When people think about high school athletics, their immediate response is likely to be team sports. Everyone has probably seen the show Friday Night Lights and its ongoing saga of a high school football team. There are players, cheerleaders, fans, and parents all coming out to play or cheer on the local squad. While this is an excellent profile of a certain aspect of school athletics, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Sports and athletics are about more than just team sports, like volleyball, basketball, or soccer. Athletics should be a part of every young student’s life. This is why at Dade Prep Academy, we will be hosting an event this month with Yoga4Change. This will give each student an opportunity to see that athletics is more than playing a competitive sport. It is also about staying in shape and having a positive outlook on life. Here are some reasons why you should consider encouraging your student to participate in sports and athletics, whether a team sport like soccer, an individual sport like swimming and tennis, or just doing yoga or jogging to stay in shape.
1. Sports teach teamwork and problem-solving
Working together with other people is a very valuable skill set. When your child enters the workforce, he or she will most likely work with other people. Learning how to work with people who may not be your friends is important. There is an old saying that you can pick your friends, but you don’t pick your relatives or your coworkers. This is certainly true unless you are lucky enough to own the business. Playing a team sport gives your student the chance to work in a group environment. This teaches them how to handle group dynamics, pressures, and other personality types in a safe environment. In fact, it is probably better to learn these skills in high school instead of waiting until they start a job where problems can negatively affect their careers.
Sports and athletics are also about problem-solving. This is obvious in team sports where you have to assess the other team’s strategy and tactics in order to win the game. But the same thing can happen in individual sports like tennis where you have to figure out how to beat the other player, or in running when you have to decide how best to pace yourself. Even personal athletics involves problem-solving, as you need to set goals in order to stay in shape.
2. Sports helps you stay in shape
This might be the most obvious benefit. Doing athletic activities helps you maintain a healthy weight. It also can build muscle mass and stamina, depending on the activity. This can also contribute to leading a healthy lifestyle. As we age, it becomes harder to keep pounds off and stay in shape, so this is a vital to everyone. Participating in athletics at a young age and making it a regular part of your life will help you later on in life.
3. Athletics improves academic performance
You might think the opposite, that time spent on sports takes time away from studying. But actually isn’t true. Students who do athletics improve their attention spans, organize their time better, and improve their academic performance.
When a student becomes serious about athletics, they have to do a better job organizing their day. This means providing time for classes and schoolwork, as well as working out and sports practice. As a result, the day becomes much more organized. This requires the student to become more serious about their studies, so less time is spent goofing off.
4. Sports helps students reduce pressure and stress
If your kids are like most teenagers, then they are probably a bundle of energy. Most students can’t sit still for long and need to burn off all the stress. Sports and athletics give your kids a great outlet for all of that pressure they are under. Whether they are playing soccer, lifting weights, or running, all of that activity helps them work out their problems, while staying in shape.
5. Sports boost self esteem
Many students suffer from anxiety of how they fit in. They aren’t little children anymore, but they aren’t adults either. This makes it hard for them to feel good about themselves. When you add in teenage peer pressure, you’ve got a surefire recipe for self esteem problems. When a child begins to excel at a team sport, he or she may begin to feel better about themselves. Also, when they regularly workout, their body releases endorphins that make them feel good. Plus, as they get in better shape, they are better able to overcome the self doubts that plague so many of them. This will help them have the courage to reject the peer pressure that can lead them astray in their lives.
6. Sports and athletics look great on a resume
One final reason to do athletics is that colleges and employers love to hire people who have played sports. This shows the school and business that they are probably dealing with a team player and a problem saver. These are the kind of skill sets that universities want in their students and companies look for in their employees.
At Dade Prep Academy, we promote scholastic athletics
Our team at Dade Prep Academy is always looking for ways to keep your students engaged, and sports is a major way to accomplish this. There are few things than we enjoy seeing more than your child participating sports and succeeding in life. Doing athletics is a great way to accomplish this. Whether they want to join a team or simply do sports for personal enjoyment, the key is to get them involved so they can achieve each of the six factors outlined above. So, when you send your child to Dade Prep Academy, you will have the peace of mind that we will work with him or her to create building blocks for their future. This is all part of our objective to promote the academic future of your child in a healthy environment.
