Should you be forced to take part in sports? Currently, each Wilmington Friends School student is required to take part in an after-school sport at least once during the school year. Some believe that sports shouldn’t be mandatory. Doing sports can be fairly restricting for those who might already have means of staying in shape, as well as those who just don’t want to do sports that are offered by the school. In fact, if you have a sport outside of school that you want to do, it can only be one that the school does not offer, such as fencing or golf. For those who want to worry more about academics than sports, they should have the option to not do sports, especially if they feel that a sport could get in the way of schoolwork. While students have the option to choose which sport they want and when they have to do it, they might not want to do a sport at all.

While WFS does require you participate in a sport during the year, some other high schools in Maryland do not require any sports during the entire year. So why is there separation between schools in terms of sports requirement? Daniel Scott, an English teacher at WFS, said: “There are many countries that separate their academic programs from their extracurriculars more, and nearly every one of them ranks higher than the USA in terms of education achievement. Certainly sports can teach lessons that classrooms can’t, but it’s still worth noting.” He also reinforced the idea that people should have the option to focus on academics rather than sports. Thomas Hilder, ’17, commented, “sports should be optional, and people should do what they want to.” This statement backs up how freedom is necessary, especially in high school. The general argument is that students should have freedom over whether or not they should be forced to participate in athletics, and reasons such as Mr. Scott’s give strong evidence as to why students should not be forced to.

However some, like Computer Science teacher, Jenks Whittenburg, think that sports should be mandatory. He said, “If it’s not mandatory, those who are naturally good will do it [the sport] and those who are new will be intimidated, and not want to join. If it is mandatory, then those who are new might enjoy being a part of a team and enjoy the sport.” Mr. Whittenburg is speaking from experience, as he never thought about doing a sport in high school, until he joined the lacrosse team. It was a positive experience for him and now he coaches middle school. James Tallman, ’19, says, “Since sports are mandatory, this allows there to be no separation of those who play sports and those who don’t.” Ryan Fischer, ’18, commented, “It’s all about gaining experience. I did wrestling in middle school, but I didn’t like it very much. I got nosebleeds, I threw up at meets, but what I got out of it was an experience.” These cases are compelling, but in  Tallman’s and Whittenburg’s cases, there could be alternate outcomes. Some students may not enjoy doing a certain sport, and some may feel even more intimidated based on their amount of experience. Although Fischer said that he got an experience, some kids may not want to potentially risk their health for an experience that they might not want to have.

In high school, students are busy enough with schoolwork, picking out college, and other extracurriculars, so why burden them with something like sports? It’s clear that some people want options, and by being forced to do sports they are being limited in terms of options and choices that can significantly affect their high school careers.