Imagine you have a long day of school ahead, and you need a break. Sporting events take a load off your back and provide a fun activity in your day. Many students get the chance to participate in playing an exciting game. Teachers get to pause their day and concentrate on other things besides work. There should be more sporting events at Edison Intermediate School (EIS) because it helps academic minds grow, and it encourages social skills.
Many students at EIS love playing in the sporting events, especially when they get to play against teachers. Other students love watching the sport and having some fun in their school day. Liv Blumenfield, an eighth grader here at EIS, agrees, “It’s very fun because you can sit with friends. It’s entertaining.” Beyond just watching and playing the games, this event offers a lot of socialization.
Many kids are sick and tired of learning everyday and don’t want more academic-based activities. Sixth grader Jackson Iria said, “I would like a sports based assembly.”
Most kids would say this because they already have so much work everyday and rarely get breaks during school. Students would be much more excited to go to school if they could look forward to sporting events during their day.
Another way to make the assemblies more entertaining for everyone is letting more people participate. “I think younger grades should be able to play in the sport events,” said Gabe Minkra, seventh grader.
Similar to Gabe, many students have agreed with his idea. As someone who hasn’t been able to play in any of these games he would like to be included too.
Furthermore, many students have brought up the point that sometimes these sporting events are boring. Spencer Hantman, an eighth grader at EIS suggested, “Our principal, Mrs Schall, should play in student versus teachers games.”
Not only would this be more inclusive, it would also foster more EIS spirit. On the other hand many people have brought up ideas of making games fun by adding new ways of entertaining the crowd. “In order to make the games more entertaining for the people watching, we should have different competitions in between quarters,” Mr. Daniel Black, an art teacher at EIS stated,
Having different competitions in between quarters can help create more thrill in the events.
Additionally, many students have introduced the idea of more sports being added to these events. “I would like to add a track race to the assembly,”
said Mia Scrofani, a seventh grader at EIS.
Adding more sports can create more interest in these types of assemblies. As a result of our survey, a majority of students have stated they like to watch a lot of sports they don’t play. This suggests that students might be interested in other sports we don’t have already at EIS. So, watching and participating in these assemblies would be even more exciting.
Students have enjoyed watching the games at EIS not only for watching the sport but having a break from academics. “It’s just fun to be out of school,” said sixth grader, Eliette Johns, at EIS.
Sporting events can improve their academics without actually doing schoolwork. Many people think that constant work will help get better at school work, but that is not the case: “There is evidence to suggest that the opposite is true — that participation in athletics during one’s school years leads to greater success in academics and beyond. This can manifest in the following ways: lower school dropout rates, better overall academic performance, and higher GPAs, up to 40% higher test scores than their counterparts, a statistically higher likelihood of attending college.” This evidence shows that participation in sporting events gives many benefits to a student’s education. As a result, students can perform better in school by staying active in sports.
To help improve social skills, you can participate in a team sport. Team sports create new friendships among all athletes. This is shown when the article by the University of San Diego states, “While much attention must be paid to looking inward, team sports require cooperation with others in order to achieve a mutual goal. This helps the focus become more external in nature, enabling participants to learn the type of bonding and team-building skills that will be necessary throughout their whole lives. High-level communication, collaboration, and evaluative skills incubate and grow during these types of interactions.”
Sports provide more than just exercise. Consequently, not only will you have skills for the sports event, but you will have learned new skills for the life ahead of you.
