Why Sports is Important in Academics?

Sports and academics play a significant role in every student’s life and are essential for the holistic development of children. While academics help students understand various subjects and the concepts surrounding them, sports, on the other hand, assist in maintaining and improving student’s mental and physical health.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved that physical and mental health is paramount, and after the pandemic, the number of children and adults taking up sports has drastically increased. Sports has helped individuals improve their physical health and encouraged people across every strata of life to mend their mental health through physical activities!

Few of the best schools in Hyderabad, like the Glendale International School, have always encouraged their students to participate in sports and have, for a long time now, understood the importance of sports in students’ lives. Let us now explore how sports and academics go hand in hand in a student’s academic life and how sports play a significant role in the holistic development of children!

Overview Of Sports & Academics

Studies show that physical activities like sports significantly affect students’ academic success. Playing sports releases multiple chemicals, like Endorphins, Dopamine, and Endocannabinoids, which play a huge role in stress reduction, altering mood and reducing anxiety!

Students require a fresh and clear mind to learn and retain new concepts, which can be achieved by playing sports, as there are many benefits to sports and games, which we will discuss in this article.

Dopamine and Endorphins, can improve the students’ mood, release stress and improve the children’s cognitive functions, which are important while studying and retaining concepts, allowing them to taste success in academics as well as in their personal development!

Why Sports Matter In Education?

There are many benefits to playing sports, and one of the most important benefits of sports and games is their effect on the student’s physical, mental and emotional health.

Sports not only act as a means to release stress and develop better cognitive senses for academics but also boost the students’ confidence, physical immunity and mental clarity. Confidence plays a massive role in helping students do better in their academics. When that confidence is achieved through sports, students can improve their mental health drastically, furthering their academic success! This article discusses why the best schools in Hyderabad, like the Glendale International School, encourage their students to learn and participate in sports!

Benefits Of Sports In Academic Performance

Sports play a significant role in developing students’ confidence and making them understand the concept of discipline and hard work, which comes in handy while trying to boost our children’s academic performance. A few other benefits of playing sports for boosting academic performance are

Improved Concentration & Focus: Physical activity produces dopamine, which is associated with improving cognitive functions and enhancing motivation. Elevated cognitive senses, positive motivation, and good mood help improve concentration and focus, which is vital for students to do better academically. Dopamine also relieves stress, making physical activities like sports extremely important in a student’s life!

Enhanced Time Management Skills – The benefits of sports and games go far beyond physical health; they also help develop discipline, which is crucial for academic life. With discipline comes time management skills, which allow students to participate in every activity and help reduce stress by a great deal. Studies have shown that students with good time management practices are 54% more likely to achieve academic success than the rest, showing us the importance of sports and time management in a student’s life!

Boosted Memory & Learning – Exercising regularly produces serotonin and dopamine, which help in neurogenesis. Neurogenesis is the process of producing new neurons that help improve memory function and concentration. Playing sports also helps people get adequate sleep, boost memory function, and increase learning capacity!

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Psychological Benefits Of Sports

To have a successful academic life, be it at a young age or early adult life, having a clear and healthy life is essential. One of the greatest benefits of playing sports and one of the most underrated benefits is the amount of good physical activity can do to your mental health! Glendale International School follows the IB curriculum and CBSE curriculum, both of which emphasise encouraging students to have ample sports in their academic lives! A few psychological benefits of playing sports are

Stress Relief – Playing sports allows students to expend their pent-up energies and clear their thoughts, which helps improve concentration and focus. Playing sports also produces chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins that help enhance mood and relieve stress, which is crucial for students to study well!

Increased Confidence & Self-Esteem – Young students have impressionable minds, and when encouraged by their hard work or dedication, they can significantly boost their self-esteem and confidence! Playing sports helps develop bonds with like-minded people, allowing them to build self-esteem with each round of encouragement from teammates and coaches! Research papers have shown that positive self-esteem plays a crucial role in helping students perform better academically, and playing sports further helps in this cause for the better!

Development Of Leadership Skills – It is fascinating that every person who plays a sport is a leader in their own right. Playing sports helps children understand their strengths and weaknesses, which makes them better thinkers and, by extension, better leaders. This means that a student involved in sports will analyse their successes and failures analytically and further help improve academics, thanks to their leadership mentality, which demands accountability for the team’s or the individual’s performance.

Social Benefits Of Participation In Sports

The importance of sports in students’ lives goes beyond physical and mental health and goes beyond academics, as it plays a massive role in their social life as well. A few benefits are

Building Relationships & Teamwork – Sports build bonds, help students realise they can share happiness and sadness with their peers, and teach them to face challenges together. This relationship with teammates helps them develop empathy, which translates to helping each other in academics as well!

Inclusion & Diversity – Sports help students think beyond discrimination and allow them to work together with everyone equally. This is yet more proof that sports make young, impressionable minds become amazing human beings beyond societal boundaries.

Community Engagement – Extracurricular activities in schools, like sports, allow students to get together with their peers from different classes and grades and build a community around them. This benefit of playing sports helps students rely on the community during tough times, which is essential for a healthy mind and, by extension, an excellent academic life!

Challenges & Misconceptions

Balancing Sports & Academics – It is a misconception that balancing sports and academics can be difficult, but this article has shown that playing sports can improve the academic performance of students to a great level. Sports help build discipline and improve focus, concentration, memory power, and time management, all of which are critical for an excellent academic life, further shattering this myth!

Other misconceptions that are busted in this article are-

Sports have nothing to do with mental health.
Sports are only for weight management.
Sports have no role in helping students succeed in their academics.
Sports does not teach life skills and more!

We at Glendale International School understand that it is incumbent upon teachers and parents to encourage students to participate in sporting activities to further their academic success and enhance their holistic development! We hope this article has helped you understand the correlation between sports and academic success and helped you encourage your children to take up sports from a young age for their overall development. For more information about our school and our sporting activities, visit us!