of women in the C-suite played sports, and if the duration of participation correlates directly with leadership success, then every barrier that pushes girls out of athletics isn’t just a sports problem. It’s a leadership pipeline problem. It’s an economic development problem. It’s about the future of who leads our organizations, our communities, and our society.
This is why understanding the connection between girls who play sports and executive success matters so much. We’re not talking about a nice advantage or a helpful extra. We’re talking about one of the most effective leadership development systems ever created – one that works because it’s engaging, because it’s accessible (or should be), and because it develops real capabilities through real challenges and real achievements.
The path to the corner office often runs directly through the gym, the field, the court, or the pool. And right now, we need to pay attention to this path – because too many girls who play sports are leaving it before they fully develop the capabilities that will serve them throughout their lives.
Key Takeaways
- The Numbers Don’t Lie: 94% of Women Executives Played Sports – The connection between athletics and leadership isn’t theory, it’s statistical reality. Research from Ernst & Young reveals that 94% of women in C-suite positions were former athletes, with 52% playing at the collegiate level. The Women’s Sports Foundation’s study of 2,886 women across seven generations confirms this pattern: 69% of women who played sports hold formal leadership roles, and 71% of those leaders occupy executive positions like manager, director, president, or C-suite roles. The longer girls stay in sports, the more likely they are to reach the top of their organizations. Athletic participation isn’t just good for physical health, it’s systematically developing the next generation of women leaders.
- Sports Build Six Critical Executive Skills That Can’t Be Taught in Business School – Girls who play sports develop leadership capabilities through lived experience rather than classroom theory. They master teamwork and collaboration by navigating diverse team dynamics, resilience by bouncing back from losses and setbacks, and strategic thinking by setting and pursuing both immediate and long-term goals. Competition teaches them to perform under pressure and embrace challenges rather than avoid them. Situational awareness develops through reading plays in real-time and adapting strategies mid-game. Most importantly, physical achievement builds embodied confidence, a fundamental belief in their capability that translates directly into professional assertiveness and executive presence. The athletic field functions as the most effective leadership development program available, creating skills that remain valuable throughout entire careers.
- Youth Sports Participation Is the Critical Window, But We’re Losing Girls at Alarming Rates – The teenage years represent the most important time for girls to stay in sports, as this is when leadership identities form and confidence either solidifies or crumbles. Girls who play sports during adolescence receive consistent messages that they are capable, strong, and valuable, counteracting cultural narratives that undermine confidence. However, by age 14, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys, with 43% of girls who once considered themselves “sporty” disengaging after primary school. The primary barriers include body image concerns during puberty, lack of access and opportunity, confidence crises and fear of failure, and insufficient quality coaching that understands female athlete development.
- The Dropout Crisis Represents a Leadership Pipeline Problem With Massive Economic Impact – This isn’t just about sports, it’s about the future of organizational leadership and economic growth. Research shows that 75% of women varsity athletes pursue careers with above-average earning potential, directly increasing economic value. When girls who play sports drop out prematurely, organizations lose diverse leadership perspectives, innovation capacity, and proven performers. Companies with more women in leadership consistently perform better financially and make superior strategic decisions. Given that 94% of women C-suite executives played sports, every barrier pushing girls out of athletics systematically reduces the pipeline of future female executives across all sectors. Investing in keeping girls in sports isn’t charity, it’s investing in future economic prosperity and organizational excellence.
- We Know What Works: Research-Backed Solutions Can Keep Girls Engaged and Create More Leaders – The good news is that effective interventions exist. Girls who have female role models, parents, coaches, or visible athletes, are significantly more likely to continue participation. Quality coaching that understands female athlete development, addresses confidence and body image issues proactively, and teaches leadership explicitly makes the difference between girls staying or leaving. Creating inclusive environments that celebrate diverse body types and abilities, redefine “sporty” to include participation over performance, and address practical barriers like appropriate athletic wear and period management keeps more girls engaged. Programs emphasizing personal growth, teamwork, and enjoyment rather than just elite performance create space for all girls to develop leadership skills regardless of natural talent level. We have the knowledge and tools to solve the dropout crisis, what’s needed now is commitment to implementing these solutions at scale so more girls who play sports can become the leaders organizations desperately need.
