I played both volleyball and basketball in high school, and both of these sports have given me skills that I will use throughout my life, going beyond shooting a free throw or hitting the 10-foot line.
Very few high school athletes will go on to play their sport in college, and even fewer still will go on to professional leagues. However, contrary to popular belief, team sports have an impact on athletes’ lives beyond peaking in high school.
Playing team sports in high school can help your social skills develop as you have to learn how to cooperate in a system, and it also gives you more of a competitive drive.
Team sports are not the only thing that can give you a step up after graduation. Individual sports and even other group extracurriculars like band can also change the way you interact with people as you mature.
By my senior year, I was a captain in both sports. In my experience, captainship was something that everyone on the team, including myself, strived for without really knowing why. It was just a cool title to add.
In reality, being a captain helped me learn how to be a more effective leader, especially in the sense that I often served as the spokesperson to the referees when my team received a call we did not like. This taught me how to disagree civilly.
Captainship also helped me learn how to be a more authoritative figure while still answering to our coach. Sometimes when people are granted power, they take it and run. However, I still had to learn how to function in a chain of command.
One time, I did not agree that the lineup my coach had put in the game was the best option. I let him know my thoughts afterward, and even presented an alternative, but he stood firm with the lineup he used.
However, being a captain is not the only way to gain and grow these skills. My freshman year, I was on varsity volleyball, but I only ever played in two games. My athletic abilities had nothing to do with the success of this team, but we made it all the way to the state semifinal match.
Even being able to experience this camaraderie without playing was beneficial to my sense of how the team aspect worked. I was still in practice every day, learning how to get better as a team, and I was still working on improving my personal skills.
In addition to social skills gained by playing sports, there are also academic skills gained. High school athletics can give a strengthened sense of competition and drive. This has helped me perform better in school because I always seem to be competing with myself to get the best grade I can.
The drive that sports have given me always pushes me to turn in everything on time, because while I may leave my assignments unfinished until the last minute, I always push myself to finish them before the due date.
Once, I had a five-page paper due for my English class on the same day I was playing in a basketball tournament. I had known about this essay for a few weeks, but I still left it until the last day. But because of my drive to finish everything before the due date, the essay was submitted before the 5 p.m. deadline.
Competitive drive, learning how to work in a system and becoming more of a leader are all skills that I will take with me throughout my whole life. I believe they will help me perform better in a working environment after college and may even help me find better jobs sooner.
While I may have left my sports behind, a piece of them will always be with me.
