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Jarrale Daniels
Mr. Hackney
Rhetoric 101
1 December 2014
Football: More Than Just A Sport
John Wayne, Virginia Woolf, Sylvester Stallone, Willie Nelson, Brad Pitt, John Irving,
Tina Fey, Barack Obama. At first glance, this assembly of names looks random and unorganized,
however they all have two qualities in common. The first is that they are all successful
individuals. Whether it be a professional writer, an admirable actor or actress, or the president of
the United States, they all are what we could consider successful in the world. The second is they
played some sort of sport during their tenure in high school. I believe that this success was
attained by their participation in athletics. High school sports have recently become a point of
interest, because of students increasing desire to participate in these activities.
Some people believe that sports like football, basketball, or baseball, have overshadowed
the true purpose of high school: being educated. Supporters of this stance believe that schools
should eradicate sports, restoring, in their mind, the accurate motive behind these institutions.
However, others believe sports should continue to be associated with high school because
athletics benefit individuals later on in ones existence. Supporters of this theory also believe that
success in sports leads to success in the classroom,thus boosting a schools academic
capabilities. Although athletics have become tremendously popular, studies show sports do not
hinder a schools ability to provide teens with a proper education. Rather, sports benefit an
individuals life in all aspects, giving them qualities like leadership and discipline.

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Opposers of sports believe that there has been a message being spread in our high schools
that corrupts the minds of teenagers. They believe that sports should be taken out of the school
system. This message is fueled by the assumption that athletics have taken over as the main
cause of being in high school. Individuals like Amanda Ripley, author of The Smartest Kids in
the World and How They Got That Way, believe athletics shapes kids priorities. She
believes that in America, sports are too glorified, allowing proper education to become a
secondary option to having a successful life. Ripley performed an interesting study on the
impressions of exchange students about America to support her claim. Doing well at sports was
in the U.S. just as important as having good grades, said a German student Ripley interviewed.
Personally, I do agree with her claim that sports have become rather popular, however athletics
have not overtaken education has the focus of high school. Her research does support her claim
about sports being adored, however her insistence that the increased exposure of sports eats
away at the focus and integrity of our schools is hypocrisy itself.
I have always believed that participating in an extracurricular activity outside of class not
only makes one well rounded, but leads to increased success in the classroom. Going back to my
earlier list, all of those individuals had two things in common: success and high school sports. To
the normal person, there seems to be no connection between the two accolades in the life of each
individual on the list. Having said that, Jay P. Greene and Daniel H. Bowen, professor at the
University of Arkansas and post-doctoral fellow at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at
Rice University, respectively, have performed research refuting Ripleys belief. In their research
they prove that there is no reason to believe that schools that emphasize sports do so at the
expense of other educational goals (Bowen/Greene). Bowen and Greenes research challenges
the views of sports naysayers who assume that athletics bypass education. Their research shows

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that high school athletes exhibit higher grades and standardized test scores in mathematics and
language arts courses (Bowen/Greene). The standard way of viewing school is that the classes
that benefit one most in life are mathematics and English. If this standard generalization is
correct, which in my view is true, then since students who participate in sports fare better in
these two essential subjects the declaration that athletics better ones life is confirmed. This leads
to the next claim that sports hinder a schools ability to prepare teens for life.
Supporters of the abolishment of sports believe it is just, because they believe without
athletics teens can focus on life and not be enticed by the false perception that there is another
path to glory (Ripley). This path of course, is the assumption that the athlete will become a
professional in the sport of their choosing. Sociologist Earl Smith, author of Race, Sport and the
American Dream agrees with Ripley. Smith states [t]he primary mission of high school has
been supplanted and replaced by sports. Supporters of this stance believe things like expansions
of high school stadiums, coaches who do not have academic connection to the school, or
preseason camps (Smith) are all testimonies towards Smiths message. I do not deny that these
activities happen. Some high schools have participated in these activities, however, this does not
mean that sports have become the primary purpose of high school. Rather, they work together
and compliment each other as Bowen and Greene state.
Another claim that supporters of Smith and Ripley believe in, is that athletics do not
prepare students for life because the youth believe they will play through college and later in life.
Ripley declares that high school sports promote a fantasy with a short shelf life. She believes
that the luster of professional sports guides students towards a life that will never be or will be
short-lived. Many advocates of this opinion use of the amount of athletes who go on to play in
college, as a pillar in their defense.The NCAA performed a study on the amount of high school

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athletes who participate in college sports and professional sports after high school. The studies
do show that a small percentage of athletes playing high school sports like football, basketball,
and baseball go on to play in college, let alone at the professional level. I cannot refute numbers,
however the claim that this attraction to glory in sports hinder ones capability to have a
successful life.
Kevin Kniffin, a teacher of leadership and management in sports at Cornell University,
supports my viewpoint. He proclaims that [s]ports offer formative and life-long lessons that
stick with people who play. These life-long lessons are attributes such as leadership, discipline,
determination, and self respect. Kniffin does not stand alone in his view. Nicole M. LaVoi,
cofounder of the Minnesota Youth Sport research Consortium at the University of Minnesota and
associate director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sports, believes
sports can lead to social, psychological, moral, physical and health benefits. I wholeheartedly
support her view, because being a high school athlete I have seen tremendous benefits in my life
that I would not have seen if I did not choose to play football freshman year. These benefits will
stay with me later in life, according to Kniffin. [P]eople who played for a varsity high school
team tend to earn relatively higher salaries later in life (Kniffin). Making this comment, Kniffin
argues that students who participate in athletics receive higher pay in comparison to students
who did not play sports. Supporting this claim is his research on the topic. Kniffins research
invalidates Smith and Ripley and proves high school athletes tend to get better jobs, with better
pay (Kniffin). Kniffin attributes this claim to the qualities that sports offer to athletes that stay
with them. Thus, proving high school sports influence on success.
In conclusion, high school sports present multiple benefits in an individuals life and give
them numerous qualities that the individuals may not have received without being a part of

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them. If the appeasers of sports succeed in their efforts to eliminate sports in high school they
would be isolating students from the opportunities they can receive from the continuation of
athletics. Ask yourself, what is the case against sports? Barack Obama, Tina Fey, John Irving,
Brad Pitt, Willie Nelson, Sylvester Stallone, Virginia Woolf, John Wayne. They all would have a
different story without high school athletics being in their life.

Works Cited
Greene, Jay P., and Daniel H. Bowen. School And Sports Go Together. Room for
Debate. New York Times, 21 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
Kniffin, Kevin. High School Athletes Gain Lifetime Benefits. Room for Debate. New
York Times, 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.
Ripley, Amanda. School Should Be About Learning, Not Sports. Room for Debate.
New York Times, 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
Smith, Earl. Make Sports An After-School Activity, Not a Competitive Team. Room
for Debate. New York Times, 21 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.