The Surprising Connection Between Athletic Participation and Executive Leadership
The Women’s Sports Foundation recently released groundbreaking research titled “Play to Lead: The Generational Impact of Sports on Women’s Leadership” that surveyed 2,886 women between ages 20 and 80. This study examined seven generations to understand how girls who play sports develop leadership skills. The findings are striking: among women who participated in athletics, 69% hold at least one formal leadership role outside of the family. Of those with formal leadership positions, 71% hold titles like manager, director, president, or C-suite executive.
What makes this research particularly compelling is what it reveals about duration. The study shows that the longer girls who play sports continue their participation, the more likely they are to achieve leadership positions as adults. This relationship holds true across all seven generations studied, proving that the transformative power of athletic participation transcends specific eras, social changes, and cultural shifts.
Consider some real-world examples that bring these statistics to life. Meg Whitman, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, didn’t just participate in sports – she captained her high school swim team and played varsity lacrosse, tennis, and basketball. Years later, she wrote in her book “The Power of Many” about how those experiences still inform her leadership approach. She still uses basketball concepts when assembling business teams, asking questions like whether they need “man-to-man or zone defense”.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi played cricket during her college years in India. Deloitte CEO Cathy Engelbert competed in basketball and tennis. The examples multiply across industries. You find former athletes leading technology companies, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, and consulting firms. Girls who play sports grow up to lead.
Essential Leadership Skills That Girls Who Play Sports Develop
What exactly happens on athletic fields that prepares young female athletes for executive positions? The answer lies in the unique combination of skills, experiences, and mindsets that sports cultivate, skills that translate directly into boardroom leadership capabilities.
Teamwork and Collaboration
Girls who play sports learn early that success isn’t a solo endeavor. Whether you’re the star striker or the defensive anchor, victory requires coordinated effort with teammates you might not have chosen as friends. This forced collaboration mirrors the corporate world, where executives must unite diverse teams toward common goals.
When a girl joins a basketball team, she’s assigned a position and she has to cooperate with players who bring different strengths and perspectives. She can’t win alone, no matter how talented she is. This fundamental lesson, that collective achievement trumps individual glory, becomes ingrained through countless practices and games. In the boardroom decades later, that same woman instinctively knows how to leverage team dynamics, delegate effectively, and celebrate shared victories.
The collaborative nature of team sports creates a unique learning environment. Girls who play sports discover how to communicate under pressure, how to support teammates having difficult moments, and how to subordinate personal ambition to team objectives. These aren’t just athletic skills, they’re the foundation of effective executive leadership in any industry.
Resilience and Managing Failure
Sports provide a controlled environment for experiencing failure and bouncing back, a crucial skill for anyone, but especially for any executive. Girls who play sports learn that missed shots, lost games, and disappointing performances are not endpoints but opportunities for growth.
Research from Korn Ferry found that high-performing women CEOs were 15 times more likely to be driven by challenge than lower-performing CEOs. This drive to overcome obstacles, to turn failure into fuel, gets honed through years of athletic competition. The resilience developed while pushing through the final quarter when you’re down by ten points translates directly into the grit needed to navigate corporate setbacks, market downturns, and strategic pivots.
Every athlete knows the pain of defeat. But girls who play sports learn to analyze what went wrong, adjust their approach, and come back stronger. They develop a growth mindset organically, understanding that current performance doesn’t define future potential. This psychological resilience becomes invaluable when facing the inevitable challenges of executive leadership.
Goal Setting and Strategic Thinking
In sports, there’s always a new goal. Whether working toward a faster mile time or perfecting a volleyball serve, athletes constantly set and pursue objectives. Girls who play sports develop sophisticated goal-setting practices early, typically working toward both immediate targets and long-term aspirations simultaneously.
This skill mirrors executive leadership perfectly. C-suite leaders must balance quarterly objectives with five-year strategic plans, immediate operational demands with transformational initiatives. The mental framework for this kind of multi-layered strategic thinking gets established on athletic fields long before entering any boardroom.
When girls who play sports set goals for improving their performance, they learn to break big objectives into manageable steps, measure progress consistently, and adjust strategies based on results. These same skills drive effective business strategy development and execution at the highest organizational levels.
Competitive Drive and Performance Under Pressure
EY research indicates that C-suite women cite competition as a bigger factor in their careers than more junior women do. Girls who play sports thrive on competition, they learn to channel competitive energy productively, to perform when stakes are high, and to want excellence not just for themselves but for their teams.
Angela Lewis, former professional basketball player and head of the Global Athlete Media Network, observes that you can often identify former athletes simply by their posture and presence. That confidence, that comfort with competition and high-pressure situations, becomes embedded in how female athletes carry themselves throughout their careers.
