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Gabriela Pacheco
Ms. E. Parrish
English 1010, 4A
March 11, 2015
Sports are a Big Deal Here
Athletic skills are acquired over a long period of time and after countless hours of
practice, but has the pursuit for athletic success forced compromise with academics? As a High
School athlete who has been a participant in countless sports from precision drill team to
competitive contact sports such as soccer and softball, I personally know the difficulty in time
management. Although, I always knew that no matter what, grades came first. I remember
sacrificing homework time to go to practice. Sports did tend to get in the way of education.
The focus of education in high school has been blurred with that of sports. This problem
has been pointed out and reviewed by Amanda Ripley in The Case against High School sports,
published in The Atlantic in 2013. Ripley informs readers of the unbalanced focus between
education and sports in high schools. Ripley starts by pointing out how sports are embedded in
American schools in a way they are not anywhere else.(1) She does this by giving readers the
perspectives of teenagers who have moved to the United States who claim that kids in America
cared more about sports than their peers back home.(1) Giving us perspective through fresh
eyes.
She then gives us a quick background of sports in the United States explaining why we
seem to be so devoted to sports. Although it is brief it truly opened the readers eyes to why
sports just seem to be the norm making a nice transition into the case of Premont. Premont was
a high school in Texas that was practically forced to suspend all sports in order not to get shut

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down. This case shows the benefits that a high school gained by taking out sports: improved test
scores, calmer environment and teachers devoted to planning lessons. This decision led the
school to focus more on education. Ripley doesn't forget to give the readers a little insight on
how the students and teachers felt about the cut of sports. She gives specific details of just how
devastated some of the students felt about having to give sports up. Many of the students
including some teachers transferred that year to another school that offered sports.
She then goes on to inform readers of the financial cost of sports and gives examples of
where that money goes and where it could go. Much of the costs for sports are buried in
unidentifiable places.(5) What we don't realize is that it cost more than just busses for
transportation and paying for a substitute that is filling in for the teacher/coach, not to mention
officials for each and every game. We have become so oblivious to how costly sports really are,
but Ripley claims that low level distraction may be the greatest cost of all. According to research
done at the University of Oregon, the better the team did, the less they would study.
In one of Ripleys counterclaims she talked to other principals who were not outraged
about the cost or time that sports took up. In fact they fiercely defended it if I could wave a
magic wand, Id have more athletic opportunities for students, not less, Said Bigham one of the
principles that Ripley had interviewed. Principles claimed that sports were like bait for
students. Bigham claimed that when students have a sense of belonging, they feel tied to the
school, they feel more a part of the process. Ripley argues that the dominant argument is that
sports lure students into school and keep them out of trouble but this is only relevant for a small
portion of students.
Throughout the article, she compares America to other countries and brings up the fact
that the U.S ranks 31st on an international math test. Placing so low may have something to do

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with a portion of our high school focus on sports, compared to other countries where they solely
focus on education. Of course she never states this; it is more implied. She states that Asian
countries have a hypercompetitive pressure-cooker approach to academics that in many ways
mirrors the American approach to sports.(8) Overall she never claims that she is against sports,
in fact she used to play sports when in high school herself. She only wants the focus on sports to
be equivalent to that of education.
Thought Ripley's paper I feel as though she left out a lot of information on what good
sports do for students. I can personally say that although yes sports are time consuming and
costly, I have learned many great skills from them that I am going to take with me throughout my
life. Things such as communication, good leadership skills and great health! I also do not think
that she had the right to compare America's education/test scores to other countries because in
America we educate all and everyones test score get recorded, But in other countries such as
Korea they only educate a select few making test score inaccurate.
After reading The Case against High School Sports It really has opened my mind to
just how accustomed we have become to the idea of sports in high school. Sports are a big deal
in high school, but like it or not they seem to be coming to a point where they are colliding with
our education. Having played sports I can agree that they are very time consuming; when I got
home from a four hour practice the last thing on my mind was to finish homework or study for a
test the following day. Is it time that we cut sports from high school? No, but we do need to find
a better balance between the two. My experience in high school I was always on the newspaper
for my athletic success but never my above average GPA. I believe that if we glorified getting
good grades as much as we did the leading scorers of say the basketball team that kids would be
more motivated to getting good grades.

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Throughout Ripleys paper we never got the perspective of the athletes parents or parents
in general so I conducted an interview of my own and asked parents of athletes and nonathletic
students on how sports affected their childs education. I started my interview off with asking
Desiree Tukumoeatu Mother of two outstanding athletes; Pauline publicist of the drill team and
Suli the star of the Granger high school football team. I asked Ms.Tukumoeatu if sports were
ever an issue to their students grades. She said For Suli no hes always on top of his grades he
keeps them up because he wants to play, but for Pauline she has struggled with her grades. I like
to think its not because of drill but she is taking a lot of honors classes that require one to do a
lot of homework, and with her being at practice all the time it is hard for her to fit in time to do
it.
I asked the same question to Mother of Nati Leonardini who did not play sports in high
school. So I asked Ms. Leonardini if she felt sports ever interfered with her education she told
me that no because she didn't play sports it never really got in the way besides the time she
would go to cheer the teams on but she still always got good grades. What Im trying to point out
in this interview is that sports can be beneficial to some and not so much to others but if we learn
to balance the time between doing school work and sports such as Nati and Suli then sports can
be a Fun and beneficial way to pass the time.
Although Ripley and I dont exactly have the same views on the topic I know that we can
both agree that sports do have a big impact in our Education system. The truth of the matter is
that we dont want to get rid of sports we just want balance. There is a thin line between sports
and education but at the end of the day we must know where the line falls. The problem is that
once sports become important to the school, they start colliding with academics. Olga black. We
must understand that sports must never come over education. Yes sports take much time away

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from us but when we have a balance that allows us to focus on both sports and education we nae
worry. The moment sports become a greater focus then education is when we will have a
problem because after all high school is a place for learning.
High School isnt about being the star quarterback of the football team or captain of the
cheerleading squad. Although it is great to participate in sports it is also important to get good
grades and obtain knowledge.

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Works Cited
Desiree Tukumoeatu.Are sports ever an issue to their children's grades. Personal Interview. 8
Mar. 2015
Leonardini.Are sports ever an issue to their children's grades. Personal Interview.8 Mar. 2015
Ripley, Amanda.The Case against High School Sports. Atlantic 18 sep.2013. Print.