WELCOME!

Welcome to my blog on the effects of adolescent participation in sports. This topic is very important to me, as I played sports growing up and have always enjoyed advocating for young kids to play sports. The findings from my research are very interesting and apply to all teachers and future teachers whether you are interested in sports or not. As I say below in my essay, sports are a very big part of the learning community and I believe that we can see substantial growth in our students as a result of sports participation.


Please read and enjoy this blog from top (right here) to the bottom. The structure of the posts is as follows:


1) Welcome/Intro
2) Essay on sports participation's effects on adolescent students
3) Collage and explanation of famous athletes whose schooling was drastically improved because of sports
4) Video of athletes who achieved great success in and out of the classroom because of sports
5) Works Cited


Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoy it!


Derrick Strosnider

The Effects of Sports Participation on Students' Academics (essay)

Ever since the early age of five, I have participated in sports. Sports were a bigger part of my childhood than anything, even school. I never got the lecture, “sports are about life lessons” from my parents. But I do know people who advocate for youth sports because they believe that participation in them teaches valuable lessons and even improves academic grades. As a future teacher and, most likely, a future coach as well, I am very intrigued by the idea of advocating sports for my students so that they can benefit both inside and outside the classroom through involvement in sports. Sports are a huge part of the academic community, as “athletic participation is still the single most popular school-sponsored extracurricular activity, regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender” in the United States (Miller, 2005, p.179). Such a huge part of the academic community should not be ignored; in fact, if possible, sports should be used to better accomplish student achievement.

I started my research with what I knew about my own participation in sports: it improved my physical fitness, my ability to work with others, my willingness to listen to mentors, my ability to be unselfish, my ability to work through adversity and my overall work ethic. Looking back on my own adolescent sports experience, I realized that I had learned much more than I knew at the time and supposed that there are probably other people who received even greater academic and life-related advantages because of sports participation. I decided to focus my research on the academic benefits that sports can have on adolescents. I didn’t just want opinions though, I wanted statistical evidence, gathered through studies, that showed the benefits (if any existed) that sports has on academics. To find these results, I kept my research focused mostly on Academic Journals and Periodicals found through the NAU Cline Library Database, with a few videos from reputable sources, and an article from the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

What my research found was two-fold: 1) students learn many lessons from sports participation, and 2) the benefits that sports have on academics are seen in many students from every background (DeMeulenaere, 2010, p. 134). In fact, there are six known ways that “student involvement in sports promoted student success: structuring schedules, creating incentives, building confidence, developing positive adult and peer role models, and its role in getting students to develop future aspirations” (DeMeulenaere, 127).

At the very basic level, student athletes must maintain a certain GPA (usually 2.5) in order to be eligible to play sports. Though some athletes are seen as just skating by when they achieve the bare minimum, “by concentrating their efforts on becoming eligible to play by doing well in class, students [actually] learn to focus their mind on the subject matter” (Silverman, 2011). And most student-athletes do not just achieve the bare minimum—they exceed. In fact, “academic achievement of secondary student athletes is generally higher than their non-athletic counterparts and the difference between the two increases proportionately with increases in athletic participation” (Byrd, 1991, p.172). Statistically, “female athletes report the highest GPAs and male non-athletes report the lowest” in secondary classrooms (Miller, 181). 

It has been said that participation in sports does not only benefit academics, but “can have beneficial effects on issues such as attendance, attitude towards school and grade consistency” as well (Byrd, 175). Playing on a sports team gives many kids reasons to complete their homework, behave in school and attend school every day. On top of that, “sport involvement is an important activity that has the potential for reducing at-risk behavior and enhancing development in adolescents” (Lucas, 2002). Students not only become higher achieving students when they participate in sports, but they become more well rounded people as a result.

Through my research, I learned and reaffirmed my belief that adolescent sports participation is a greatly beneficial extra-curricular activity for students to be involved in. Student athletes have the “opportunity to develop relationships with caring adults as coaches. Research consistently credits the role of coaches in the higher achievement of student-athletes” (DeMeulenaere, 132). There are many examples of students becoming better students as well as better people as a result of sports participation. This is a very important idea to me as I look to encourage my students to become involved in sports or other extracurricular activities that are as beneficial to them as sports are.

