High school athletics offer educational benefits
BY CAROLINE DUNNING
SNN Staff Writer
Many Lakewood students participate in extracurricular activities, whether a club like the Drama Club, a community service group like the Girls Service League, or an event like the Talent Show. Probably the most popular extracurricular activity though is sports. With a wide range of sports at Lakewood, many students participate in at least one sport. But how does this affect their grades?
According to the Womens Sports Foundation, females athletes alone are three times more likely to graduate than female non-athletes.
“I think sports help a lot with your focus in school but also they have a negative effect when you don’t have a lot of time to do work after school because it takes up so much of your free time,” sophomore Alexis Job said.
Job participates in volleyball, soccer and track at Lakewood. She trains every weekday and occasionally on Saturdays depending on the coach’s preferences. She also is a member of the Center for Advanced Technologies program at Lakewood.
“Sports have had a big effect on my education,” Job said. “It helps me. ... I always find myself doing more homework in class than I do at home because sports will end so late, and I’m really tired when I get home, so you learn how to manage your time.”
Volleyball coach Kayla Rodak agrees that there are positive and negative effects to playing sports in high school.
“I think sports can positively affect education because they can teach kids time management, they can teach them discipline with their studies and with athletics as well,” Rodak said. “But at the same time, sports can also negatively affect education if the student isn’t taking the student athlete thing seriously, meaning student before athlete. … No matter how good you are as an athlete you won’t go anywhere unless you have grades.”
According to a story in the Atlantic magazine, research shows that schools with strong athletic programs have higher test scores and lower drop-out rates.
Senior Austin Tavares wrestles and is a member of Lakewood’s football team, which implements a daily study hall. Tavares says that the study hall time period “really alleviates some of the stress” and gives him time to study and complete homework.
“I feel that a vigorous practice is necessary, but it also cuts down on time after practice to be able to complete homework at home,” he said.
Rodak agrees that a team study hall is a good idea.
“I think if you have a student who needs extra time to study then as a team you might need to implement study hours,” Rodak said. “But I think once you’re in the high school level and the high school setting that’s on the student to take responsibility for.”
According to the website Newswise, middle and high school students who participate in sports express less hostility toward their classmates and are more likely to graduate from high school and go on to college.
Job gave advice to fellow student athletes.
“Work hard in school, work hard at sports and everything should work out for you,” Job said.