Perceived Benefits of Participation in Intramural and Recreational Sports

University of Louisville






Objective

The project was designed to provide feedback regarding what benefits students at the University of Louisville believed they acquired through participation in the intramural and recreational sports program.

Methodology

Students were given 17 statements and questions on a written scan tron survey and were asked to mark the response which best fit their belief. Responses ranged from Extremely Beneficial, Very Beneficial, Somewhat Beneficial, Beneficial to Not Beneficial. For results of this document only the Very Beneficial and Extremely Beneficial responses were totaled indicating that participants possessed a significant level of opinion/belief in their responses. 

Responses

A total of 376 tools were completed properly and qualified for computation by the University of Louisville Testing Services Office. A chart below shows the demographic makeup of those responses. Of particular note is the high response rate by African-American participants which gives this tool a higher % of African-American responses than is represented in the overall University of Louisville population.

Ethnic Origin
Total Responses
% of Overall Responses
Male
188
58
Female
134
42
Caucasian
214
67
African-American
67
21
Asian
21
6.5
Other
18
5.6
Did not indicate
56
NA
Participants were asked to respond to the following statement. “In your opinion, participation in recreation/fitness activities, intramural sports and club sports in college;”


Statement One:

Improves my overall emotional well-being


Observations:

Professionals in the recreation and physical education field have always believed that emotional well-being had a direct link to physical activity and participation in recreational activities. But emotional well-being is not something that is easily tied to the benefits of recreational/physical activity by the majority of the population. Because of this, responses to this question were very encouraging. One very interesting area of response was the higher level of importance reported by female respondents, which was 6% higher than the overall response.  Female participation has increased especially in the informal area of the program where facilities and equipment are made available for individual use rather than through structured leagues, tournaments or special events. 

Conclusion:

A strong response indicates that students are becoming more aware of the impact participation in recreational and physical activities has on their emotional health. 


Statement Two:

Improves my overall happiness

Observations:

While this may seem similar to statement one, it was our belief when designing this tool that the two are different to our participants. When questioned, participants indicated that emotional well being, to them, represented more permanent qualities such as stability and mental health while happiness was more indicative of an “in the moment” feeling of pleasure or accomplishment. One respondent put it best when they said “happiness is the joy I had while I was doing something, emotional well-being is the feeling of lying in bed at night having had a good day.” It is the belief of the Department of Intramural and Recreational Sports that emotional well-being and happiness both are significant indicators of retention as they provide an indication of a person’s overall level of satisfaction.

To see such high levels of perceived benefit to this question is very confirming to people in our profession as it shows a level of understanding of the intended benefits of  participation in related programs. 

Conclusion:
Participants in our program are very adamant about their increased level of overall happiness, which has to have positive effects on their retention at the UofL.


 Statement Three:

Helps me feel like I’m part of the UofL community

Observations:

There has been a tremendous effort on our campus to increase the feeling and awareness of being part of a “community.” These efforts have revolved around the positive qualities of communities such as respect, diversity, understanding, acceptance and inclusion. To see such a strong, positive response to this statement has to be considered strong evidence that students are starting to recognize the more altruistic qualities of involvement with recreational sports.  It is significant to note that females and African-American students have a slightly higher level of recognition of community development than the group as a whole. Recreation professionals have long promoted the ideals of community through participation. It is very gratifying to see participants recognize the qualities other than fitness, competition and participation that are developed through involvement in recreational sports. 

Conclusion:

Participation in recreational sports plays a significant role in developing the positive qualities of a community. Participation in recreational sports helps develop such personal qualities as respect and acceptance for and of others.


Statement Four:

Improves my leadership abilities

Observations:

Responses to this statement are a little miss-leading. We know participation in recreational sports provides opportunities for leadership development. Most of those revolve around the administration and organization of teams, clubs or organizations. This tool was completed by many people who were participants in the informal recreation program and not through a team or organization. Because of that, responses to this particular statement are lower than they would be had the tool been more specifically distributed. A more accurate tool would have been distributed to people at managers meetings and club sports. Still, to have more than half the total respondents indicate that their leadership abilities were improved through participation in recreational sports is very significant. Female responses were a little lower than the overall which is indicative of a higher level of informal participation rather than team/organization participation. Lower team/organization participation and increased individual involvement for females is a national trend.
Conclusion:

Even though the overall responses were lower than other statements, they still reflect a significant area of personal skill improvement through participation in recreational sports.


