Some students are sporty, others are not. And while athletes would appreciate another volleyball game between the classes, the latter ones would gladly skip their sweat-and-pant lesson just for the sake of reading one more book.
But however hard sports may be, they in fact have many benefits for students of any age. From immense positive effects on health to building many valuable soft skills, working out helps kids and adults stay cheerful, energetic, and satisfied with life. Here are ten reasons why sports should have their share in the school curriculum.
Improve Health
The positive influence of sports on human health can hardly be overestimated. They strengthen blood vessels, improve breathing, enhance body strength and flexibility, keep tendons and muscles warmed up, elastic and endurable, as well as boost immunity in general. As a result, athletic students suffer from respiratory, heart, and musculoskeletal diseases less often than their passive peers. They also tend to go through seasonal illnesses easier, as well as fight asthma and respiratory allergies more effectively.
Furthermore, due to lack of movement, many students suffer from weight issues, back pains, posture problems, and upper limbs tremor. Regular exercising and a balanced diet, which inevitably come with sports, help students stay in shape, maintain a healthy weight, and keep their muscles toned to easier handle the challenges of school life.
Improves Academic Performance
Surprisingly, studies have shown that exercising improves memory and retention, helps to stay focused longer, and memorize the material for life rather than simply to pass the exam. Perhaps, it happens due to accelerated metabolic processes that come with sports, or just because endorphins released at the end make you happier and more enthusiastic. Whatever the case is, students who go in for sports tend to show better academic performance as well.
Give Purpose
In life, it’s not always clear why you’re doing something or not. In sports, there’s always a goal. The strong and voluntary goal you’re heading to. Whether it’s another push-up to become stronger, or new running indices, athletes always have bold goals in mind and persevere to get there. It teaches them to be daring, committed, and goal-oriented. Such students are also better at setting and achieving their goals too.
Boost Self-Esteem
Along with a beautiful body and a number of successes comes confidence. But not only that boost self-esteem in sporty students. Failures too.
Every time falling and rising again and again, students learn that mistakes are just a part of the experience, that effort and perseverance can help them deal with any challenge, and that this attitude can be transferred to any other area of their life.
Teach Teamwork and Collaboration
Most often, sports mean playing in a team. And this is what turns an independent individual into a team player too. Furthermore, when you’re a part of a group or a team, you learn strategic thinking, compromise, effective communication, respect to different tempers and habits and a whole lot of other soft skills which will come in handy both in school and in the future career. TV shows about dumb handsome athletes who can win anyone’s attention might be an exaggeration, but what sporty students definitely don’t lack is communicating issues, finding win-win solutions, and feeling in their element around people.
Make Students Disciplined
To succeed in sports, students need hefty discipline. Raising with the sun to catch up with other team members, following a strict nutrition plan, suffering from muscle pain, and still showing up on training – this all takes strong will and commitment.
However, as much as they are disciplined in sports, student-athletes know how to show the same diligence in their studies, work, or relationship. Used to rules and restrictions, they don’t feel stressed when they have to cope with a monotonous task or put some effort, and this attitude should be further appreciated and cultivated in schools.
Form Success-Driven Behavior
Along with discipline, sports teach success-oriented thinking. Hardly any athlete comes to competition confident in his own failure. In contrast, there are students who suffer from a defeatist attitude and often deny the sole idea of trying something they know nothing about.
Having sports in school and encouraging all students to take an active part in games and competitions can help fight insecurity and fear, and show students that they can do whatever they want if they only put enough effort.
Inoculate Time Management Skills
There’s hardly anyone as needy in extra few hours in a day than students. However, many student-athletes have already mastered the art of time management – well, they had no choice.
While being a seasoned time manager doesn’t always mean doing what your professor said (when you have dozens of games per week you inevitably skip classes or delegate some tasks to your peers and article writing services), this is a valuable skill to learn and it’s highly appreciated by most employers. Sports help in that, and this is another reason to promote them in the school curriculum.
Improve Communication
Improved communication is one more benefit students can get from sports. Due to their activity, athletes always have to communicate with different people – teammates, trainers, recruiters, fans, etc. They learn to carry themselves in a certain way and develop different communication patterns. Furthermore, athletes are usually well-liked by their peers. All this helps in building a set of valuable communication skills and a strong network of contacts which will come useful in the future.
Build Positive Attitude About Life
Finally, students who do sports develop a strong understanding that life is good. With a powerful source of happy hormones at their hand, such students rarely suffer from anxiety or depression and manage stress better than their non-sporty peers.
With all that in mind, schools need sports in their curriculum to raise healthy, strong, and goal-oriented individuals. Furthermore, they should encourage passive students to engage in games and competition to promote respect, collaboration, and friendship in a school environment.
