SPORTS and ETHNICITY

Emma Bromley Erdit Celo Katherine Fletcher Henry Guardado Lizzy Velasquez

Introduction
Sports brings us all together
All over the world people of different ethnicities and backgrounds unite to play sports. Sports are the only thing we can all agree on.

However
sports are not entirely unaffected by ethnic differences

Objective
To find any correlations between athletic excellence in certain sports, and the ethnicity of top players

To determine if sport stereotypes are based in reality, or completely unfounded

Objective

cont.

To see if these trends are reflected in our school.

To discover whether students of different ethnicities participate more in sports, and what sports they choose to play and watch.

Hypothesis
We believe that there will be definite ethnic trends in the world of professional sports. These trends will be reflected in the high school population.

Hypothesis cont.
We believe that African Americans and North Americans will be the most involved in sports.

Current Stereotypes
Based on current stereotypes, here are our predictions:
Sport
Hockey Basketball Baseball Football Soccer

Predicted Leaders
North Americans Europeans African Americans Hispanics North Americans North Americans African Americans Europeans

Actual Leaders?

Possible Bias
Only North American leagues were chosen. American soccer leagues are not the best. In the Our School section, only 50 boys were surveyed.
Surveyed 6%

Approximate Percentage of High School Boys Surveyed

Not Surveyed 94%

Data Collection: Professional Data

There was no data set available comparing ethnicity and athletic achievement. We had to create our own data using information from NHL.com, NBA.com etc.

Data Collection: High School Data

We picked 50 high school boys at random. We asked these questions:
What ethnicity are you? What sport do you enjoy playing the most? Are you involved in any after school sports? If yes, how many hours do you spend a week playing sports? (To the nearest hour) What sport do you enjoy watching the most?

Ethnic Breakdown

Chapter I

HOCKEY

Introduction
Hockey is Canadas favorite sport, but it is also very popular in Europe. The top players in the NHL are either European or North American.

Only one exception: Jerome Iginla.

Percentage of Top NHL Players, by Ethnicity

Percentage of Top NHL Players by Ethnicity

African American 2%

European 46%

North American 52%

Who scored more points?

They both have nearly the same mean number of points.

Who scored the majority of goals?

Goals
Europeans North Americans Total

% 48.54 51.46 100.00

717 760 1477

Goals in the NHL are split nearly 50/50 between Europeans and North Americans.

Who is more consistent?

Standard Deviation

Europeans North Americans

13.09 8.58

-1.00 to 1.00 Standard Deviation Hat Plot

Conclusion
North Americans and Europeans dominate the sport of hockey.
North Americans are more consistent. However, the top SEVEN of the top TEN players are European.

Chapter II

BASKETBALL

Introduction
It does not take complicated graphs to show that professional basketball is dominated by African Americans. In any given NBA game, about 88% of the players will by African American.

Percentage of Top NBA Players, by Ethnicity

Percentage of Top NBA Players by Ethnicity
Oriental North American 2% 2%

European 8%

African American 88%

Complete Domination
African Americans top the list in all of these categories:
Category Scoring Assists Steals Rebounds Turnovers Blocks

But Wait
Basketball is also very popular in Europe.

The American team is often challenged in the World Championships and the Olympics.
The NBA MVP for 2006 and 2007 was a North American.

Is It the Same in Our School?

No. African American students in our school played a variety of sports. There were students of every ethnicity who enjoyed basketball.
Number or Boys Who Played Basketball in Each Ethnic Group
2

0 African European North Oriental American American Middle Eastern Other

Conclusion
Professional basketball is dominated by African Americans.
But! This trend is not reflected in our high school. This could point to a reversal of the trend in future years.

Chapter III

BASEBALL

Introduction
Our analysis of baseball is divided into two main sections: pitching and hitting/fielding.

Even though baseball is popular all over the world, the top players were almost all North American or Hispanic.

Percentage of Top MLB Pitchers, by Ethnicity

Percentage of Top Pitchers in the MLB by Ethnicity

Oriental 2%

Hispanic 25%

North American 73%

Pitching Who is Better?

Average Wins Hispanics 15 Average ERA 3.9

North Americans

15

3.6

StdDev Wins Hispanics 1.69

StdDev ERA 0.94

North Americans

2.75

0.55

Even though there are more North American pitchers, the stats of both ethnicities are almost identical.

Percentage of Top MLB Hitters, by Ethnicity

Percentage of Top MLB Hitters by Ethnicity

Hispanic 33%

North American 67%

Who is Better at What Position?

Percentage of Players of a Certain Ethnicity by Position

Hispanics excel at outfield positions requiring speed. North Americans excel at infield positions.

Conclusion
There is more North American pitchers, but their stats are almost identical to Hispanics. North Americans excel at infield positions requiring precision. Hispanics excel at outfield positions requiring speed and endurance.