Statement Five:

Improves my ability to get along with diverse groups

Observations:

The results of this statement are both surprising and difficult to explain. All of our recreational sports program areas have much higher participation by minorities than their corresponding percentage of the UofL community. It is impossible to participate in any area of the overall recreational sports program without being in a very diverse setting. To have less than 50% of respondents indicate that participation improves their ability to get along with diverse groups opens the door to a couple of questions. One question being a very tough one to respond to. “Given that all activities are diverse in nature, how can you participate in them and not have your ability to get along with diverse groups improved?” The other would be are we just not doing a very good job of promoting this particular quality so people fail to recognize their development in it. Improved skills in dealing with diverse groups is a quality of sports in general that has been well documented for many years. Coupled with an extensive effort to promote that particular quality by our department over the past two years, it is hard to put much credibility in the second question.

Conclusion:

Responses to this particular question are so unexpected and un-explainable that it would be prudent to include something dealing with the same area in other assessment tools to compare results. 


Statement Six:

Is an important part of my learning experience at college

Observations:

Results of this statement are mixed. On one hand, yes it would have been great to have seen a much higher response. It is one of our contentions that along with having a positive impact on retention, that participation in recreational sports also improves learning skills both through physical development and personal skills that translate into improved academic success. This contention is supported by earlier assessment projects of our department that showed a direct correlation between the number of times per week a student participated in recreational sports and their overall grade point average. The grade point average increased when the levels of participations per week increased. This supports an observation that the awareness and feeling of importance of some things increases over time and after a separation from that item. For example, many people do not recognize the benefits they received from an instructor that was unpopular at the time, until they have graduated and look back on the experience. Many qualities have that “reflective” nature to them and there are many factors that would lead someone to think that this is one of those.

Conclusion:

Given the esoteric nature of this quality, the overall responses actually are encouraging and may be a little higher than realistically expected.  


Statement Seven:

Is an important part of my social life at college

Observations:

Responses to this statement are lower than expected. Improved socialization is one of the main principles that our profession is founded on. It has been one of the more important benefits our profession has promoted for many years. Long before assessment and marketing became important components of recreational sports, improved socialization was a common thread, talked about and promoted among departments all over the nation. Possible explanations for the results on this tool are twofold. One is that maybe our high number of commuter students makes this a difficult question to answer because many of our students social life takes place somewhere other than our campus or through our events. Second, perhaps the term “important” in the statement made it difficult for some people to answer. Maybe the statement would have gotten a more expected response if it read something like “is an important supplement to my social life at college” or “improves my social life at college.” 

Conclusion:

Even though the response is lower than expected, almost 60% of all respondents had strong opinions on this statement. It is important to remember that only the top two possible responses to the statements are included in the totals on this report so those that are included in it are significant.  


Statement Eight:

Helps build character

Observations:

Character and sports. Very few tandems of two words are used together more than those. All our lives we grow up hearing “sports builds character.” Most people, if able to go back to their first organized sports experience, can remember hearing a coach talk about “character” or “doing things the right way” or “being part of a team teaches you important things.” When budget constraints first started impacting high schools across the nation you heard all sorts of coaches and administrators talking about the value of sports, trying to justify their existence, and the term “character” was always included in those conversations. Given that history of the relationship between sports and character in the United States, it is surprising to see a response of less than 60% across the board on this statement. Again, given that there were almost 400 respondents to this survey and a majority of them answered with one of the top two possible answers, the overall response to this statement is still fairly strong. Still, it would have been very easy to expect them to have been significantly higher. One explanation for the response may be the age of everyone who completed the tool. Many of them may have felt that character is something that is shaped by parents, coaches, role models, teachers etc. from a very young age and that it is a quality that is probably completed by the time you are in college. By that age, your personal values and morals that tend to be thought of in the same frame of thought as character have been established. If this is true, it would have been difficult to answer the question with a strong response to many people. 

Conclusion:

Sports and character go hand in hand with each other in the development of a participant’s character. Because it develops at a young age for many people, and many people may feel like their character doesn’t need further developing, it probably gets lower responses than warranted.  

Statement Nine:

Teaches me important team building skills

Observations:

Team building, in this context, refers more to qualities of personal relations, improved cooperation, and collaboration on an individual or small group basis and is closely aligned to terms like community and campus. It does not refer to the process of organizing teams for leagues or tournaments, although doing so definitely aids in the overall team building process. Honestly, the overall response rate of over 70% is a little higher than would have been predicted for this statement and represents an encouraging trend of recognition of these qualities by a large number of participants. This particular quality is one that we hope is fostered by participation in our various program areas, but one that is often not understood or realized until later by many participants. Team building skills are important skills that are transferable to any chosen career or professional avocation. Many corporations now include personality screenings and tests as part of their interview process. Developing team building skills through recreational sports is an enhancement of the overall academic preparation of our students for their respective professions. We have long held to the belief that participation in recreational sports nationwide promoted this benefit. It is both surprising and encouraging to see such a high level of recognition of that by current participants. 

Conclusion:

Team building is an important personal skill. Regardless of career choice, a high level of this skill is a contributor to success.  

Statement ten:

Reduces my stress and helps me handle my workload.


