Redefining Performance

“Sports equity is a new approach to performance that centers empathy,” says Tuakli-Wosornu, who is also an associate professor in the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC) and the lab’s founding director. 

These “invisible metrics” — qualities like trust, inclusion, and mutual respect — are not simply nice to have. Tuakli-Wosornu positions them as core drivers of excellence, influencing how teams function, how individuals thrive under pressure, and how communities experience sports as a whole.

She also emphasizes the unique opportunity that sports provides to shape and guide entire generations. To illustrate, she points to the way children mimic what they see athletes do on the court. “If kids can imitate the half-court jumper [in basketball], why can’t they imitate empathy? Can they imitate team chemistry? Can they imitate an effort to create connections that are real, authentic, purpose-driven, and mission-driven?”

“The feeling that you belong, are in sync with your teammates, or that your coach values you as a human being, not just a human body, can shape experiences and performances.” – Yetsa A. Tuakli-Wosornu, MD, MPH

Tuakli-Wosornu’s research highlights that the socioemotional experiences we encounter in sports — the unifying effect of a team chant or the pride of seeing loved ones in the stands — are just as crucial to performance as traditional metrics. “At the elite level, it’s often the things we feel but can’t see that differentiate outcomes,” she explains. “The feeling that you belong, are in sync with your teammates, or that your coach values you as a human being, not just a human body, can shape experiences and performances.”

Prioritizing the invisible metrics of performance could lead to a more inclusive and effective athletic culture. Reflecting on her own journey, graduate student athlete and Sports Equity Lab member Andrea Kitahata shares, “Sports has given me so much in life. The friendships, the ability to persevere through challenges, the ability to work with other people. And these are all life skills that shouldn’t be denied to people based on socioeconomic status, race, gender, or sexual orientation. It should be something that is accessible to everyone.” 

As the lab develops a strategy to scale, Tuakli-Wosornu believes Stanford, a long-established center of sports leadership and technology innovation, is “the perfect place to develop the tools and technologies to engineer, measure, and then scale something as complex and as human as empathy.” Moreover, she emphasizes that now is the ideal time to explore a new approach to performance grounded in care. “This generation is totally dialed into the essentiality of connection and chemistry. They understand the importance and performance advantage of well-being and belonging as a performance advantage, and that’s the essence of sports equity.”