Michael Smerconish ’14
Rohan Rajagopalan

The athletic requirement is one of the most vital parts of our experience at Episcopal. The athletic requirement promotes the ideology expressed in the Episcopal Academy mission statement: “Challenging and nurturing Mind, Body, and Spirit, we inspire boys and girls to lead lives of purpose, faith, and integrity.”

Gina Buggy, Director of the Athletic Department, stated, “It allows for some flexibility, it encourages students to take a risk, it allows for the multi-sport athlete to be successful, and it provides a safe foundation for the student who might not otherwise have elected to participate.” The sports requirement is a necessity at Episcopal because of the multitude of benefits it brings the school, students and community.

Harvard Medical School psychiatrist John Ratey recently said that “exercise is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of mood, memory, and learning.” Furthermore, the US News and World Report conducted research surrounding the benefits of exercise and sports. The acquired data showed that exercise actually reverses the effects of stress through the release of “brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.” The study also noted, “burning off 350 calories three times a week through sustained, sweat-inducing activity can reduce symptoms of depression about as effectively as antidepressants.” However, these benefits were secondary to what, according to the study, would be most essential to our high school environment: the “improvement of self-esteem and improved body-image.” This not only helps students in the short term, but also can benefit a student’s life in the long term.

Scholastic sports are more necessary to our society now than ever as they serve to channel America’s youth into focused activities that occupy time. In 2009, the Washington Post released an article describing the effects of a recent two billion dollar cut to youth sports. The study showed that the decreased funds were “contributing to a range of problems afflicting the nation’s youth, including obesity, violence and academic failure.” Brian Greenwood, an assistant professor at California Polytechnic State University said, “We can’t afford that potential negative impact. If a kid doesn’t have somewhere to go, something to do to occupy their time, unfortunately what they do more often than not is end up in trouble.”

In the Washington Post article, one of the most troubling factors of a cutback in sports was an increase in obesity. Figures from ABC news estimate that “by the year 2030, nearly every American will be overweight or obese.” This is something that neither our healthcare system nor the common health of the people can afford. The best way to combat this augmenting figure is for schools like Episcopal to, as Buggy put it, have “the students gain an appreciation for the importance of working out and staying in good physical shape,” something a good sports program does.

Other than preventing the problems plaguing many youth across the country, the sports requirement at Episcopal provides invaluable lessons on leadership and teamwork. The sense of camaraderie that exists in teams provides opportunity for leadership and teamwork that cannot be attained in a classroom setting. Sports also force students from different grades, backgrounds and social circles into a group striving for a common goal, thus exposing students to other ideas and enabling them to interact with others.

The sports requirement at Episcopal embodies an Episcopal ideal: challenging the individual and benefitting its students with a little hard work. As Gina Buggy declared, “Not everyone is athletically gifted, but certainly there are benefits to participating on some level in a sport at Episcopal.” In order for continued success, the school must proceed in enforcing the sports requirement.