Observations:

The response level for this statement is surprisingly low given the abundance of medical research that has shown that physical activity is one of the most beneficial things a person can do to combat the effects of stress. That fact is also a fairly commonly known entity in the general population of the United States. Why it has such a low recognition level here is somewhat of a mystery. Perhaps, stress is something college age students equate more to something that happens later in their life with the addition of a career, family, mortgage etc. and not something that even requires attention at this point in time. If that were true, response to the statement would be low as it would not be something viewed as important at this stage of life. Even this though, contradicts assessment results at other universities. At universities that are more residential student based, participation in recreational facilities increases during times commonly associated with stress such as final exams. This increase has always been viewed as a result of stress relief at those universities and the profession. 

Conclusion:

Although it is a medically supported fact that exercise reduces levels of stress, for some reason, students do not recognize it as a significant benefit at this point of their lives.  


Statement eleven:

Helps me manage my time

Observations:

The response levels to this statement were somewhat surprising as well, only to the positive side. To have over 80% say that participation in recreational sports helps them improve their time management skills is very significant. It is also worth noting that female and African-American responses were higher than overall responses. Time management skills transfer directly to academic success and are a vital enhancement to that success. This high response rate can be traced to several areas of the overall program. People who participate in the informal part of the program tend to be seen in the facilities at the same time every day. They have obviously planned to have a workout at a specified time each day and have included that in their time management for their schedule. Participants in the structured intramural phase of the program have to organize groups for practice times and game times, requiring them to allot time for other activities throughout the day/week. Members of our various sport clubs have the same practice organization to complete but also have other things such as travel plans and developing a competitive schedule for their group to accomplish. Participants in the fitness and wellness phase of the program have specific class times to schedule around and some that are in self-directed programs such as the Mile Club, are participants also in the informal program. 

Conclusion:

Time management is an important tool that relates directly to academic success. Participation in any area of the overall recreational sports program involves practicing time management skills.


Statement twelve:

Improves my self confidence

Observations:

Self confidence is a quality that has obvious transfer skills to all areas of life. Certainly academic success is included in those. Overall, a little over 60% of respondents to this tool indicated that they derived significant improvements to their self confidence through participation in recreational sports. This is good enough of a result for professionals in our field to be encouraged about the response but when you consider the general attitude of many college students it becomes even more so. Traditionally aged college students are at a point in their life where confidence is not a big factor. They are engaged in learning and preparation for a career and generally are at a very exciting time of their lives. They tend to be optimistic and eager for the future. Confidence is not an issue to many of them so their response on a statement like this needs to be tempered into the results of the tool. There is medical research that supports improved self confidence being related to improved physical condition and no doubt that has some impact into the positive responses to this statement. 

Conclusion:

It is our opinion that many traditionally aged college students do not perceive a need for improving their self confidence and that is reflected in the results of this tool.  


Statement thirteen:

Improves my respect for others

Observations:

There has been an intensive focus on developing qualities such as respect, especially those that contribute to the building and improvement of community, within Campus Life. To see such a strong, positive response to this statement is very encouraging to our department. It is also interesting to note that African-American respondents had a higher level of response than the overall group. Our overall program encourages respect through a number of ways. For the past three years we have made a significant, intentional outcome effort to improve the level of sportsmanship in our structured program. This has been done by covering topics such as respect at all meetings, by having officials read a sportsmanship/respect statement to all team members prior to every ball game of any kind and by enforcing sportsmanship rules during play. This has improved the overall atmosphere at the structured games and thus has improved the level of respect among competitors at them. The informal program encourages respect and courtesy through many situations that come up on a daily basis. Whenever two people are waiting for the same piece of exercise equipment to open up, they work out who is next between themselves and most often “work in” together. People generate a respect for each other in our instructional classes, most notably in the wellness area, through sharing a common experience. Our club program promotes respect through the dependency it places on its members to plan, promote, organize, fund and participate in their own activity. This often involves travel and competition against other clubs, which only further promotes the values of respect. 

Conclusion:

The sharing of common experiences is a powerful tool in the development of respect and is present in virtually every area of our overall program.

