21 Dec Why Have Sports at SSA?
Why Have Sports at SSA?
by Tim Tsuei
I love high school sports! I especially love the opportunity to participate in the emerging sports program at St. Stephen’s Academy, as both a parent and a coach. There are many things about an athletic program that I’ve found to be enjoyable, but during my first season as the cross-country coach, I’ve been reminded anew of the inherent value of high school sports.
It may seem obvious since sports is an “extracurricular” activity, but practical value comes from student-athletes learning how to manage their Time. Our sport of cross-country requires devoted time, 6 days a week, spent running. There aren’t shortcuts to success. What you put into the sport is what you’ll get out of the sport, and the same holds true across other disciplines. Students have to learn to balance this practice time (and rest time, and nutrition time) with their family activities and their academic activities. At the beginning of the season, I told the XC team that they’d have to learn to prioritize. Maybe an athlete gives up the post-school break on Instagram and Snapchat during the season so they prioritize time to run. Maybe less time is spent staying up late binge-watching Netflix in return for quality sleep. Sports, at the high school level, is valuable for beginning the lifelong discipline of making wise decisions with the use of time.
Sports is also valuable in Testing; both physically and mentally. Just like we have quizzes, tests and homework in our academic classes at St. Stephen’s, individual athletes need to be tested in order to improve. Each of us typically has limitations that we put on ourselves; we might think that we can’t sing, or we can’t dance, or we could never run a mile. Sports allows us to expand those boundaries and achieve things that we’ve never dreamed possible. Ask your fellow Archers how far they thought they could run or how fast they could run when they started this sport. I daresay that most of them have far exceeded what they thought possible. Preparing, testing, succeeding, or failing and then trying again…this process of testing is valuable for the rest of life. Sports tests your body, your will and your spirit.
Perhaps the most precious and valuable lesson that comes with high school athletics is being part of a Team. Sports allows one to be in a community of individuals, striving for a common goal. Being on a team enables us to be part of something bigger than ourselves, striving to become stronger or faster or more fit together. Being on a team allows us to build trust in others. You’ll have moments of weakness and discouragement and a teammate will pick you up. Your joys will be higher and your lows will be tempered by the bond of community that you’ll find on a sports team.
In the New Testament, God gives the community of Christians 59 “one-another” instructions. You know these verses; “Love one another,” “serve one another,” “spur one another on to love and good works.” God calls people unto Himself by joining them to a community of believers. In a similar way, being part of a sports program also allows us to be part of a community as a team. It’s an opportunity to exercise our time and talents for the glory of God.