With the country in debt and problems with schools, high school sports teams are beginning to fade away. People need to see that to the students, high school sports are more than just a way to pass the time. I know not only my own experiences from playing on sports teams would not provide enough insight to the importance of sports. To figure out what it means to others, I spoke with three students, who compete in three different sports, about what sports mean to them and have created a list of the five biggest reasons why high school sports are of great importance.
1. Sports Help Build Important Life Skills
In the words of Spring-Ford High School sophomore, Colin Crosbie, “When it comes to high school sports, I think of: competing, friendship, fun, and a lot more. But there is much more to it than just that; I’ve been competing in track for three seasons and it’s really taught me some valuable lessons and paid off both on and off the track.” Sports are one of those things where you gain more than athletic abilities. “They give kids good teamwork skills.” says SF freshman lacrosse player, Abbie DelRomano. When asked one thing gained from playing softball, freshman Abby Files stated, “It’s helped me build my character and time management skills.”
2. Close Friendships are Formed
From personal experience, I can say I have never build such strong friendships with other people in such a short amount of time other than with my sisters on the tennis team. “…It’s [softball] helped me build life-long friendships.” said Files. Sports teams give students with similar interests to connect in a fun and healthy activity. It helps connect the student body, especially in a large school, like SFHS.
3. School Spirit is Raised
Look around the school during sports seasons, and you can finds all of the different teams doing spirit days to show, “Hey look! We love the team we are on and are proud we are one!” Without sports teams, the amount of school spirit would drop drastically. “What would school spirit be like without sports teams? There would be very few reasons to even have school spirit!” said DelRomano on the topic.
4.Motivates Students to Stay Healthy; Physically and Mentally
When talking to Crosbie about the topic of why sports are important to him, he shared with me a very personal and inspiring story. “Coming into my freshman year, I was pretty overweight and unhealthy. I had some friends convince me to try track since I had some speed and looked like a good way to pass the time. After one season of hard work, I put out some good times as a freshman and realized it’s something I really like. On top of that, I ended up dropping over 20 pounds, finally not being overweight.” Seeing how much someone could change their life around really showed how important sports are to students. On the mental health side of things, DelRomano couldn’t have put it in better or simpler words; “Well, they just give the players an outlet for their frustration.”
5. It Gives the Students an Opportunity to What They Love
Let’s be honest here, a good student is usually a happy student. It’s been proven that students that are happier tend to perform better academically. Many students get pleasure out of doing physical activities, and what better place to do that then with a group of other teenagers from the same school?! “I’m doing what I love six to seven days a week…” Files explained. Not only are they getting to play at the moment, but as DelRomano said “They provide the experience needed for ample playing time at the collegiate level.”
Sports are not just a group of students running around on a field or court going after a ball; they are so much more than that. “Without it [sports], I’m not sure where I would be and what I would be; I owe a lot to my coaches and high school for presenting me the opportunity to compete and participate.” If the previous statement, presented by Crosbie, does not sum up the high school sports experience, I don’t know what would.
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