Competition in sports teaches girls to embrace challenge rather than avoid it. Girls who play sports become comfortable with being evaluated, with public performance, and with pushing themselves beyond their comfort zones. These experiences “immunize” them against the imposter syndrome and self-doubt that often hold women back from pursuing executive positions.
Situational Awareness and Adaptability
High-performing women CEOs score exceptionally high in what researchers call “Situational Self-Awareness”, the ability to read a room, understand dynamics at play, and stay aware of their response and its impact. This skill gets refined through thousands of hours reading plays as they unfold on courts and fields.
Girls who play sports develop laser focus and awareness of self and others simultaneously. They learn to anticipate, to adjust strategy mid-game, to recognize when to be assertive and when to support. These are precisely the skills that distinguish exceptional executives from merely competent ones.
During any game, athletes must process multiple streams of information simultaneously, where teammates are positioned, what opponents are doing, how much time remains, what the score demands. This constant situational analysis trains the brain for the complex, multi-variable decision-making that executive leadership requires.
Confidence Through Physical Achievement
Probably one of the most significant advantages for girls who play sports is the confidence built through physical achievement. In a culture that often conditions girls to doubt their capabilities, sports provide irrefutable evidence of what they can accomplish through effort and dedication.
When a girl masters a difficult skill, wins a challenging match, or achieves a personal best, she gains concrete proof of her competence. This embodied confidence, literally felt in the body through athletic accomplishment, translates into professional assertiveness. Girls who play sports develop a fundamental belief in their ability to meet challenges, a belief reinforced through countless hours of physical evidence.
The Critical Developmental Window: Why Youth Matters
The benefits of athletic participation are not equally distributed across all ages, there’s something particularly powerful about girls who play sports during their youth and adolescent years. The Women’s Sports Foundation research demonstrates that skills, traits, and experiences developed through youth sports create leadership capabilities that persist throughout adulthood.
Building Confidence During Formative Years
Teenage girls typically suffer from lower self-confidence than boys, with studies showing stark differences in how they assess their own capabilities. Research from Hewlett-Packard revealed that women applied for promotions only after believing they met 100% of qualifications, while men applied after meeting just 60%.
Girls who play sports develop confidence differently. Physical activity correlates strongly with improved self-perception of both academic and athletic ability. Female athletes consistently report more positive body images and higher self-esteem than non-athletes. This confidence, built through tangible athletic achievements and supported by coaches and teammates, becomes a foundation for professional assertiveness later in life.
The teenage years are when many girls begin doubting themselves, particularly around their competence and leadership potential. Girls who play sports during this critical period receive consistent messages that they are capable, strong, and valuable team members. These messages counteract the broader cultural narratives that often undermine girls’ confidence.
Identity Formation and Breaking Gender Norms
Athletic participation may be especially significant for girls because it encourages breaking gender stereotypes, something often required to reach executive positions in male-dominated business environments. The UN notes that participation of women in athletics challenges gender stereotypes and discrimination, serving as a vehicle to promote gender equality and empowerment.
Girls who play sports learn early that they can be strong, competitive, and assertive, qualities traditionally coded as masculine but essential for leadership. They develop comfort with these traits in a socially acceptable context, making it easier to express them later in professional settings.
When young athletes see themselves as strong, strategic, and competitive, they’re forming identities that include leadership capabilities. This self-concept, established during youth, shapes career aspirations and professional behavior for decades. Girls who play sports internalize that they belong in competitive, high-stakes environments, an essential mindset for pursuing C-suite positions.
Network Building and Social Capital
Researchers Sandra Hanson and Rebecca Kraus argue that sports integrate girls into achievement-based networks that are larger, less intimate, and more based on performance than the small, intense friendship groups to which young girls naturally gravitate. This exposure to different types of social structures gives female athletes advantages in professional networking and relationship-building throughout their careers.
Girls who play sports learn to form relationships based on shared goals and mutual respect rather than just affinity. They practice navigating group dynamics where not everyone is a close friend but everyone must work together effectively. These social skills directly translate to professional networking and building the kinds of broad, diverse networks that support career advancement.
The Alarming Dropout Crisis: Losing Future Leaders
Despite overwhelming evidence of the benefits, we face a crisis: girls are dropping out of sports at alarming rates. By age 14, girls abandon sports at twice the rate of boys. Women in Sport research found that more than one million teenage girls (43%) who once considered themselves “sporty” disengage from athletics after primary school.