Statement fourteen:

Provides a sense of adventure or the ability to try new activities

Observations:

“Try something new.” That is one of the staples that we try to promote within every area of overall program. The acquisition of “lifetime sport skill” is an important objective to recreational sports departments nationwide. Lifetime sport skills are sports that can be played to an old age that continue to promote health and activity. In our program these are reflected in activities such as racquetball and cardiovascular training, martial art club programs, wellness activities and more. Very few people have ever played racquetball when they arrive on campus yet we average thousands of hours of use on our courts every year. Leagues and tournaments are divided into skill levels so everyone can find a place that they can comfortably participate. Most people have not lifted weights or done cardiovascular training before doing so in one of our centers. Our all campus points system in the structured phase of the program is devised to force participants to try new things by including events such as horseshoes, canoe racing, badminton and many more into its’ annual schedule. Given the extensive effort at promoting participants to try new activities, it is a little surprising to review the relatively low rates of responses to this statement. There are two primary reasons that may explain the response rates. First, many of the respondents may be from the informal part of the program where they come to one of our facilities to engage in the same activity over and over. The perfect example of this is the many weight lifters we have as regular patrons. They come to lift weights and that is it. There must be some of this present in every program area. Second, maybe the wording of the statement had something to do with the low response rate. The word “adventure” carries a connotation of outdoor activities such as white water rafting, rock climbing, rappelling etc. to many people. It is possible that many respondents to the tool took the word “adventure” to this meaning and thus answered with a lower response than they normally would have.    

Conclusion:

The intentional effort to have people try new activities is a positive and should be continued. The acquisition of new “lifetime sport skills” is an important part of the collegiate experience. 

Statement fifteen:

Improves my sense of physical well being

Observations:

Of all the statements, this one generated the most surprising responses. It is hard to rationalize the mid 60s across the board results. Even though our main goals are in areas such as recruitment, retention, building community, establishing respect, all of our program areas include physical activities and the thought that improved physical wellness would be a benefit is an easy one to process. We have hundreds of thousands of hours logged in our weight rooms every year on top of hundreds of thousands of hours of participation in activities like basketball, flag football, aerobics, martial arts and many many more. 

Conclusion:

The responses to this statement are surprising low and provide no immediately seen reason for them.


Statement sixteen:

Availability of recreational sports was important in my decision to attend the UofL

Observations:

The low levels of responses generated by this statement were completely expected. Very few high schools have any semblance of an intramural program, much less a comprehensive recreational sports program. Most incoming students have no knowledge or level of expectation regarding a program like ours. Given that knowledge of recreational sports programs on college campuses is so sparse at the high school level, a low response rate on this particular statement was not only expected, a higher one would have been very surprising. 

Conclusion:

A lack of recreational sports on high school campuses lowers the level of knowledge and expectations about collegiate programs. 


Statement seventeen:

Availability of recreational sports has become important to me in my decision to remain at the UofL

Observations:

This statement was an intentional follow up to the previous one and was designed to find out what type of impact recreational sports programs may have on retention of currently enrolled students. The across the board responses were very strong. The lowest response rate came from female respondents who were still very high at over 88%. African-Americans had the highest response rate at almost 93%. There has been much research and discussion on the value of being involved in something outside the academic class and the impact that has not only on retention but on academic success. The responses to this statement show that recreational sports are one of the most popular and powerful opportunities for students to achieve that important “connection” and “feeling of ownership” that is strived for by all areas of student development. Again, these numbers are even more impressive when you remember that only the top two responses to the statements were totaled into the result tables. Administrators are seeing the value of these programs as is reflected by the commitment to building state of the art recreational sports centers on respective campuses. In Kentucky, every state school, with the exception of Morehead State, has either completed a new student activity center or is in the planning/construction process of doing so. At the University of Louisville last academic year over 17,000 different people used recreational sports facilities. This shows the broad range of appeal recreational sports facilities have and what a significant percentage of a university community they can impact in a positive manner. 

Conclusion:

Recreational sports play a dynamic role in the retention of current students.

Question eighteen:

How important will participation in recreational sports continue to be after graduation?


Observations:

The low level of responses to this question seems to be rooted in the wording of the question. Many students start to equate the term “recreational sports” to the programs specifically at the university. The question would have probably received a much higher response if it had been phrased something like “how important will participation in sports and physical activities continue to be after graduation?”  The goal of the question was to investigate and corroborate a belief that people will continue to participate in activities that they have learned through participation in recreational sports programs while in college, showing the value of acquired lifetime sport skills. It appears that the term “recreational” made many respondents think we were referring to participation through alumni status since it indirectly referred to collegiate participation. This is further evidenced if you compare responses with other statements that would align closely with the values of this one such as team building skills, ability to try new activities and improving leadership abilities. 

Conclusion:

The wording of this question artificially lowered the response level. 


Final Observations:

Participation in recreational sports programming is a vital contributor to personal qualities such as emotional well being, happiness, organization, self confidence and respect. Those qualities are critical in the process of developing other contributors to a successful collegiate experience such as community building, leadership and team building skills. 

Recreational sports has a very significant and positive impact on the retention of current students at the University of Louisville and nationwide. Students here are very cognizant of that as evidenced by the extremely high response rate on the question pertaining to retention and the importance of recreational sports.

Recreational sports plays an important role in improving the level of community, ownership, retention and overall feeling of happiness/belonging of female and African-American students as their response rates were generally higher than the overall average response to most statements/questions on the tool. 


