Interscholastic Sports

Children who participate in sports are less likely to be overweight or obese, have higher self-esteem on average, and are generally more invested in their academics. Sports are oftentimes seen as a gateway to academic opportunity, particularly for kids with fewer resources. While this logic is inherently problematic, it is true that high schoolers who were involved with organized sport were more likely to be enrolled in college later on. Youth sports also give children a place to develop socially by teaching them about teamwork, leadership, and compromise. Team sports in particular can provide children with a sense of belonging to a group, and therefore increase their self-esteem and improve their social competence. There are dozens of reasons why youth sport is important and beneficial to a child’s development, and with millions of participants each year in the United States alone, it doesn’t look like youth sports will be going anywhere anytime

In conclusion, the benefits of sports cannot be denied. There is no doubt that interscholastic athletics in high schools are generally good for student’s mind and health. It is the mental and conceptual area that many use to support the importance of participation in competitive sports, something many can wholeheartedly agree with. It is also the same area that some point to when behavior exhibited by some athletes does not seem to support what is believed they should be learning. As with anything, however, one can only get out of something what one puts in. Athletics also provides social benefits and center on concepts such as cooperation, teamwork, and friendships. All of which can also benefit them in school and the workplace. Physical benefits

The benefits of sports participation have been studied during the last few years. Sports participation has also long been thought to provide a social environment that fosters basic values such as fair play, competiveness, and achievement (Pate, Trost, Levin & Dowda, 2000). Furthermore, Pate et al. (2000) conclude that in the most populous demographic subgroups of United States high school students, sports participation is associated with multiple positive health behaviors. This trend was most striking for white females and white males, among whom sports participation was significantly associated with numerous positive healthy behaviors and almost no negative health behaviors. African American and Hispanic students had fewer associations with positive health behaviors, and even some association with negative behaviors were observed. Sports has been a important key to high schools students get involved on a social environment that can cause very positive healthy behaviors among the youth. Pate et al. (2000) continue to observe that school and community sports programs have the potential to help youth establish lifelong healthy physical activity patterns.

The impact of preserving sports in high schools has been surrounded by much controversy as people suspect that it is the reason behind the poor academic achievement of students. Opponents to high school sports feel that allowing athletics to be a part of schools sidetracks the focus of the student body, which goes completely against the main purpose of schools. Indeed, this assertion is completely true and based upon plentiful evidence. High school sports undoubtedly come at the expense of student academic achievement since they divert the attention of students away from academics and they come with far too many financial costs, both of which incur negative impacts on the academics within a school. The bottomline is that sports are harming the education of students, so a school must make the decision between composing quality sports teams or providing high level academics; both of these choices simply cannot occur simultaneously.

To many educational institutions, it is controversial whether or not sports are beneficial to scholastic success. Offering athletic programs is said to supply students with an enhanced learning experience, as well as adding amusement to a rather dull school year. Therefore, sports should be provided in all schools to reduce stress, improve academic performance, and develop teamwork skills and equal opportunity in school.

In the article “The Case Against High School Sports”, Amanda Ripley provides solid reasons on whether sports have a negative effect on students’ academic progress. Along with solid reasons, Ripley gives the audience live examples to support her claim. Ripley claims that eliminating sports is the best way to improve students’ academic progress because students will have a larger emphasis on intelligence.

Engagement in sports are extremely beneficial to the academic performance of student athletes. A research article written by Francois Trudeau, and Roy J Shepard, studies the correlation between sports participation, and successful education of students. There have been several quasi experiments conducted. These experimental protocols are used when a controlled trial cannot be organized. According to Trudeau and Shepard, there was a quasi experiment conducted in Michigan. Sixth graders were allocated 55 minutes a day of supervised physical activities, for one semester. The same amount of time was given to the fine arts as well as computer sciences. Both groups performed congruently. In California, a similar study was conducted. 27-42 minutes

Sports are embedded in many American schools in a way they are not anywhere else. One element of our educational system consistently surprises them, “Sports are a huge deal in American schools,” says Earl Smith of the New York Times. The positives have always outweighed the negatives in the case against high school sports. As Sato Kai state, “The benefits of sports as part of the education process are abundant and sometimes beyond quantifications,” According to many academic specialists, sports offer formative and life long lessons such as: discipline, responsibility, self confidence, and accountability. These skills can furthermore excel your later life and give you a greater chance of being employed in a high level job. Participation in high school sports helps your later development as an adult and teaches you life long skills that can't be taught elsewhere.

