One reason to offer sports in school is to teach youth the values, skills, and habits that will make them more active, engaged, and responsible citizens. Past evidence on the civic effects of sports is mixed, but points to some potential positive civic effects. This fact sheet uses recent data from the 2002 National Youth Survey of Civic Engagement to identify some important positive relationships. Generally, the researchers found that on some dimensions of civic engagement, such as voting, volunteering, and news attentiveness, youth who are involved in sports report higher average levels of civic engagement than their counterparts who do not participate in sports. Researchers found that young people aged 18 to 25 who were involved in sports during high school were more likely than non-sports participants to have: volunteered in the community (32 percent vs. 21 percent); registered to vote (58 percent vs. 40 percent); voted (44 percent vs. 33 percent in 2000); and followed the news closely (41 percent vs. 26 percent). Results suggest but do not prove that sports has positive civic effects for many young people. (Contains 2 tables, 11 graphs, and 5 endnotes.) [This fact sheet was produced by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE).]