SPORTS andETHNICITY

Emma BromleyErdit Celo

Katherine FletcherHenry GuardadoLizzy 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:

EuropeansSoccer

North Americans

African AmericansFootball

Hispanics

North Americans Baseball

African AmericansBasketball

North Americans

EuropeansHockey

Actual Leaders? Predicted LeadersSport

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%

Not Surveyed

94%

Approximate Percentage of High

School Boys Surveyed

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 IHOCKEY

Introduction

• Hockey is Canada’s 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

North American52%

European46%

African American2%

Who scored more points?

• They both have nearly the same mean number of points.

Who scored the majority of goals?

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

Goals %

Europeans 717 48.54North Americans 760 51.46Total 1477 100.00

Who is more consistent?

-1.00 to 1.00 Standard Deviation Hat Plot

Standard Deviation

Europeans 13.09

North Americans 8.58

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 IIBASKETBALL

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

African American88%

Oriental2%European

8%

North American2%

Percentage of Top NBA Players, by Ethnicity

Complete Domination• African Americans top the list in

all of these categories:

BlocksTurnoversRebounds

StealsAssistsScoring

Category

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.

0

1

2

AfricanAmerican

European NorthAmerican

Oriental MiddleEastern

Other

Number or Boys Who Played Basketball in

Each Ethnic Group

• There were students of every ethnicity who enjoyed basketball.

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 IIIBASEBALL

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

Hispanic25%

North American73%

Oriental2%

Pitching – Who is Better?

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

Average Wins Average ERA

Hispanics 15 3.9

North Americans 15 3.6

StdDev Wins StdDev ERA

Hispanics 1.69 0.94

North Americans 2.75 0.55

Percentage of Top MLB Hitters, by Ethnicity

Percentage of Top MLB Hitters by Ethnicity

Hispanic33%

North American67%

Who is Better at What Position?

• Hispanics excel at outfield positions requiring speed.

• North Americans excel at infield positions.

Percentage of Players of a Certain Ethnicity by Position

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 IVFOOTBALL

Introduction

• Football is arguably North America’s 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

African American 54%

North American 43%

European 3%

Who Does What Best?

• 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.

Number of Players of Each Ethnicity by Position

Ethnicity Passing Rushing Tackles Sacks Kickers and Punters

North American 10 0 1 4 17European 0 0 0 0 2

African American 0 10 9 6 1

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 VSOCCER

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

African American

10%

European5%

North American40%

Hispanic45%

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 VIOUR 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.

43%

10%10%

6%

13%

8%10%

North American

Oriental

African American

Hispanic

European

Middle Eastern

Other

Percentage of Boys of Each Ethnicity in our Survey

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

Europeans

African AmericansSoccer

North Americans

African AmericansFootball

HispanicsBaseball

African AmericansBasketball

North Americans

EuropeansHockey

Actual Leaders? Predicted LeadersSport

Thank You for Your Time!