I don't think most people think about either sports or education that way. Most Americans start college. I'm not sure what they think they're getting out of it and I'm pretty sure their ideas of learning are entangled with credentials, but the ones in community colleges certainly don't think that they're in the top 10% of a tournament. I don't think that they realize that credentials are zero-sum, either.

Maybe 10% or fewer make a really prestigious team in their high school or college, but a lot more than 10% gain the status benefits of being jocks, at least in high school. I think that outside the really popular sports, the number of slots is not fixed, so becoming the marginal jock is not a zero-sum game. Moreover, I think that most athletes can identify general skills (eg, teamwork) that they gain from sports, while most people cannot tell what they're supposed to be getting out of education.