Education Enlightenment
Everyone knows that sports are good for both your physical and mental health, but not everyone has the money or resources to do club sports. This makes school sports a great option for students. Today on Education Enlightenment we will be discussing how school sports benefit students.
Participation in sports have multiple benefits such as self-confidence, self esteem, better health, leadership skills, teamwork, discipline and more (Winters). These skills/benefits are very valuable for school and life. School sports also tend generate students with higher attendance, graduation, and assessment scores (Krings). The reason for this is; students have to maintain a certain grade in all their classes to continue to participate in school sports making sports a good incentive to do well in school. Sports also require good physical health so being involved in sports lowers the chance of trying or getting addicted to substances especially at a young age (Hanson). In fact high school athletes are 92% less likely to get involved with drugs and 80% less likely to get pregnant (Hanson).
School sports also help with people's personal lives and mental health. In school sports especially, sports help kids create new friendships that normally wouldn’t form. It also helps create positive role models for kids from adult coaches. These safe adult role models can help with difficult life situations (ABC). Sports also reduce stress by releasing endorphins when you work out which make you feel less pain and happier (WebMD).
With all of these benefits added up, it's not hard to see why school sports are so encouraged. They improve students immensely and create future career paths.
Sources
Winters, Ted. “10 Benefits of Sports for Students.” Interactive Health Technologies — Heart Rate Wellness Solutions for Schools, Publisher NameThe Sports DailyPublisher Logo, 17 Sept. 2020, ihtusa.com/10-benefits-of-sports-for-students/.
Krings, Mike. “Study Shows High School Athletes Perform Better in School, Persist to Graduation More than Non-Athletes.” The University of Kansas, 30 Jan. 2014, news.ku.edu/2014/01/15/study-shows-high-school-athletes-performed-better-school-persisted-graduation-more-non.
Hanson, Bo. “Importance of Youth Sports Statistics.” Athlete Assessments, www.athleteassessments.com/importance-of-youth-sports-statistics/.
“How High School Sports Impact Graduation Rates.” ABC Cincy, 13 June 2019, abccincy.org/how-high-school-sports-impact-graduation-rates/.
“How Sports Can Help Reduce Stress and Ease Depression.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/mental-health/benefits-of-sports-for-mental-health.