The Athlete's Collage

The below image is a collage of famous, world-class athletes who all completed some aspect of school because of their athletic pursuits. Some of them struggled with learning difficulties while some of them struggled to even attend school at first. The point is that, like the above essay says, sports impacted all of these people’s schooling and their lives as a whole.

Top Row, Far Left—Dennis Rodman: Rodman struggled through primary and secondary school, blaming most of his academic and social problems on his father who had abandoned the family. After graduating high school with no impressionable athletic or academic career, Rodman became a night-janitor at the Dallas Airport. Discontent with his life, Rodman chose to go back to school at Cooke County College in order to play basketball. After a year there he transferred to Southeastern Oklahoma University, where he played for three years and earned a degree.  He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 1986 and went on to play for the Bulls, Spurs, Mavericks and Lakers, winning five championships in his 14 year career.

Top Row, Middle—Nolan Ryan: The youngest of six children, Ryan struggled through grade school with mediocre grades. Diagnosed with ADHD later in his life, he managed to finish high school, with the help of baseball, before he was drafted by the New York Mets in 1965. He is considered to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest pitcher in baseball history.

Top Row, Far Right—Patrick Willis: (see video below)

Middle Row, Far Left—Michael Phelps: (see video below)

Middle Row, Middle—Terry Bradshaw: Bradshaw considered himself to be a hard worker, but didn’t do too well in school due to ADD and a speech impediment. He played football as a way to cope with frustrations throughout his childhood, earning a football scholarship to Louisiana Tech University. He played for four years, earning a degree and becoming the number one draft pick in 1970. He played 13 seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning four Super Bowls and two Super Bowl MVPs.

Middle Row, Far Right—Magic Johnson: (see video below)

Bottom Row, Far Left—Michael Oher: (see video below)

Bottom Row, Middle—Bruce Jenner: (see video below)

Bottom Row, Far Right—Joe Frazier: Frazier overcame ADD to go on to a professional boxing career. He was an Olympic medalist and the undisputed world heavyweight champion in his career.

Real (extraordinary) People Who Have Excelled

Click Here To Watch The Video
I have researched and written about the effects that sports have on adolescent students and their academic status. This is a link to my video that provides a few examples of professional athletes who have, over the years, seen academic benefits come from their sports endeavors.

Works Cited

Byrd, Charles E. "The Influence of Participation in Junior High Athletics on Students and

Grades." Physical Educator Winter 48.4 (1991): 170-76. Web.

DeMeulenaere, Eric. "Playing the Game: Sports as a Force For Promoting Improved Academic

Performance For Urban Youth." Journal of Cultural Diversity Winter 17.4 (2010): 127-35. Web.

Goidel, Robert Kirby, and John Maxwell Hamilton. "Strengthening Higher Education Through

Gridiron Success? Public Perceptions of the Impact of National Football Championships on Academic Quality." Social Science Quarterly 87.4 (2006): 851-62. Web.

Horton Jr., David. "Class and Cleats: Community College Student Athletes and Academic

Success." New Directions for Community Colleges Fall 1.147 (2009): 15-27. Web.

Lucas, Jeffery. "Athletes' Expectations for Success in Athletics Compared to Academic

Competition." The Sport Journal Summer 5.2 (2002). Web.

Miller, Kathleen, and Merrill Melnick. "Untangling the Links Among Athletic Involvement,

Gender, Race, and Adolescent Academic Outcomes." Sociology of Sport Journal 22.2 (2005): 178-94. Web.

Silverman, Steve. "How Do Youth Sports Help Kids in Academics?" LIVESTRONG.COM.

Lance Armstrong Foundation, 14 June 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/225787-how-do-youth-sports-help-kids-in-academics/>.

Staying in the Game: Benefits of Adolescent Sports Participation. Prince William Health System.

Dr. John Kim and Dr. Frederick W. Parker. Franklin Street Health Care Marketing, 2010. YouTube.