This study looks at the relationship between athletic participation among middle grade African American students and academic achievement, particularly athletics, as an instrument through which students gain academic resilience and attachment to academic goals. The data for the analysis were drawn from the base year of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), a nationally representative sample of 24,599 eighth graders. The African-American subsample included 1,105 male and 1,112 female public school students. Multiple regression analyses were used to estimate the net or direct effect of interscholastic and intramural athletic participation on the academic resiliency of African American students as measured by educational aspiration, investments in pro-academic behaviors, and social status among their school peers. The analysis found that sports participation is positively associated with black eighth grade male aspirations to enroll in academic or college preparatory programs in high school, with having definite plans to complete high school and with plans to attend college. This pattern is similar for females, although their educational plans are more strongly influenced by intramural participation than by interscholastic participation. In addition, the data show positive links between athletic participation and several indicators of pro-academic investment behaviors and attitudes. Four tables are included. (Contains 53 references.) (JB)