High school sports are a big deal around the United States and numerous factions feel that sports are taking away from the real goal education has, which is academics. The Atlantic discusses that high school sports around the world are not as big of deal as they are in the states, and people think that because of that other countries have a grasp on better education and higher test scores. There are other factors than academics that sports contribute to, and that's bullying, stereotypes, gender, the way one looks and many more. Are high school sports doing as much good as people think or are they preventing more positive things from happening? In my opinion high school sports make students more mature, more active, and teach them how to work as a team and lead a team as well. These are just some examples of what high school sports are capable of that sitting in a class is not. 

Playing sports in high school form some of the best memories and teach many lessons used on and off the field. The memories of winning games, scoring goals and having fun with teammates are memories that will always be remembered, because high school sports is where my soccer career ended and high school sports for majority of students around the world is where it ends for them as well. Academics are easily the most important and I know many coaches communicate to their athletes that academics come first, but I also think coaches should attempt to make it more important. Around the country many star athletes get an easier high school education just because of their talents they have on the court or field and usually continues through out college. I am a strong believer that sports teach lessons that sitting in a desk will never teach a student.  Sports teach athletes how to win or lose and how to act when either outcome occurs. Sports also display how to have a passion for something, and prove that there will always be something to look forward too and be excited about. Along with school spirit, maturity, perseverance, teamwork, sportsmanship and how to have fun. These are lessons that academics have trouble teaching high school students, but sports will never. 

After doing my first two assignments on snowboarding, I realized I could not find enough information on the topic. Although snowboarding is my favorite thing to do, I also love regular sports like soccer and basketball. I chose to write about high school sports and the affect they have on academics or if there is an affect at all. I chose this because high school is where my soccer career ended and it was my life for many years. I grew up playing sports and my dad always said that I always needed to be playing a sport no matter what sport it was to keep active. I continued to play sports as I grew up and will continue to force that upon my kids as they grow up. This is a value of mine that sports will always play a big role in my life and this topic affects the future generation and myself. Growing up playing sport I realize now how much they taught me that the classroom never could.  Although in high school I took sports more seriously than schoolwork, it did affect me and where I was able to apply for college later on. Although I would not change how my life played out so far, I realized that academics are more important than sports and that students should take academics more seriously. The reason I am qualified to write about this topic is I went to high school and played competitive high school sports. I grew up in New Jersey, the powerhouse of high school sports and I know how serious these sports get. I also know how sports can take over someone's life, when more important things like academics, family and friends should come first. 

The central claim of the articles I gathered was that high school sports are more serious than academics and affecting what really matters, which is education. Also that the united states takes sports way more seriously than any other countries and people think that this is why we do not have as good as test scores than other country's. Amanda Ripley is the author of this article and is a writer for The Atlantic. She used a lot of secondary sources from students that came from out of the country, to go to school in the states. She also used other articles about the topic to back her argument. All her sources are credible because they are secondary sources and statistics and information used from articles like the New York Times. 

An article I found argues that the lessons taught playing a sport are rare to come across in the classroom. The author discuses that from research sports help with socializing and character building. A lot of the articles discussed what most athletes take away from sports, but also talks about the negative out come of sports and how it sometimes distracts students from their academics. The author is currently a research professor for the sports administration program at the university of New Mexico. He worked at several universities around the country and when he wrote this article he was working at the University of Connecticut. He specializes in the sociology of sports and because of his background in sports and education makes him very credible. 

An article that is going to help me prove my thesis talks about how high school student athletes perform better in school and have more of an objective to graduate high school, than non-athletes. The author correlates this to the kids who graduate high school become more successful and the ones who do not graduate go down hill, and have a higher chance to rend up in poverty and get hooked on drugs. Students from Kansas University wrote the article and found research for it. They used information from professors and staff members from the university that specialize in this area of study. The reason they are credible and trustworthy is that they are using secondary sources from professors to make a claim that student athletes do better in school than no-athletes. 

My research question is arguable since there are two sides. One that says high school sports are too serious and taking away from academics and another that says that sports teach a lot that academics cannot. An agreement is that sports actually do teach kids a lot that sitting in a desk wont and a disagreement is that because of sports athletes do worse in school and because of that America's education suffers. I have a strong stance on high school sports, but reading some of these articles makes one realize how serious sports in the states are and how the U.S. can adjust this problem so student athletes find the importance in their education, while participating in sports. High school sports will always be around and continue to be competitive and serious, but there is a solution to how serious it gets and how athletes will put their academics first.  I can revise my research question by narrowing it down by specific states that are the most serious in high school sports. Also find specific statistics for those states to back my argument. 

