The Benefits of Competitive Sports in Schools

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Competitive sports in schools, a student’s best friend, have been around in different forms since the earliest times of history. Sixty percent of students play on at least one sports team a year, which is equivalent to over forty million student athletes. Sports can help keep students healthy and offers students to posses an increased awareness of nutrition. Also, sports are the only extracurricular activity to make a significant difference in student’s grades. Lastly, sports increase student athlete’s ability to work with others and create friendships that last forever. Interscholastic athletics in schools are beneficial to students because they improve student athletes physically, mentally, and socially.
Competitive sports in schools are beneficial to students because they improve student athletes physically. The NCES or National Center for Education Statistics is the primary federal source for collecting and analyzing data related to education. According to the NCES, varsity-level athletes were less likely to be daily smokers than their nonathletic peers. “Participating in school sports provides many benefits including an increased awareness of nutrition” (Davidson 69). In wrestling, which is a sport of power, speed, agility, and strength, wrestlers work out each and every day so they lose their fat and gain muscle. Also, a wrestler gets in shape because wrestlers want to lose that last pound to make the lowest weight class possible. “Over thirty percent of children in the United States are obese and the numbers continue to rise” (Davidson 78). The fitness improvements achieved through sports are enormous, especially in society with obesity being such an important issue. Sports do not only make athletes physically healthy, ...

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...he best people and everyone should want to be a student athlete in school.

Works Cited

Davidson, Tish. “The Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy through Adolescence.” Sports. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 4 vols.
Harris, Sarah. "Why team sports really do improve grades: Link between self-esteem and better performance in the classroom." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 24 May 2013. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.
Mango, Kirk. "The Athlete's Sports Experience: Making A Difference." The Benefits of Competitive Athletic Sports Participation in Today’s Sports Climate. 16 Feb. 2010. 03 Feb. 2014
Meyer, Stephen. "College, High School, and Youth Sports." Sports in America: Recreation, Business, Education, and Controversy. 2012 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Information Plus Reference Series. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 Feb. 2014.

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