Dear Editor,
In last month's issue of your magazine, you wrote an article about high school sports. You had mentioned that you might have some suggestions on how to improve on the experience for athletes involved. Can you take a minute and comment on these improvements now?
Thank you,
Noah Fence
Dear Noah,
Thank you for the question. I believe there are a few ways in which high school sports could be improved for the athletes. The first, and in my opinion one of the most important, is inclusion. There are so many students out there who want to play sports and be involved but are denied because they are not “good enough”. Not only does this completely destroy self esteem, but it also turns students away from physical activity and fitness. I understand that only so many people can be on a team and you want the best team possible for your school, but there are ways to let more students participate. A great example to allow more students to play is to introduce intramural teams. These teams can be for anyone no matter what their skill level which not only includes everyone, but also makes it fun! All athletes should be allowed to participate in school sports. Another improvement that I believe would help high school athletes is for coaches to get the athletes more involved. By this I mean that coaches need to encourage nutrition and fitness outside of practices. If the coaches could teach kids how to eat better so they can perform better I believe some athletes would love it! It would not only benefit the athlete, but the entire team. Coaches could also give suggestions to athletes on fitness activities they could do at home to improve their skills and fitness levels. I think that many athletes would benefit from this, ultimately giving them a better athletic experience. Another a suggestion I have is to improve parent education and communication. Parents want to be involved in their childs life and this is a great way for them to do so. If parents were taught about the sport their child was involved in it could get them more involved. This would improve parent support enormously. Teenagers want their parents to be proud of them and support them through everything they do and I believe with more parent education they could show that support more. Knowing they are supported could improve an athlete’s mental state which improves their play. Finally, I believe schools should show support for sports. By increasing school spirit it gets students more involved and they will love what they are doing. A little support can go a long way for an athlete. Not only will they enjoy their experience more, they will perform better too. Every athlete is different, but there are many ways to improve the high school athletics experience. Inclusion, support and involvement are huge parts of sport so it is important to emphasize them.