Many individuals from all walks of life enjoy sports. Some may play them, while others might just like to watch them on TV or in person. You might even have an individual sometimes who likes both watching sporting events and playing them casually with friends on the weekends.
What about students, though? If you get into a high-level collegiate environment, then there’s a chance that sports might distract you. You could certainly make the argument that a preoccupation with athletic pursuits might rob someone in school of the impetus to learn in an academic setting.
Of course, these days, anyone who gets into college has a plethora of tools they can use to help them. Students with an urgent homework task to complete might just Google “do my assignment” and hire a professional writer from one of the many websites that exist for this purpose. Others have come to rely on AI technology innovations for help with their take-home work.
Can such options offset the distraction of athletic contests for students? Is there a positive side to sporting events that makes them worthwhile for individuals pursuing their higher education?
These are valid questions, and it behooves us to discuss the answers now.
The Conventional Viewpoint: Athletics Distract College Attendees
To begin, we’ll take what most people would consider to be the classic or standard viewpoint regarding how sports impacts students. Many teachers, professors, or administrators might say the following:
- Taking part in athletic pursuits can distract young people from their studies
- There’s not enough time to both play sports and dedicate enough time to learning the material for a class
There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to back that up. If you have a young person who gets into baseball, football, soccer, or something else, their grades might suffer. If they don’t know how to maximize their study time while also practicing and playing the sport that appeals to them, then their grades may start to slip.
However, there’s another aspect to all of this that’s worth mentioning. If a young person gets into college on an athletic scholarship, then they might be called upon to attend and pass classes that are not particularly difficult. If a school that emphasizes winning NCAA football games has their quarterback flunk out because they can’t pass a remedial algebra class, then that’s a bad look for them.
With this in mind, many high-level athletes, especially those that get into credible schools via scholarship programs, are given very easy schedules. The classes are made to be as easy as possible so that these athletes can perform on the field or the court.
The Opposite End of the Spectrum: Athletics Sharpen Discipline
There’s another way to look at this whole concept, though, and it takes the exact opposite viewpoint. There are some individuals, and coaches and athletic trainers usually fall into this category, who believe that you can actually get better in your scholastic efforts if you start involving yourself in sports. They believe:
- That you sharpen your focus if you take up a sport
- That attention to detail and dedication to excellence will lead you to get better grades
If you follow this mindset, then you might believe that individuals who start playing soccer or baseball will show improvement in the classroom. If they are both intellectually gifted and skilled on the field or court, then they might prove that you can be a star in both contexts.
It’s always possible that this might happen. Think about former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, for instance. He attended Harvard and also played in the National Football League for 17 seasons.
Which of These Approaches is the Right One?
Professors or administrators at colleges who think sporting events negatively impact someone’s scholastic pursuits might say the example of Ryan Fitzpatrick is the exception and not the rule. They might feel that even if there’s occasionally someone who can prove their star quality both in the classroom and outside of it, they’re some kind of aberration.
Maybe there’s something to that. It’s difficult to say definitively that involving yourself in a sport will have a positive or negative impact on your grades or improve or lessen your chances of passing your classes. You might see:
- One person whose classroom performance gets worse the more time they dedicate to athletics
- Another who starts to see their grades climb as they begin to find success in a sporting environment
It’s Not the Same for Any Two Athletes
No two individuals are the same, and this argument reflects that. You can’t say with any certainty what getting into a team or individual sport does to an aspiring athlete. It’s probably best to let them try it if they’re interested. Time will tell whether they have the mental capacity to succeed on two fronts.
As for young people who let sports distract them for other reasons besides playing them, it’s probably safe to say that being a fan isn’t helping them find their footing in the classroom. Consider a situation where a school has a well-known football program, and every year they have high-profile games in their stadium.
Someone who’s a freshman and doesn’t have a lot of dedication to their studies might use those events as excuses to party and overindulge with alcohol. They might attend every game and sit in the stands with friends.
A hungover Sunday might follow when they should be studying and doing their homework. They may still do it, but the quality might be poor. They may also not have the mental focus to study for a test on Monday. They may fail that exam because they were too focused on sports.
Should Access Be Restricted?
That might lead some people to conclude that sports-related activities or events should be avoided if you want to get a college degree. There’s probably no need to jump to such a conclusion.
Many young people, regardless of whether they play a sport or just watch it, are able to do well in school. Just as many flunk out because they’re being distracted too much.
In most cases, though, it makes little sense to blame any one thing for such failures. If you’re intelligent and dedicated to doing well in school, you will probably find a way to excel regardless of what you do in your free time. The tenacity and time-management skills of each young person make the biggest impact.