This dropout crisis represents more than lost athletic participation, it’s a leadership pipeline problem. When girls who play sports leave athletics prematurely, they miss crucial years of leadership development that would position them for executive success later in life.
Understanding the Primary Barriers
To address this crisis, we must understand why girls who play sports stop participating:
Body Image and Puberty Challenges
The transition through puberty affects girls’ athletic participation profoundly. Research shows 78% of girls avoid sports when menstruating, while 73% dislike others watching them participate in physical activity. One study found that 45% of girls stop playing sports by age 14 specifically due to low body confidence.
Unlike boys, for whom puberty often brings athletic advantages through increased muscle mass and height, girls experience bodily changes that can feel incompatible with athletic participation. Developing breasts, healthy weight gain, and menstruation create anxiety around being visible and judged during physical activities.
For girls who play sports to continue through adolescence, they need environments that address these concerns openly and supportively. This includes access to proper athletic wear, education about managing periods during sports, and team cultures that celebrate diverse body types.
Lack of Access and Opportunity
Girls face 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than boys. Inadequate facilities, suboptimal playing times, and underfunded programs communicate that girls’ athletics matter less. When equipment and uniforms aren’t funded at levels comparable to boys’ programs, girls who play sports receive the message that their participation is not valued.
This opportunity gap affects not just current participation but future leadership. When girls who play sports receive inferior resources and support, they’re learning lessons about their value in competitive environments, lessons that can undermine their confidence in pursuing leadership positions later.
Confidence and Fear of Failure
Fifty-five percent of teenage girls report that perceived lack of sporting ability stops them from participating. Fifty percent feel paralyzed by fear of failure during puberty, which prevents them from trying new activities. This confidence crisis, compounded by social pressures and gender stereotypes, pushes girls away from athletics.
Many girls who play sports at younger ages become increasingly self-conscious during adolescence. They worry about looking foolish, being judged by peers, or not being “good enough”. Without supportive environments that emphasize effort over perfection, many talented young athletes walk away from sports entirely.
Quality of Coaching and Support
Research from the Tucker Center found that how girls feel about their coaches is a determining factor in whether they continue in organized sports. Currently, nearly 75% of youth head coaches are men. While male coaches can be excellent, the lack of female coaching representation means girls who play sports often lack mentors who understand their specific challenges and can model female leadership in athletic contexts.
Girls who play sports benefit enormously from seeing women in coaching leadership positions. Female coaches provide living examples that women belong in competitive, high-pressure environments making strategic decisions and commanding respect. Without these role models, many girls struggle to envision themselves as leaders.
The Societal Cost of Girls Leaving Sports
When girls who play sports drop out, society loses more than athletes, we lose future leaders. The Women’s Sports Foundation CEO Danette Leighton states it clearly: “For women, when they participate in athletics, there is a correlation to leadership. Those skill sets are learned on the field, in the pool, and on the court.”
Research indicates that 75% of women varsity athletes pursue careers with above-average earning potential, directly increasing their economic value and human capital. When we fail to keep girls who play sports engaged, we’re not just impacting individual lives, we’re constraining economic growth and limiting the diversity of leadership across all sectors.
Consider the broader implications: if 94% of women in C-suite positions played sports, and we’re losing nearly half of athletic girls by their teenage years, we’re systematically reducing the pipeline of future female executives. This isn’t just a women’s issue, it’s an economic imperative affecting organizational performance, innovation, and competitive advantage.
Companies desperately need diverse leadership. Research consistently shows that organizations with more women in leadership positions perform better financially and make better strategic decisions. When girls who play sports leave athletics, they miss developing the exact skills that would prepare them for these leadership roles. The business world loses potential leaders before they even enter the workforce.
Research-Backed Solutions for Keeping Girls in Sports
The good news: research also illuminates solutions. Studies consistently identify factors that keep girls who play sports engaged and position them for future leadership success.
Same-Gender Role Models Matter
Girls who play sports and have female role models, whether parents, coaches, or visible athletes, are significantly more likely to continue participation. When girls see women thriving in athletic leadership, they internalize that success as achievable for themselves.
Programs like the Strong Girls initiative at the University of Kansas, which pairs young girls with female college student mentors for sports participation and positive youth development, demonstrate the power of this approach. Participants, typically less athletic girls, report increased confidence and continued engagement when supported by female mentors.
For girls who play sports, seeing women coaches, athletic directors, and professional athletes sends a powerful message: women belong in these spaces. This representation matters not just for inspiration but for providing practical models of how women navigate and succeed in competitive athletic environments.
