by Geoff Barlow, Director of Athletics, Avon Old Farms School
The inclusion of physical education at academic institutions is nothing new. As early as ancient Greece, Plato taught the importance of physical education as an integral part of balanced development. While it’s unlikely Plato ever envisioned a Friday night football game with two rival high schools playing under the lights, his belief that athletics are a crucial component of a holistic education still holds true. For those aspiring to be professional athletes, the importance of participating in athletics in primary school is clear. But for those who won’t be playing sports beyond the high school or collegiate level, the positive impact of athletics may not be as obvious. However, there are numerous benefits that can be received from any level of physical education.
The Benefits
To start with the most apparent advantage, athletics promote physical health. According to the World Health Organization, regular physical activity provides significant physical and mental health benefits, including the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes; the reduction of symptoms of depression and anxiety; and enhancement of brain health. For children and adolescents specifically, physical activity promotes bone health, encourages healthy growth and development of muscle, and improves motor and cognitive development. Participation at a young age can also lead to the formation of long-lasting healthy habits. A student who joins the high school cross country team may develop a love of running as a hobby that extends far into adult life.
Another positive outcome is the value of teamwork. The ability to work as part of a team is an important life skill. If student-athletes want to see success on the field, they have to quickly realize they cannot achieve it alone. They need to both trust their teammates and be someone their teammates can trust. Teamwork also means identifying and promoting the individual strengths of each athlete. This is a skill that translates to all areas of life. In the same way a center or power forward would allow their point guard to bring the ball up the court, an accountant would allow a project manager to present data to a client, or a medical researcher would rely on a spokesperson to announce their findings. Athletics are an effective medium in teaching this life lesson. Plus, being part of a team is a great way to make friends.
Similarly, athletics can teach students powerful lessons about leadership they might not receive elsewhere. Through sports, student-athletes are exposed to many different kinds of leaders from coaches to captains. Or, conversely, they may be exposed to what bad leadership looks like, which can be a lesson in itself. It’s also true that every athlete on any team has the opportunity to be a leader themselves, regardless of age, experience, or if they are chosen to be a captain. Those who understand you don’t need a title to be a leader will find much more success in achieving individual or team goals throughout their life.
Tenacity, determination and perseverance are traits that can take you far in life. They help you overcome challenges that might otherwise set you back or halt your progress altogether. The best athletes have these traits in excess. It’s shown in the form of relentless practice to improve, even outside of coach-organized, official team practices. A willingness to work harder for a better result in the future is a necessary trait to succeed in sports and remains useful as students navigate their lives.
In sports, and in life, things don’t always go according to plan. Athletics force students to deal with adversity at an early age. Moreover, it presents them the opportunity to overcome this adversity. This might be something simple, like playing through bad weather, or something a bit more extreme, like a student who suffered a season-ending injury working hard to fully recover. The ability to work through adversity is a crucial life lesson relentlessly taught through sports.
Shawn Stanco is the assistant principal at Notre Dame Prep in Fairfield, Connecticut. He is also the head football coach at Watertown High School. He said he’s seen participation in athletics result in a student’s improvement in seemingly unrelated facets of school, including one girl’s transition from a shy and timid student to a confident public speaker.
“That first year she was really quiet, didn’t participate much in class and was afraid to present,” Stanco shared. “Then she did track and field that spring and had to race in front of large crowds. That next year, she was so much more confident and outgoing. I don’t know if she gains that confidence to perform in front of others without sports.”
Stanco adds that being coachable is another positive trait athletes possess. “Kids who do sports are usually better at taking feedback or criticism and trying to improve on it.” In this way—internalizing a coach or teacher’s instruction and putting it into effect later on—athletics truly are an extension of the classroom.
The Results
For many high school upperclassmen and their loved ones, putting together the best college application is at the forefront of their minds. The amount of stress they likely feel is dwarfed only by the number of sources offering advice on what would be best to include in an application. While every college admissions department has their own way of judging applications, there’s a general consensus that including sports participation won’t hurt, as it showcases a diversity of experiences and skills. “Having some type of sports on your resume is going to help you. Sports can make you a well-rounded student,” Stanco said.
On the College Board website, they provide similar advice to applicants, saying, “Colleges seek students who aren’t only academically accomplished but also have a diverse range of interests and a demonstrated dedication to their passions. Being actively involved in [sports] can positively impact your application and highlight your potential contributions to the college community.”
Beyond college, athletics can also play a role in job recruiting. A recent study spearheaded by Harvard Business Professor Paul A. Gompers found that members of college sports teams secure higher-level jobs and better pay after graduation than their non-athlete peers. The results of Gompers’ study indicate that working well with others and learning to lead people from different backgrounds “are skills that may be better honed on the field and court than in the classroom.”
The study closely followed the career trajectories of 401,785 Ivy League graduates from 1970 to 2021. It found that individuals who participated in sports earn some 3.4 percent more during their careers and are more apt to land in C-suite roles than their classmates. Gompers speculates this is due to athletes possessing traits that their counterparts might not—traits previously mentioned like persistence, teamwork, grit, and grace in victory and defeat. He says it also has a lot to do with the networks created amongst teammates or participants of the same sport. “If I were an HR person, and two people were pretty similar, and somebody spent 20 hours a week doing women’s basketball, I’d give them the nod,” Gompers stated. “Because I think that they’re likely to have those other kinds of skills that are just far more difficult to achieve.”
The ability to work well with others, reliability, being coachable, leadership, and a willingness to face challenges head-on to find a solution are all traits refined through athletics that translate well for any career—and many recruiters take notice.
The Alternatives
No two students are the same. For some, sports are the only reason they continue to come to school. For others, a concerted effort is made to avoid any type of physical activity due to fear of judgment or just a general disinterest. Luckily, some of the benefits to be gained from athletics extend to other areas of school life.
To start, there are lower levels of athletic participation available at most schools. Junior varsity or freshman-specific teams are a way to join in on the action at a less intense pace than at the varsity level. There are usually club teams or intramural sports for students who don’t want to take things too seriously.
There are plenty of extracurricular activities that provide similar benefits like robotics, debate, or theater. Through these programs, a student can still gain experience working within a team toward a shared goal, relying on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. These programs often equire just as intense of a commitment as a sports team, meaning these students will learn to deal with stress and adversity. Ultimately, they offer opportunities for student learning outside of the classroom, like sports.
So even if sports aren’t your thing, there are still opportunities to gain the benefits they provide for holistic student development.
The Conclusion
Lifelong lessons can be learned from athletics, and character traits and habits are developed through participation. Sportsmanship, leadership, teamwork, physical and mental health, aspiration, perseverance, confidence, and the drive to improve are just some of the traits students can hone through their participation in athletics. These lessons learned on the field, court, rink, mat, or in the pool help teens understand what it means to contribute to something larger than themselves, and they mature in the process.
When schools pair athletics with a classroom curriculum, they are making great strides toward a real, holistic education that would make Plato proud.
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