(Not so) Dumb Jock
Springtime is our family’s busiest time of year when it comes to sports and extracurricular activities. You might have noticed many of our recent posts have touched on various aspects of sports and exercise. Today’s post is about how a generalization we’ve all heard, “dumb jock”, may not be so, well…smart!
A recent study out of Sweden looked at how athletes versus non-athletes did on standardized testing of cognitive function. They looked at how elite soccer players, and “regular” soccer players, compared with standardized normals. They found that both groups of players performed significantly better than average on the tests of executive function, and further that the elite players outperformed than the “regular” players. The study went on to show a correlation between players doing well on the cognitive testing, and having an increased likelihood of scoring more goals and assists during a subsequent season!
Hmm, maybe “Sports Nerd” would be a little more accurate…!
To read more about this study, click here: