Team Sports and Chess

I was wondering if anyone has looked at any links between team sports (such as hockey, soccer, football, etc) and chess. I was playing the other day, and got to thinking that a lot of the principles and themes are quite similar - mobility, positioning, coverage, spatial awareness, coordination, etc. I play defense or center so I tend to see the game in those aspects.

I know that there are some atheletes (Lennox Lewis, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, for example) that are said to be quite decent with chess, but I'm curious if those that are involved in those types of sports, playing or coaching, are (or would potentially be) strong chess players due to some of these shared themes?   

all i know is i pole vault and play chess so i dont see a conection

of course there so similar that I got bak into chess after a year away playing soccer cause I noticed the similar principles and I think a athlete could reach 2000 or 2100 at best without dedication to the game cause of those similarities