The Benefits Of Involvement In Sports

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People say that the years spent in school will be some of the best in life. Faces and names may fade, but the memories made and ideas learned will be forever kept. Part of every great school experience is the athletics. Sports have been affiliated with schooling for as long as either have coexisted. In the early years, recess and playing around was the closest activity related to sports. As time went on sports have become so much more than just playing around. Today, sports are almost a requirement. The majority of people are involved in a sport at some point. Even though people may quit a sport early in their life, lessons are learned from the experience. Involvement in sports throughout an academic career can benefit a youth in many ways. …show more content…

Todays athletes, however, are now starting to break that stereotype more and more. While balancing the athletic pressures that are placed on them, many athletes are placing great emphasis on their academic careers. With this emphasis many programs are now boasting their academics achievements and looking to further them from here. The struggle to balance these pressures, while difficult, is proving to help and determine athletes to reach for higher academic achievement. One program that has significantly emphasized academics within their sports is the University of Central Florida (UCF). UCF has claimed a top spot among public colleges for its student-athlete graduation rate. With 95% of their student-athletes receiving degrees, UCF has proven that not all athletes fit the “dumb jock” stereotype (Whitley 1). This compared to the 84% national graduation rate of the 335 Division I institutes is surely impressive. 12 of UCF’s 14 sports programs alone had rates of 90% or better, with the men’s golf, men’s tennis, men’s rowing, women’s golf, women’s soccer, women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball all having 100% graduation rates (Whitley 1). Although these statistics are impressive, programs such as: Notre Dame, Stanford, Duke, and Northwestern are even higher. From these numbers it is clear that athletes and their coaches are concerned about the future and ready to work to …show more content…

As humans it is important to be educated and informed in what it takes to continue life as long as possible. Many causes of death or illness are due to health issues. People die at early ages because they were unaware of what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle, or people just chose to ignore what the knowledge they had. Today, there are so many programs and opportunities for people to learn what needs to be done to live a healthy lifestyle and avoid confrontation with the body. A prime example of how these taught actions are used is by participating on sports teams. This knowledge begins to be taught at a very early age. Taught in ways of mothers helping their two year old brush their teeth to grandmothers yelling to go outside and play. As a child grows and begins school physical education is one of the basic skills first taught, and continues to be taught until that child is a senior. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quality physical education can serve as a cornerstone of physical activity because it allows students to take in knowledge of what it takes to maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout all the stages of life (Government Accounting Office Report 1). The importance of knowing the benefits of a healthy body are so crucial and need to be taught to everyone. Now a healthy body does not just mean a six pack of abs and skinny as a rail, its meaning is so much more. Research shows that regular physical activity

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