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Title: Pros of College Sports
The experience of becoming a student athlete at college, for many students, is a thrilling one. College sports, if handled in the right manner, have the potential to increase the productivity of a student in all areas of his student life. The greatest pro of engaging in college sports is that these activities teach one to be committed to demanding tasks, something that is very crucial for success in adult life.
Time commitment is a great challenge for students. However, students who are committed to sporting activities while in college have few, if any, difficulties when it comes to planning their time well during studies, particularly when the examination season approaches. This is mainly because they are used to working under great emotional and physical pressure (Rockler-Gladen, 2009).
One of the biggest problems that new college students face is procrastination, a perennial symptom of poor time management skills. Athletes know how to respond to immediate requests from their physical education instructors and coaches. When instructions of equal significance are offered in classroom settings, especially by a person of a similar level of authority, they are able to respond to it with a similar sense of urgency. This enables these students to complete all their assignment promptly and in time in order to save time for sporting activities.
At college, sometimes resources are unavailable, meaning that students who really love sports have to improvise on whatever limited training facilities are available. This way, sporting activities are the best training grounds for the best managers of limited resources (Shulman, 2002). When they fail to take care of training facilities by themselves, they know that they are the one to suffer from training difficulties the following day. This teaches them how to be good custodians of whatever sporting items that have been entrusted to them.
Like for everyone else, sports for college students are very good for fitness. They are good extracurricular activities that enable students to take some quality time off class work and to breathe an air of physical enjoyment. Physical training is important for emotional, social and intellectual development (Fletcher, 1996). Achieving an all-round growth during college would be impossible without engaging in some sporting activities.
Sporting activities are a good solution to idleness among students especially during weekends. Students who do not participate in sports find themselves with nothing to do apart from idle around buying drugs and abusing them. In college life, it is difficult for students to maintain a busy schedule except when exams are round the corner. For the remaining of the time, students who do not like participating in clubs and societies are better off busying themselves in sports.
Sporting activities at all levels require a high level of discipline (Zimbalist, 2005). College students who like sports, apart from becoming better sportsmen, they are good listeners. They also follow instructions even when these instructions do not make much sense to them at first glance. In other words, sports training is an ideal way of making them better learners. Through these activities, their memory, level of alertness and classroom behavior is greatly boosted.
Sporting activities, by their very nature, are teamwork engagements. Even those that require individual effort require the cooperation among mentors, coaches and fans. College sports are breeding grounds for sportspeople who are socially integrated. This social integration is important both for the individual, the college and the outside community. Good future leaders are bred through activities such as sports. The bond that exists between students who excel in sports and their supporters motivates them to excel in leadership.
References
Fletcher, G. 1996. Statement on Exercise: Benefits and Recommendations for Physical Activity Programs for All Americans: A Statement for Health Professionals by the Committee on Exercise and Cardiac Rehabilitation of the Council on Clinical Cardiology, American Heart Association, 94 (1), 857-862.
Rockler-Gladen, N. April 5, 2009. Should You Become a Student Athlete?: Advantages and Disadvantages of College Sports Participation Retrieved on April 12, 2010 from http://campusactivities.suite101.com/article.cfm/should_you_become_a_student_athlete.
Shulman, J. 2002. The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values. Routledge: London.
Zimbalist, A. 2005. Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism and Conflict in Big-Time College Sports. New York: Macmillan.
