I can tell that as an educator I saw a clear line between the women I had who participated in sports and the ones who didn't (I can't comment on men because my classes were overwhelmingly female). I see it also in women I've worked with and dated. You absolutely learn how to compete, deal with adversity, work as a team and focus on the task at hand from sports. I can tell you that from my personal experience as well. I also played in the band (I was a symphonic band percussionist and played in different popular music bands outside of school), I was a pretty good student (total out of pocket for undergrad/grad was 12K in five years), I traveled extensively and know multiple languages. They all have their own unique benefits and some shared ones, but I don't think anything better prepared me for society than sports and the things I mentioned there came through in a way that they absolutely did not in any of those other activities.