High School Sport

High School Athletics are something that is taken for granted here in America. Through the reading, I learned that High School Athletics is a rare to some countries. The United States is the only nation that has sponsors and has a huge focus on interscholastic athletics. I personally was involved in high school athletics and currently coach a high school team. I found what I learned very interesting.

There can be many arguments to what the social conditions for high school sport emerged. I learned that an example of football in Odessa, Texas, football was used to show masculinity among men. This shows that socially at the time, it was necessary for boys in high school to show how masculine they were. It has also been an opportunity for young women to participate in sport. In our history, women have been oppressed and as a result they were able to participate in athletics in our history. Overall the support/emergence of high school sports comes from our unique American Culture that supports high school athletic programs in a positive way.

There are many objectives for high school sport. There has been a positive correlation of high GPA and participation of high school athletics. Grades is an effect of the participation; however, some participants see an objective of trying to be a collegiate athlete. It is impossible to compete in college athletics if you didn't do well in high school or attend high school. While this is an objective I see while I coach, it also creates a sense of identity among athletes. It helps them find their strengths while learning to be disciplined high school athletes.

Like stated, high school and collegiate athletics is a widely accepted activity in America. According to Coakley we learn that: "the United States is the only nation in the world where it is take for granted that high schools and colleges sponsor and fund interschool or varsity sport programs" (Coakley 472). All states have a high school athletic organization. In Colorado, CHSAA is the governing high school athletic organization. According to CHSAA, "In May of 1921, a group of superintendents and principals met in Boulder, Colorado, and organized the Colorado High School Athletic Conference. The purpose of this organization was to better regulate and develop the interscholastic school athletic program.". Clearly, the emergence of high school athletics caused states to react with athletic organizations. While sports in America play an important role, if it wasn't for state athletic organizations, there would be no continuity among high school athletics.

While there are many positive effects of interscholastic athletics, there are also some negative implications. These negative implications have resulted in arguments against interscholastic sports. Some of these claims include, distraction from academics, they create a hierarchy of athletes in school, and can often time cost a lot of money to maintain. These claims exist because there is an idea that high school administrators should emulate big-time intercollegiate sports. They try to over develop sport programs in schools in order to try to seem as desirable to colleges/universities. With administrators with an emphasis on the development of programs, athletes tend to over conform to the sport ethic. This can have negative effects on their lives outside of athletics, i.e., grades, identity confusion, and relationships.

To solve this issue, I believe the addition of an athletic director whose main focus is student athletes will help maintain the emphasis on school and sports. The idea of eligibility due to grades has already had an effect on high schools. Most schools won't allow their students to participate unless they have certain grades in their classes. With athletic directors who focus on both school and sports, there is a promising future for athletes when their athletic careers end. They will become more well-rounded and educated.

Clearly high school sports play a big role in our society. We sometimes don't realize that they are a "seed" in which feeds universities, which then feeds professional programs. Interscholastic sports is unique to our society and clearly has both positive and negative implications. In order for sports to continue at both the college and high school levels, I believe that there needs to be a social norm of athletes becoming more well rounded as a student. Being a high school coach, this article and Coakley have opened my eyes to a world that should be more than just sports, but having a well rounded athlete.

References:
http://chsaanow.com/history/sketch/
Coakley
Dohrmann