Chapter IV

FOOTBALL

Introduction
Football is arguably North Americas most favored sport. Football has many positions. We took the top 10 players in the categories of:
Passing Rushing Receiving Tackling Sacking Kicking Punting

Percentage of Top NFL Players, by Ethnicity

Percentage of Top NFL players by Ethnicity

European 3% North American 43%

African American 54%

Who Does What Best?

Number of Players of Each Ethnicity by Position
Ethnicity North American European African American Passing Rushing
0

Tackles
1

Sacks

Kickers and Punters

10
0

4
0

17 2
1

10

Each category was dominated by one type of ethnicity, some having 100% of only one ethnicity.
The position of Sacks was split. Therefore, we must examine it further.

Kickers/Punters and Quarter Backs

We decided to put kickers and punters together in a group because both positions involve the use of legs and length of kicks. North American dominated both of these categories. It can not be a coincidence that 100% of quarterback are North American.

Rushing and Tackling

Both of these positions require large body size, strength, and speed. African Americans dominated both these categories. Again, it can not be a coincidence that 95% of the players in this category are African American.

Sacks Who is More Consistent

SD Hats of -1 to 1 for Total Number of Sacks, by Ethnicity

There are more African Americans, but they are less consistent and have a lower mean.

Conclusion
African American excel at football positions involving strength and speed.
North American excel at football positions involving precision and technique.

Chapter V

SOCCER

Introduction
Soccer is truly an international sport.

Unfortunately, soccer is not very popular in North America.

As such, very few good players are attracted to the MLS league. This means that our report will not accurately portray this sport.

Percentage of Top MLS Players, by Ethnicity

Percentage of Top MLS Players by Ethnicity

Hispanic 45%

North American 40%

European 5%

African American 10%

So Who is Better?

Hispanics are consistent, but not spectacular (they are not very good or very bad). North Americans are less consistent, but the top players are North American.

Conclusion
There is an almost equal number of Hispanic and North American players in the MLS. The one European is David Beckham, who has been hired more for his ability to sell tickets than to play the game. We can assume that there is a large number or North Americans in the MLS because they are not good enough to play in an European league.

Chapter VI

OUR SCHOOL

Introduction
Our group wanted to find out if there is a correlation between ethnicity and sports and if that correlation can be found in our school. We surveyed 50 boys at random and these are our results.

African Americans ( 5 boys)

We hypothesized that African Americans would play basketball. 2/5 play basketball 1/5 play and watch hockey. 1/5 play and watch football 1/5 play soccer and watch hockey.

Hispanics (3 boys)
We hypothesized that Hispanics would play soccer. 2/3 play and watch soccer.

1/3 play football and watch hockey.

Only one boy participates in after school activities.

Europeans (6 boys)
We hypothesized that Europeans would play soccer. 2/6 play and watch soccer.

2/6 play baseball, one likes to watch hockey the other football.
1/6 play and watch hockey.

North Americans ( 20 boys)

We hypothesized that North Americans would play soccer. 11/20 play hockey. (only 5 like to watch and play ) 4/11 play soccer . (only 1 like to play and watch soccer) 1/11 play baseball and watch hockey. 2/20 play and watch basketball. 2/20 played other sports, one watched hockey and the other soccer.

Oriental (5 boys)
We hypothesized that Orientals would play soccer. 2/5 play and watch soccer. 1/5 play and watch other. 1/5 play basketball and watch football. 1/5 play soccer but watches basketball.

Middle Eastern (4 boys)

We hypothesized that Middle Easterner would play soccer. 2/4 play and watch soccer.

1/4 play and watch basketball.

1/4 play and watch hockey.

Other (5 boys)
1/5 play baseball and watch hockey. 2/5 play and watch basketball. 1/5 to watch other and play soccer. 1/5 play football and watch soccer.
Percentage of Boys of Each Ethnicity in our Survey
10% 8% 43% North Am erican Oriental African Am erican His panic 13% 6% 10% 10% European Middle Eas tern Other

Involvement

Middle Eastern students participated the most. North Americans and African Americans also participated quite a bit. We where happy to find that the majority of students participated in sports.

Conclusion
1. Europeans and North Americans lead the sport of hockey. In general, players of both these ethnicities demonstrate the same level of skill. However, North American layers demonstrate a higher degree of consistency.

2. The sport of basketball is dominated by African Americans. Players of this descent top the leader boards in every aspect of the game.
3. Hispanic and North American players excel at the sport of baseball. They are equally matched in all aspects of baseball: pitching, hitting, and fielding.

Conclusion
4. In professional football, positions requiring strength and stamina were filled by African Americans, while positions requiring precision and technique were excelled at by North Americans. 5. Hispanic and North American players dominate soccer in North America. However, this is not truly representative which ethnicity excels at this sport. 6. Students in our school are not affected by the ethnic trends found in professional sports. Middle Eastern students are the most physically active over all, but boys of all ethnicities participate in sports to some degree.

Conclusion
Sport
Hockey Basketball Baseball Football Soccer

Predicted Leaders
North Americans Europeans African Americans Hispanics North Americans African Americans Europeans African Americans

Actual Leaders?

Thank You for Your Time!