School sports is a safety net for youths: Less active youngsters often have problems trying to cope with life

Sporting News, The, March 25, 1996 by Richard Lapchick

Campaign politics 1996 appear to be inevitably leading to a "balanced budget" sometime in the next years. Unfortunately, funding for education is one of the target sites for the budget busters. And at the high school level, ground zero frequently seems to be sports programs.

While students' test scores decline, and drugs, gangs and violence increasingly permeate schools, sports are often viewed as an expensive frill. Calls for increased allotments for math, the sciences and language skills have a compelling and clear ring. The necessity to keep good teachers with better incentives is indisputable.

There is no doubt schools need critical new revenues to pull themselves out of the crises we find in education and not reduced funds as some politicians argue. Furthermore, cutting or eliminating school sports programs may be one more blow at the chances for youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to break out of the cycle of low self-esteem or historic discrimination that so many are trapped in.

Data analyzed by violence expert James Fox, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, shows juvenile crime peaks between 3 and 6 p.m. Fox says if we take away the sports activities that occupy nearly 20 percent of our students during those hours, we will be markedly increasing the opportunities for trouble.

Budget cuts already have closed many recreation centers, zoos, playgrounds and ballparks that youths used to flock to after school. With 57 percent of American families having both parents working or are headed by a single parent, a child at home alone can be exposed to trash-talking talk shows or witness violence first hand - and it becomes part of their viewing patterns.

Still, many adults are increasingly wary of sports. Stories about extraordinary salaries, reported ethical violations of sports administrators or athletes being arrested have taken away the luster of our games. Suggestions to cut high school sports programs or close another recreation center do not meet the resistance they once did.

Innumerable studies show the value of sport to its youthful participants is incontrovertible. Boys and girls list "fun" as the most important reason they play. Few would disagree that chances for "wholesome fun" activities for children are fewer than when today's adults were children. But for African Americans and women, there are much more compelling reasons.

A 1993 Lou Harris Survey on high school athletics showed that many African American high school student athletes, while still carrying the unrealistic belief that they can be the newest rising star, now clearly understand that playing sports is a vehicle that can deliver educational, social and life-skill benefits that will help them be productive members of society.

Although white male student athletes also reported benefits from playing team sports, the benefits seemed to accrue in significant disproportion to African American and female student athletes.

The student athletes, including 76 percent of African Americans and most female student athletes, are asked for a minimum "C" average for eligibility in sports. They want us to ask more of them. Currently, 44 states do not require a "C" average.

Dropout rates in urban communities are soaring. Sports is a safety net for the 57 percent of African American student athletes who say that playing sports helps "a great deal" in staying in school; 70 percent say sports helps them to focus increased attention on work in the classroom.

As overt acts of racism and the number of school-based hate groups climb, the survey shows team sports create bonds that cut across racial lines; 76 percent of all white and African American student-athletes say they became friends with someone from another racial or ethnic group while playing sports.

While drugs increasingly pervade the lives of many teenagers, 65 percent of African American students say playing in sports helps "a great deal" in avoiding drugs.

Society as a whole seems to grow increasingly fearful of urban youth. It should be heartened to know that 44 percent of all African American student-athletes say playing sports helps them "a great deal" to become a better citizen.

According to various studies compiled by the Women's Sports Foundation, the benefits of participation for girls are also critical. Girls who play sports are significantly less likely to use drugs or get pregnant; they have higher self-esteem and less depression. They graduate from high school and college at much higher rates than girls and women who don't compete in sports.

We need more, not less, resources for education. And we do need high school sports and open recreation centers. Sports participation allows our children the chance to be better prepared when it's their turn to lead America.