BY KEEGAN VANMETER (’19)

High school sports can create some of the best memories in your life. They are also great for teaching life long lessons.

All students in high school should participate in an extracurricular activity such as a sport, band or theatre.

For me personally, sports are what keep me on the straight and narrow, and force me to stay on top of my grades as well as manage my time. Learning how to manage your time is one of the most important things in life. Being able to get all of the schoolwork done first allows for extra free time to do whatever you want.  

Sports also are able to teach great lessons within themselves. For me, in football we are always representing the community and being portrayed as positive role models. This puts extra pressure on us to make good decisions, knowing that everyone is watching.

Sports are also great for students because it allows them to maintain a healthy bodyweight. Playing a sport requires athletes to constantly be working out and burning off calories, helping them stay fit.

Another great advantage of playing a sport is that you learn how to practice and prepare for big moments, and you learn how to perform under great pressure. These three things are crucial to living a successful life. In order to succeed you must have great preparation and practice the tools you need in order to perform.

The final great characteristics you gain from high school sports are leadership and social skills. In order to have a great team within the work industry, you must have great leadership. Normally the people making more money are the leaders, and a great way to learn how to become a leader is through sports. They show you great real life examples of what great and poor leadership does to a team, and allow you to realize how important it is.

Social skills are a great life skill as well. They allow you to communicate well to all your team members, which again leads to a successful team. And if you have better communication and social skills then you are more likely to earn better jobs or be higher up on your team. This skill is taught through sports by being put in stressful conditions and having to execute perfectly through communication to succeed.

The best way to become successful in school and in life is through high school sports because they teach you the necessities to teamwork, leadership and communication.