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What Are The Benefits Of High School Sports

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Today’s Student-Athletes: The Numerous Benefits of High School and Collegiate Athletics What is a better predictor of success, varsity letters or straight A’s? Maybe being captain of your high school football team will really help you become a more successful person in life. High school and collegiate athletes are more successful off the field, in places such as the classroom, workplace, as well as down the road in the “game of life”. Today’s professional athletes are put under tremendous pressure, and their actions are magnified to a large scale, both on or off the field. People should realize that the professional athletes they idolize and look up to are not much different from them. They put their pants on the same way everyone else does. …show more content…

Looking back to the early idols of America’s pastime, make a comparison to today’s superstars of baseball. Two examples of early baseball players that exemplify great role models are Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. These two names are among the most well known in baseball. Babe Ruth was born into poverty in the 1890’s but grew up to be one of the most famous, talented, and well known athletes of all time. Back in his time baseball was not televised and he was considered to be a great role model because his actions were not under the scrutiny that today’s athletes are subject to. Lou Gehrig is different from athletes of today because he possessed integrity, humility, and class. He was considered a great teammate and when speaking about his teammates he spoke of how much they meant to him rather than his personal accolades. Gehrig was selfless, unlike some of today’s athletes who are more concerned with the paycheck coming in every month. He took a pay cut when his batting average dropped. He did not complain about it, but rather worked harder to bring it back up. Along with the cuts, he also played through broken fingers, sprained ankles, and contusions. He did not want to be away from what he loved by missing any games. Lou Gehrig lived his life to the fullest, not showing any signs of weakness, trying to …show more content…

“Leadership lessons and social skills you learn from playing team sports can help you become a better worker.” according to Richard Chole, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the American Board of Otolaryngology. Professional athletes know what it’s like to work under pressure. There are enormous stakes, lots of people are watching. The investment in time, talent, money, and reputation is ever-present. They have to check anxieties and injuries at the door to stay calm, cool, and collected. If one player loses his or her composure, the efforts of the rest are squandered. Nothing’s more valued in today’s stressful business climate than a level head. “Athletes learn time-management skills by necessity,” says Gillespie. “Athletes can spend their time in four ways: sport, study, socialize and sleep. And it's only physically possible to do three of those things, unless you were born on Krypton. They've been forced to learn teamwork under great pressure, which is more beneficial to the students than even some other organizations such as drama or debate team. Athletes can take orders and do not argue when told what to do.” Gillespie says many of his favorite students are athletes for this reason alone. “They're not shy, and they're not shy about telling other people what to do, I don't know if I would call that leadership," Gillespie says. "But it's very difficult to get students to constructively criticize others. But it's

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