Voices Question

The mere fact that kids must pass their classes in order to remain on a team is a built-in incentive that goes a long way. Being part of a team builds character, but it also keeps the kids off the streets. Instead of watching TV, being a slave to the Internet or hanging out aimlessly, sports help kids to stay fit in body and mind.

I look at it through two lenses. As a student, my coach was my role model. He instilled values in me that are countless. Punctuality, teamwork, hustle & honesty to name a few. It was the first time in my life I needed to maintain and balance a schedule as well. Now as a coach, I find sports as the fastest way to build relationships with students. Athletes enroll in my class and students join my teams. I asked a student, Sophia, what she thought. The number one influence of having a teacher as a coach, was confidence. The confidence from sport carried over into her classes. She joined my class because of sports and it changed her career goals.

I am both a teacher and a coach. Additionally, I lived the life of a student athlete in my youth. I believe that sports programs provide an incentive and a framework for building success. Members of a team work together, form a trusting relationship with their coach who serves as a positive role model, have a place where they belong, must maintain academic eligibility, and are involved and invested in their school at another level. When students feel connected to their school, caring adults, and members of a team, they have a sense of acceptance and belonging.

Wow, I was just contemplating this today... My students here on the reservation have very little in Sports supports, my son was a top football player from 6th Grade to graduation and now in college, I feel that it may have saved his life, being a single parent ( risk group) and how easy the peer influence in middle school and high school can lead students to make some terrible choices, I feel that my son's success has been due in part to his dedication to a team and the coaches who were dedicated to him, which kept his goals in view and taught him respect and ethics......it would be a tremendous loss for future students

I have seen my students maintain a good grade in my high school Spanish I class just so that they are not prohibited from participating in their favorite school sport. It's a great incentive. We also have in my school great coaches that encourage and inspire kids on a daily basis. They are able to connect with them in ways that we the academic teachers cannot.

Athletics is an essential element in the education of our students. As a teacher, coaches wife, and the daughter of a coach not to mention the mother of two student athletes, I have seen sll sides of athletics in our school systems. Many of my students thrive when their sport is in season. Their grades go up and I am blessed to see their character develop throughout their high school careers. As a Mother of a child that has found herself as a result of running cross country, I can not imagine the devistation she would face without sports. For many of our children, Athletics provides them with a "family" and a positive place to belong.

Sports programs are the heartbeat of a school and the coaches that work with the students are more like parents than coaches. If these programs are eliminated students will not have the initiative to work harder in school. Many students will just do the bare minimum to get by, and not strive for high GPA's to apply for colleges with decent sports programs. The only children that would be able to play sports would be wealthy students that attend private schools or the ability to play for recreation sports creating an elite class of players. It's unfair for poor children and it's not right. For many in poverty that's the reason for coming.

I have the deepest respect for all who help our young people achieve. However, as a retired teacher of Technology Education (shop) I have to hope that hands on learning experiences will not be on the top of the chopping block. Tech Ed programs provide problem solving skills necessary for all students preparing to participate in our increasingly technology driven culture. Let the parents of those participating and benefiting from sports activities share the costs directly. This is what my students participating in extra-curricular programs (TSA), had to do. Add to that the time donated by advisors and is the result a double standard?

My three sons all played high school sports and learned important lessons like being accountable, reliable, dependable, true to your team...Sports assisted my wife and me to raise the boys as they saw/heard their coaches practicing all the attributes we continued to instill in our sons...Lose sports and we lose the opportunity for our sons/daughters to learn the effort it takes to be part of the team and that no one person is more important than the rest

OBITUARY: Sadly, to say my sport has already felt the heavy budget cutting axe. I've coached tennis for 19 years, to inner city, title one students. I still stay in contact with many former players and they say sports and variety of teams (often called minor sports) allowed them to make friends, exercise, visit places they otherwise would not have, and give them a chance to experience life's possibilities.