Do Sports Impact Academic Performance?
By Kevin Cahill ('23)
We’ve all heard the term “student-athlete” in North Rockland, but do you truly understand what it means? It’s much more than just a student who plays a sport; it’s a student who can physically and mentally balance sports and academic performance, while also being a positive representation for our school in both categories. With that said, the question arises: are sports beneficial or detrimental to students' grades?
This has been a topic of debate in schools for a long time now, however there still doesn’t seem to be a clear answer to the question. Many students are worried that sports will ruin their academic success, and vice versa. In order to finally set a solution in stone, we must look at all of the facts and reasoning on both sides of the argument.
On one hand, sports are time-consuming and tiring. Energy needed for schoolwork may be lost with the additional stress. Athletics can also affect your mindset; for example, if there is a big football game the next day, players will most likely be distracted from school and focus on the game instead. With less focus on school, students will be less likely to seek tutors, do homework, and stay for extra help. Student-athletes are also subjected to physical injuries. Breaking your writing hand and brain injuries, such as concussions, can disrupt behavior. Injuries like these limit one’s ability to participate and do well in school.
On the other hand, sports encourage good habits that are applicable in school. For example, they teach students how to manage their time efficiently, deal with competition, and work well with others. They also increase students’ physical and mental health, allowing them to be more active in school. In addition, athletic involvement brings lower dropout rates, better attendance rates, and more opportunities for college scholarships, as serious athletes will need good attendance and attentiveness in school to remain on their teams. Finally, sports are shown to increase one’s school pride, and therefore players will be more motivated to concentrate on school and their grades.
So, what is the answer?
Photo courtesy of psychologytoday.com
Well, students at St. Anthony Village High School in Minnesota recently conducted a survey on all 700 students in their school. The school asked them questions about the number of sports that they play and their performance and attendance in school to see if there was a correlation between the two (see graphs below). They found that students that don’t play sports have an average GPA of 2.72, while students that play three sports have an average GPA of 3.51, an astounding difference. They also found that students that don’t play sports have an average of almost 6 more absences than the three-sport athletes. Evidently, students who play sports tend to have a much higher GPA and fewer absences than those who don’t play sports.
The same survey also found that since there are fewer kids that play sports than kids that don’t, their grades and attendance may be brought down by a small percentage of their group, in the same way that a particular student’s test score can bring the class average down significantly. They also noted other natural holes in their survey, like the trustworthiness of the students as well as the fact that the survey is generally small-scale and does not represent all students in the world.
Still, even with these drawbacks, it seems that sports tend to positively impact academics. So, does this mean that if you make the football team, your grades will magically jump up as well? No. Being a student-athlete is difficult, and the only reason that they succeed is because of their hard work and dedication both on the field and in the classroom.
