"individual Sports vs Team Sports: GPA In and Out of Athletic Season" by Stephanie Pope

Anticipated Date of Graduation

Summer 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mathematical Sciences

Department

Mathematics

First Advisor

Douglas Darbro

Abstract

Student-athletes are a unique group of individuals that can always use help succeeding academically. Teachers and coaches want to help their students and student-athletes succeed both on and off the playing field. This study aims to determine when student­athletes need the most academic support-during competition season or during the off season-and what specific student-athletes need that academic support. The GPAs of student-athletes who played either a fall or a spring sport, but not both, were examined to determine if there was a difference in GP A when the student-athletes were in season as compared to out of competition season. The results were further broken down by individual sports compared to team sports and male student-athletes compared to female student-athletes. This study also seeks to predict high school GP A from a number of factors, including gender, race, and sport type, among others. Paired sample t-tests, independent sample t-tests, and multiple regression techniques were utilized to analyze the results. A significant difference was found between in season GP A and out of season GP A, as well as between team sports and individual sports, and between male and female student-athletes. Race was the most influential variable when predicting high school GP A. The results suggest that student-athletes need more academic support during the off season. Male student-athletes and team sport student-athletes could also use more academic support. On this basis, teachers and coaches know what student-athletes need more academic support and when.

Included in

Mathematics Commons

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