Having extracurriculars available at schools has become a very controversial topic. Many people believe that it is unfair because most activities cost a large quantity of money. Due to this many working-class students have become increasingly disengaged within school clubs and sports teams since the 1990s. But the extra expense has been proven to be helpful and not just and expensive distraction. It has been shown that students who participate in extracurriculars go on to earn higher wages, advance further in their careers and they vote and volunteer more frequently then less involved peers.( Mondale & Patton 2002)

Sports programs have been an integral part of all schools. They support the academics of the school and therefore foster success in life. These programs are educational and help produce productive citizenship. They help students experience and build skills that may help them in their future, like interpersonal and time management skills. Education may kindle the light of knowledge, but sports help to maintain the proper physique. Sports are also an important means of entertainment and a use for energy after long hours of study. Sports increase a student’s performance not only in the classroom but also in their life.

Sports and the general physical activities have been associated with a plethora of benefits. Not so much in correlation with education though. The debate on sports and academic performance relates as to whether sports affect academic performance positively or negatively. Mostly, academics, especially in high school and colleges, require an enormous time commitment. In the same way, sports demand time commitment. Apparently, academics and sports run linearly and either would consume the time of the other. Such would be the argument put forth by the claimants of the negative effects of sports on academic performance. The opponents to the positive correlation of sports and academic performance ground their arguments largely on the time commitment that the two require claiming that sports would consume a student’s time for study hence affecting their academic performance. Proponents of a positive correlation between sports and academic performance summon an extensive range of evidence showing that students who participate in sports perform well in academics. The proponents’ arguments are fetched from the proven benefits of exercise which improve a student’s overall well-being and motivate their academic performance. Opponents would, however, argue that the studies that find athletes and sports persons good at academics do not show how such correlations occur in that other factors could be the actual causes of the correlation and not sports in themselves. Regardless, opponents to the claim that sports affect academic performance positively cannot deny that sports affect the overall well being of any human being. As such, there is no denying that sports affect academic performance positively where a balance among the two is maintained.

Being in an American school begins a student’s search to find who they are considered in the system. From a nerd to a punk, many academic ties are also involved with this identity. The one group of students who get the most academic ties with his or her extra-curricular activity is the “jock”. As having the title as a jock, a child learns that many people look at someone who plays football or basketball doesn’t have the ability to learn as fast or as well as someone who just studies and doesn’t have extra-curricular activities. Studying this topic is not as stressed as it should be, even when many programs claim to get more physical activity in students. The articles that have been reviewed were testing whether the athlete gets good grades

Many students participate in after school sports and activities in their years of education and learning. The National Federation of State High School Associations stated that “55.5 percent of all high school students play a sport.” (NFSH) Students are challenged with time management and other difficulties with their academics and athletics events they are associated with. Participating in an athletic activity is beneficial for students physically, socially, and psychologically. Having the ability to balance their daily time schedule that includes education and extracurricular activities can or may affect students positively or negatively. There are different perspectives and point of views on how sports can affect a student- athlete’s education and life. Therefore, having to deal with the sport and maintaining a grade point average may become difficult for some. Does participating in sports, affect a student’s academics negatively?

The focus of this literature review is upon the whether the physical activity of a student has any impact on their academic performance. The reason I have chosen this topic is because I aim to be heavily involved within extracurricular sports teams during my career as a teacher, and therefore have an interest within this field.

For the instructors, this study may help them to identify the strong and weaknesses of the extracurricular activities that they perceived. The instructors may also help by this study to know the insights of the students about the extracurricular activities that they perceived. In this way, the instructors will easily identify the things that the student wants in an extracurricular activity so the instructors can find out ways to attract the students to join extracurricular activities without any hesitation.