Quality Coaching Transforms the Experience
Research from Temple University emphasizes the critical need for high-quality athletic coaching, particularly at youth levels. Coaches need training that goes beyond technical skills to address how gender, communication style, and youth development intersect. Girls who play sports need coaches who understand their specific challenges, create inclusive environments, and teach leadership skills explicitly.
Effective coaches for young female athletes focus on skill development and effort rather than just winning. They create team cultures where mistakes are learning opportunities rather than failures. They explicitly connect athletic skills to broader life competencies. This coaching approach keeps girls who play sports engaged and builds their leadership capabilities simultaneously.
Reframing What “Sporty” Means
Many girls disengage because they don’t see themselves fitting traditional athletic stereotypes. Expanding definitions of what being “sporty” looks like, celebrating participation over performance, effort over outcomes, and diverse body types over narrow athletic ideals, keeps more girls who play sports in the game.
Not every girl will be a star athlete, but every girl can benefit from athletic participation. When programs emphasize personal growth, teamwork, and fun rather than just elite performance, they create space for all girls who play sports to develop leadership skills regardless of natural talent level.
Addressing Practical Barriers
Simple interventions matter tremendously for girls who play sports: providing proper sports bras, educating girls about managing periods during athletic activities, scheduling convenient practice times, and ensuring equal access to quality facilities. When practical barriers are removed, more girls can focus on developing the skills that will serve them throughout their lives.
Schools and organizations can implement policies that support continued participation. This includes flexible attendance policies during menstruation, investment in gender-appropriate athletic wear and facilities, and scheduling that doesn’t force girls who play sports to choose between athletics and other important activities like academics or family obligations.
The Business Case: Investing in Athletic Participation
The research couldn’t be clearer: girls who play sports develop the exact capabilities that organizations desperately need in their leadership pipelines. Teamwork, resilience, strategic thinking, confidence, competitive drive, and situational awareness, these aren’t just athletic skills, they’re executive competencies.
Every study reinforces that athletic participation functions as leadership development at scale. It’s accessible (or should be), engaging, and profoundly effective at building capabilities that transfer across contexts and persist across decades.
When organizations talk about leadership development, talent pipelines, and diversity initiatives, they should be asking: how do we keep girls who play sports engaged? Because the woman who learned to coordinate complex team strategies on a soccer field, or a handball or a basketball court, who developed resilience through countless losses and comebacks, who gained confidence through physical achievement, that’s the woman who will lead teams, divisions, and companies with exceptional skill.
The Women’s Sports Foundation research makes this explicit: when girls participate in athletics, they lead, and we all win. This isn’t aspirational rhetoric, it’s empirical fact backed by generations of data showing that girls who play sports become the leaders organizations need.
Business leaders should recognize athletic experience as a key indicator of leadership potential. Companies that support youth sports programs aren’t just engaging in corporate social responsibility, they’re investing in their future talent pipeline. Girls who play sports today become the executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators tomorrow.
Taking Action: What Each of Us Can Do
The evidence demands action from all of us, parents, educators, coaches, policymakers, and business leaders. Here’s what makes a difference for girls who play sports:
For Parents:
- Encourage athletic participation regardless of perceived natural talent or body type
- Model active lifestyles yourself, especially mothers and female caregivers
- Celebrate effort, improvement, and resilience over wins and performance metrics
- Help your daughter find sports communities where she feels she belongs and is valued
- Advocate for equal resources and opportunities in school athletic programs
- Talk openly about how athletic skills connect to career success and leadership
For Educators and Administrators:
- Ensure equal funding, facilities, and schedule quality for girls’ athletic programs
- Recruit, train, and support female coaches across all levels and sports
- Create policies that address practical barriers like period management and appropriate athletic wear
- Recognize and celebrate female athletes’ achievements prominently throughout your institution
- Integrate leadership development explicitly into athletic programs for girls who play sports
- Track participation rates by gender and implement interventions when girls drop out
For Coaches:
- Pursue training in gender-responsive coaching and youth development best practices
- Create inclusive team cultures where all skill levels feel valued and supported
- Mentor young female athletes explicitly about leadership skills they are developing through sports
- Address confidence and body image issues proactively and sensitively with your athletes
- Connect sports skills to broader life and career applications in your coaching conversations
- Model the kind of female leadership you want girls who play sports to embody
For Business Leaders:
- Recognize athletic experience as valuable leadership training in hiring and promotion decisions
- Support programs that keep girls who play sports engaged through sponsorship and partnerships
- Create pathways for female athletes entering your organization and mentor them deliberately
- Share your own sports background and how it shaped your leadership journey with young women
- Advocate for policies that support youth sports access, particularly for marginalized communities
- Measure and track the athletic backgrounds of your leadership pipeline
For All of Us:
- Amplify women’s sports through viewership, attendance, and social media engagement
- Challenge gender stereotypes about athleticism and femininity when you encounter them
- Support organizations working to keep girls who play sports engaged throughout adolescence
- Share stories about how athletic participation shaped women’s leadership trajectories
- Recognize that investing in girls’ sports isn’t charity, it’s investing in our collective economic and social future
- Volunteer with youth sports programs in your community, especially as female coaches and mentors
The Path Forward: From Court to Boardroom
The connection between girls who play sports and C-suite success isn’t mysterious, it’s mechanical. Athletics systematically develop the exact capabilities required for executive leadership. They do so in an engaging, accessible format during precisely the years when identity and capabilities are being formed.
