Students at the NYC iSchool are torn between whether or not sports benefit them academically. When asked what she thought about sports in school, Andrea Augustus, a 10th grader at the iSchool said. “They get in the way of homework.” Most students seem to agree.

“Well here (at the iSchool) theres practice every day for the girls which doesn't allow them to go to office hours.” Tatiana Deleon, a tenth grader at the iSchool said. At the iSchool, office hours are a period of time after school where the students can meet with teachers about their work. When asked why she would need to attend office hours she replied, “Sometimes when you're absent or you fall behind in school you have to meet with teachers after hours to make up work.” The iSchool has a policy where if you fail a class you can't play for the week. Some students say that this motivates them to do better and not fail so that they can play the sport that they love.

“ It motivates me to do better in school. I have been a softball player for 6 years. The ischool policy is that if you fail a class, you won’t be able to play.” Janil Carbone, an eleventh grader said.

“Not every school has office hours. Some schools have practice every day and the students just make sure they stay on top of their work. It won't get in the way as long as you be responsible.” Mamour Fall, a tenth grader at the iSchool says. Michael Allen is an eleventh grader who does not attend the iSchool. When asked if sports benefit students he says, “I'm on the track team. We have practice a lot but it doesn't get in the way of my work as long as I don't procrastinate. I think that sports benefit us in the sense that it keeps us in shape and healthy especially since Americans are fat.” Mamour Fall seems to agree, he also says that sports keep students “active and healthy.” Some students also use sports as a stress relieving hobby. Jahad Frazier, a 10th grader says “Without sports, some kids would be unhappy having to stress focusing on school all of the time.”

Teachers at the iSchool also believe sports have a positive effect on students. Assistant principal Ms. Leimsider said “It (sports) provides an outlet for student who think that they are good at something. They can play the sport they love.” Algebra teacher Ms. Prendergast says, “sports serve as a motivation to get their grades up. I also think that it promotes a much stronger school culture.” Another math teacher, Mr. Parmar says, “When I was in high school playing sports, my mind was most active.”

In the article “School vs Sports” by TeenInk it says that 75% of people in the author’s high school said that they felt better while playing a sport because it, “Relieves stress, and anger and makes them happy.” According to this article Seventy- five percent of those surveyed also said that their grades either went up or stayed the same while playing a sport.


In the article “The Benefits of Participating in Sports” is states that playing sports helps you stay in shape, teaches you how to organize your time, boosts friendships, and builds relationships with your peers and adults. James Sallis, a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California at San Diego, says, “This is a very consistent finding, that physically fit kids do better in school,” Also, a report from the Institute of Medicine states that “children who are more active show greater attention, have faster cognitive processing speed, and perform better on standardized academic tests than children who are less active.” Another study that occurred in Nebraska recorded the fitness of children in a shuttle run. The kids had to run a back and forth lap in a set time. The kids that did the best on this test scored higher on the math and the reading portions of the standardized exam. This all shows evidence that sports in school, and being active in general, have a positive influence on students and their grades.

Sports in high school are all good though, in the article HAVE SPORTS TEAMS BROUGHT DOWN AMERICA’S SCHOOLS? by Elizabeth Kolbert, it says “ Polish kids now outscore American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does. One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Wroclaw is that the latter has no football team, or, for that matter, teams of any kind.Sports,” This shows that sports may bring down our students grades and that if we didn't have sports in schools, students might do better.

When interviewed, Kentucky’s Mr. Football of 2008 Deuce Finch, said “To play a sport in most every high school, you have to have a certain GPA. If you really want to play, you are going to do whatever you can to get that grade, whether it's getting a tutor or putting in more time studying.”