Many AP students do not have time for sports. With homework for hours on end and excess extracurriculars to put on their college applications, playing a sport may seem like an unnecessary burden that would prevent them from achieving their high-school goals. However, sports may be the unexplored medium that leads to higher achievement in academics yet to have been discovered by many AP students.
There are numerous physical, mental, and social benefits that can result from participating in sports. For the most part, sports provide a welcoming social environment after a stress-filled school day. By allowing students to not go directly home after school to start the endless cycle of homework, sports provide a release from school, and also help boost physical and mental health. Sports can also help to improve your mood and increase relaxation levels. When doing physical activity, the brain releases neurotransmitters such as endorphins and dopamine, creating a euphoric feeling and significantly improving mood and mentality. Furthermore, sports can introduce you to all different types of people who may not have been part of your established social sphere. Sports can also help to create strong inter-grade friendships and cement already-existing relations. By playing alongside team captains and upperclassmen on sports teams, underclassmen can have role-model figures to look up to and approachable teammates to seek guidance from. Sports can enrich one’s high-school experience while providing a break from stressful academics.
The most obvious benefit to participating in sports is improved physical health, which in turn improves mental health. Most people become less active as they get older, so by participating in sports during high school, students are keeping ahead of the curve in fitness and health and staying in shape. The competition and subsequent pressure imbued in the majority of sports can also help further a student’s drive to succeed. By learning how to adapt to pressure on the field or court, students can learn to better handle pressure and stress overall in school. Additionally, values ingrained in sports, such as sportsmanship and teamwork, can positively affect students and help develop their character in years to come. Sports teach life lessons of discipline, responsibility, and hard work. Sports can also help refine skills such as concentration and focus that are necessary to perform well in school. In addition, a more short-term benefit of sports is that they can lead to better sleeping habits. Students tend to be more tired after strenuous physical exercise, and thus have more uniform and longer sleeping hours. Lastly, playing sports can help a student’s time management skills. Students invest a lot of time in sports, and must learn how to balance sports and school. These skills of time management and organization can be applied throughout the rest of their lives.
There’s no reason that AP students—and all students—shouldn’t expand their horizons and take part in a sport. Not only are sports an opportunity to better the player both physically and mentally, but the lessons learned from the camaraderie and teamwork in sports will remain even after high school. IHS students who aren’t involved should try a sport before they depart for college wishing that they had.