Sports and Student Success by: Chrysa Krivak

The education of a student relies on much more than what happens during school hours. Many kids and teens are participating in multiple extracurricular activities that often make an impact on their academics. For this specific blog, I reached out to three different athletes and asked about their experiences playing sports in high school.

My first interviewee, who would like to remain undisclosed, lives in upstate New York. She has played lacrosse since 6^th grade, and is now playing for Siena College. When I asked about her team’s relationship, she said that both the teammates and coaches were very close. My final question for her was the impact that she thinks playing this sport had on her academics, and she said that playing a sport helped her distress, allowing her to gain more focus on education.

I then interviewed my cousin, a former New York resident, who played hockey since she was 3 years old. She stopped competing at 18, but says that she hopes to be a part the club team at Ohio Northern University this year. The relationships she had with her coaches and teammates, she said, were based off their experiences as a team, some of her favorites entailed traveling for tournaments and staying in a hotel with her teammates. When I asked about what impact this had on her education, she told me that planning time for schoolwork around practices and games taught her how to better manage her time.

Third, I interviewed an anonymous friend of mine, who has always played many sports. She has played softball, volleyball, and has run cross-country. This friend has played softball since 3^rd grade, volleyball since 5^th grade, and just started running the summer of 2018. She describes the relationship between her teammates as very close, and her coaches as friendly. She told me that playing sports gave her confidence, which is crucial to success in the American education system.

Speaking to these three students helped me understand what they value in their education and their lives. All three of them gave a positive response on the rapport formed with their coaches and teammates, and believed playing a sport as an extracurricular to be beneficial to education. Though sports may not be for everyone, I think encouraging students to do more physical activity, or become part of some type of team would greatly improve their academic success.