All,
I'm building a "business case" to start a high school swim team at my daughters' charter high school. The school is very academically oriented (which I love) and has not had sports programs. However, I've got initial support from some teachers and parts of the administration to explore this. Being a lifelong swimmer, I know how valuable sports can be, but I need some external validation of this (school was founded by two, PhD economists).
I'd love any input on the following:
Does there exist academic research (or even strong case studies) that demonstrates the value of high school swimming relative to:
academic performance
college admission
Can anyone point me to a list (or lists) of the kinds of academic + athletic award programs that exist for high school swimmers that can then be further used to bolster their admission opportunities to top tier universities?
Thanks for any help.
Hmmmm - I work in a high school and I know that the state high school athletics governing body (MIAA - Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) gives awards for academic excellence for teams where the kids have above x academic average. I also know that the swim team used to apply for (and receive) the academic excellence award all the time - much more often than other sports. So there may be some stats at the MIAA website about how many teams get this designation.
Anecdotally, the high school swim team in my city has always had a wildly disproportionate number of National Honors Society members. In fact, for several years the entire junior and senior contingent were NHS members.
CHicken? Egg? WHo knows?
I wish I had some stats for you. I'm sure they're out there though
Hmmmm - I work in a high school and I know that the state high school athletics governing body (MIAA - Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) gives awards for academic excellence for teams where the kids have above x academic average. I also know that the swim team used to apply for (and receive) the academic excellence award all the time - much more often than other sports. So there may be some stats at the MIAA website about how many teams get this designation.
Anecdotally, the high school swim team in my city has always had a wildly disproportionate number of National Honors Society members. In fact, for several years the entire junior and senior contingent were NHS members.
CHicken? Egg? WHo knows?
I wish I had some stats for you. I'm sure they're out there though
