Balancing School and Sports Requires Flexibility

Schools should have more options for student-athletes so it can be easier for them to balance school and sports.

Students play sports to keep a healthy body, build stronger muscles, and improve their habit of exercising everyday. Some students play sports to push them to manage their time properly and work towards a goal. Some students play sports to get them into top universities, such as Stanford, UC Berkley, and UCLA.

These students who want to get into a good college by being outstanding athletes also need to do good in education, not only exceptional in sports. In order to do good in education, students need to study hard, finish homework, do extra practice, but due to their long training hours outside of school, student-athletes may not be able to catch up with their school work, which will affect their performance in school.

Students can balance school and sports by changing their P.E. classes into study hall. Study Hall allows students to go to the library and finish any schoolwork. This way, they can finish their homework, study for tests, and maybe even read a book if time allows. Students can skip P.E. if they have more than 60 minutes of outside activity per session. Study Hall can be helpful when a sports practice ends late, and students haven’t had dinner nor done any homework.

Students may find themselves under the pressure of doing well both in school and in their sports. They could be wanting good math scores, but also under the pressure of doing well in an upcoming competition.

Some parents may say, “Well, I still want my child to learn the unique activities that they learn in P.E.” However, it is worth sacrificing P.E. class so students can balance school and sports. Would it make more sense to sleep at midnight, and sacrifice energy, because students were doing unfinished homework? Parents would certainly be upset about that.

Schools advertising options for students in sports to be exempt from physical education classes, would likely allow for the greater flexibility these student-athletes need.