While education is the most important part of a student’s life, sports tend to be another. Experts have been constantly arguing about the role of sports in the lives of learning students and today, have concluded that it should definitely be a part of the curriculum in every High School. The reason is that sports develop skills that otherwise, education cannot. These include leadership, teamwork, and developing good routine habits. Perhaps, the most important thing is that a student is supposed to stay both mentally and physically healthy at the end of the day. So let’s take a look as to why and how high school sports can benefit students.
Helps Staying Healthy
The first major benefit of high school sports is that it enables students to engage in physical activities, stimulating the body and its different functions, avoiding unwanted illnesses as a result. The human body needs to burn a certain amount of calories everyday and replenishes hormones and cells as well. With that being said, sports that involve physical work tend to keep the body in motion.
Believe it or not, today’s kids are suffering from diabetes because they tend to keep sitting at home and are mostly busy playing games online. This is one of the major advantages of physical sports. If these kids were asked or forced to engage in physical activities, they wouldn’t have this problem. Several studies have been conducted to observe the relationship between sports and cardiovascular diseases. And experts have found that engagement in physical sports tends to decrease the risk of heart-related diseases. Furthermore, it also strengthens the lungs, builds more stamina, regulates blood pressure, and keeps the sugar level maintained.
Helps Maintain Fitness Level
Although the maintenance of fitness is an obvious benefit of physical sports but we need to explain it in detail as well, since people tend to overlook this factor the most. As mentioned earlier, if students are made to sit on chairs all day and are not encouraged to participate in physical sports, then the same will happen when they go home as well. They will most probably sit and watch TV or play online games.
This increases the formation of fat deposits, leading to harmful diseases. Physical sports in that respect help avoid such formations and enable an individual to stay calm and fit. Another important advantage to consider is that the training helps correct the posture, which is a problem for every student today due to sitting at an incorrect angle while studying. Moreover, they can also achieve better hand and eye coordination to improve balance. Therefore, students should always be taught and informed about the advantages of high school sports so that they choose physical sports over video games and television.
Boost in self-esteem
Every student in high school is different from another. While you will come across many who are interested in physical sports, on the other hand, you will find some who lack confidence. This is because they are mostly overweight and feel ashamed to be called out when they are playing outside. This is where the instructor and classmates jump in. A simple pat on the back from the coach and high-fives at the end of the game with the team members can mean a lot to such people. They will have their self-esteem going up in no time and will feel ever motivated to join any type of physical sports. While they are on their journey to become better, keep motivating them so that they develop a tough mindset.
Enhanced Leadership Skills
Leadership skills are amongst the basic skills every high school student needs to have. Unfortunately, while education might help with teamwork but when it comes to leadership skills, there is nothing better than participating in physical sports. Sometimes, sports may not always require playing in the form of a team but a leader at times as well. A leader is handed the responsibility to lead the team by observing the shortcomings of the opponent’s team and devising spontaneous strategies to achieve success. Even if a decision happens to be wrong, a student should not be put down because there is always room for mistakes. A leader will motivate his team to perform better and help in keeping up the winning spirit as well.
Undergoes Positive Mentoring
Sports is not just about taking your equipment to the field and scoring some goals or runs. Infact, sports players receive a lot of positive mentoring to help them achieve success. Just to give you an example, Roger Federer along with a couple of other prominent personalities like Cristiano Ronaldo has a personal psychiatrist on their side, whose job is to mentally prepare them before each match. Positive mentoring goes a long way in helping a student achieve success in physical sports. Plus, the best thing about positive mentoring is that it is not only limited to physical sports but extends to personal life as well. It helps a student avoid anxiety, depression, and other mental problems upon experiencing ups and downs in life.
Improves Emotional Well-being
The improvement of emotional well-being is another noteworthy benefit of highschool sports. As mentioned earlier, the human body destroys and replaces cells and hormones on a daily basis as a part of its daily routine. These functions are necessary to ensure the normal function of the body. If this is not the case, then an individual is bound to suffer from mental and physical problems. This is particularly helpful and important for individuals with mood swings as well. At the end of the day, it will help them stay emotionally fit and cheerful. Once they see that they are good at it, they will become more motivated to make a career out of it.
Helps Become Social
Participating in physical sports involves playing in different teams and joining different clubs as well. You get to interact with different players who become your friends at the end of the day. Therefore, the interaction just doesn’t end there. Infact, it continues after school life as well when friends get together at weekends for partying or engaging in other fun activities. Mingling and interacting with the coach and teammates enables the students to face everything with a smile. Moreover, it gives them the confidence and courage to face disappointments in life and never backs down when it comes to owning an opportunity.
Enhanced Discipline
Since students in high school tend to be young, discipline is something that is rare to find. At this stage, individuals tend to become easily frustrated, irritated, and angry. They will involve themselves in physical fights, which is not good for their educational career. Physical sports in that respect helps them calm down and develop discipline. Participating in physical sports allows them to think things through and avoid being anxious and nervous, which mostly leads to wrong decisions and actions. Once they become disciplined, you will observe that they will avoid engaging in verbal arguments and respect decisions no matter how much they dislike them. As a result, the students will have a comparatively better view of their goals and potential.
Helps Perform Better In Academics
Sports have been found to help students perform better in academics as well. Infact, studies have shown a positive connection between physical activity and cognitive functions of the brain. What this means is that the students will perform relatively better in academics, if sports are made a part of their routine. Furthermore, a well-disciplined student can also plan out his educational career and professional career as well since he is now calm and has a clear view of what needs to be done to achieve the desired goals and objectives. Skills such as multitasking, coordination, and situational awareness help them enhance their academic skills.
Improved teamwork and cooperation
Teamwork and cooperation go hand in hand when it comes to both personal and professional life. Sports competitions in that respect enable individuals to develop very good communication, cooperation, and teamwork skills. As the individuals practice these skills while playing sports, it helps a lot while completing group projects in academics and future career. They will know how to respect each other’s views and come up with constructive criticism to solve problems.
Efficient time management
Punctuality is amongst the most sought out skills in high school students today. One of the major reasons students find it hard to successfully complete their studies is because of time management. They are neither aware nor able to divide their time efficiently between studies and sports. As a result, an instructor can help individuals become effective time managers by imposing strict rules and punishments. Once they are aware of how important time management is and to what extent it can benefit their life, they will always work towards improving it.
Develop Good Life-Long Habits
School days happen to be the time when the students tend to develop bad habits and engage in wrong relationships. Friends tend to force an individual to participate in wrongful activities that can land them in trouble down the road. This is because the students have an ample amount of free time up their sleeves and can become easily distracted. However, if they are encouraged to participate in physical activities in their free time, they will avoid disruptive paths. Furthermore, the passion and love for sports will enable them to develop good habits that will continue for life. The motivation to become better and the best will influence them to choose healthy diets and habits over destructive ones.
Final Word
From leadership skills to developing good lifelong habits, the benefits are countless. Therefore, considering the benefits outlined above it should be made sure that high schools give immense value and importance to how sports bring a positive change in the lives of high school students and help them develop important skills to achieve success in life.