The tragic irony is that we’re losing half these future leaders to dropout before they fully develop these capabilities. We’re allowing solvable barriers, body image concerns, lack of female coaches, inadequate facilities, confidence crises, to deprive girls of experiences that would position them for leadership across all sectors of society.
But the research also offers hope: we know what works. Same-gender role models, quality coaching, inclusive environments, practical support, and cultural messaging that values female athleticism all keep girls who play sports engaged. And when girls stay in sports, they develop into leaders.
The women running companies, leading organizations, and shaping policy today are testament to this. Their stories consistently trace back to courts, fields, and tracks where they learned to lead, compete, collaborate, and persevere. They’re proof that the path to the C-suite often runs directly through the gym, court, or field.
Every girl who plays sports isn’t guaranteed to become a CEO, but she’s developing the skills that make executive leadership possible. She’s building resilience, confidence, strategic thinking, and the ability to perform under pressure. She’s learning to work with diverse teammates, to lead when needed, and to support others toward shared goals. These are the foundations of leadership in any field.
Your Challenge: What Will You Do This Week?
The research is conclusive. The data is compelling. The pathway is clear. Now it’s time to act on behalf of girls who play sports.
This week, I challenge you to implement one strategy from this article:
- If you’re a parent, have a conversation with your daughter about sports participation and leadership. Ask about her athletic interests and remove any potential barriers preventing her from participating. Share your own sports experiences or research women leaders who were athletes.
- If you’re a coach or teacher, identify one way to make your program more inclusive for girls who might feel on the margins. Maybe it’s adjusting your communication style, creating more opportunities for leadership, or simply checking in individually with girls who seem disengaged.
- If you’re a business leader, review how your organization recognizes and values athletic experience in hiring and advancement decisions. Consider implementing mentorship programs specifically for women with athletic backgrounds or sponsoring local youth sports programs for girls.
- If you’re an athlete yourself, share your story about how sports shaped your leadership journey. Your experience might inspire a girl to stick with athletics or help a parent understand why participation matters beyond the game itself.
- If you’re any of us, support girls who play sports in your community, through time, resources, or advocacy. Attend a local girls’ game. Donate equipment. Volunteer as a coach or mentor. Write to your school board about equal funding. Every action matters.
The next generation of women leaders is on playing fields right now. Girls who play sports are learning to collaborate, compete, and lead. They’re building confidence, resilience, and strategic thinking. They’re becoming the executives, entrepreneurs, and innovators who’ll shape our future.
But only if they stay in the game.
What strategy will you implement this week? Share your chosen action in the comments below. When we support girls who play sports, we invest in future leadership, and we all win.
If this resonated with you, please share it with:
- Parents of daughters who play (or could play) sports
- Coaches working with female athletes
- Business leaders building women’s leadership pipelines
- Anyone who cares about developing the next generation of leaders
Together, we can keep more girls who play sports in the game, and in doing so, create a future where women’s leadership is the norm, not the exception!!! 🙂
About This Article: This article synthesizes research from the Women’s Sports Foundation, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Temple University, and multiple academic studies examining the relationship between youth sports participation and women’s leadership development.
Sources:
- Women’s Sports Foundation “Play to Lead” Report (2024)
- Ernst & Young Women Athletes Business Network Research
- Deloitte Leadership and Sports Participation Study
- Temple University School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management Research
- Korn Ferry Institute Leadership Research
- Various academic journals and industry reports cited throughout
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