Sports vs Academics

What roles sports and academics play in students’ life

Fans+watching+a+football+game+at+Four+Corners+High+School.

Amanda Dos Santos

Fans watching a football game at Four Corners High School.

Amanda Dos Santos and Giovanna Assano

For a student to play a sport, their grades should be considered a passing; this is because an athlete is expected to be able to organize their time and balance their activities.

“For you to be an athlete you have to be a student first so as a coach I always tell my players that your grades come before basketball, sports, so your priority, your only priority is school, then everything else falls alien,” Basketball coach and Algebra teacher Mr. Jonathan Lonas said.

The future of an athlete depends on their dedication, you can see results in the field that you do not see in school, because sport is a choice, people that have physical capability can play a sport and join a team, but involvement in academics is something they do not have control over.

“The sport can give a better future, like when you play some sport, you’re seeing a future in that, but when you’re doing some assignment, you’re just doing because you must,” Senior Gabriela da Silva said.

Some students prioritize sports because they are good at it, so they have a chance for a scholarship by playing sports, that they may not qualify for based on academics alone.

“I feel like they do give more importance to sports, because this generates more money for the school. It is like every sport event, they get people coming in paying like admission, things of that nature, and then is like if you have a good sport team you get publicity, people might want to come to your school for sports, wherever they should come for academics as well. A lot of times sports are pushed to the forefront because, like on a superficial level, they are deemed more important,” English teacher Mr. Christopher Binion said.

Sports can be a lot of fun, you can meet new people, learn new things; but having a good grade in school is also very important, and can be in a fun way, with your friends.

“In high school I will say students focus more on sports, they do not know the importance of education yet, when you get to college, I feel that they start to bridge together the student and the athletic, and become more concern with the grades, so I would say depends on the age, I guess, the more mature you get the more you start to focus on education,” Mr. Lonas said.

“It is a status symbol, if you are on a sports team, people look at you and they are saying “wow,” like they are a jock, it is like they are popular wherever someone on the academic team it’s like they have a stigma on you, it’s like they have a negative name associated with them when it really does not apply,” Mr. Binion said.

Sports and academics are the two things that are important for many students, whether they are two opposite things.

“In my opinion, sports and academics are equally important because academics can give you more knowledge and can give you a better future, and sports are also important for our health,” Junior Gabriel Francisco said.