To the Editor:
Don’t Short Change
Benefits of Sports
Arnold Sirota, you didn’t get it [a letter to the editor, “Cut Administrators, Not Athletics,” in the May 27 WW-P News]. I didn’t say that school sports are more important than academics. Academics always come first, but school sports are very important in a well-rounded education and do engender good health and longevity along the way, not to mention contribute to building character through perserverance, teamwork and sportsmanship, all of which lead to good citzenship and success in the workplace.
Schools have long recognized the importance of athletics in education, going back to the times of Plato and Aristotle. In fact, the most prestigious academic scholarship, the Rhodes Scholarship, recognizes excellence in academics and athletics. You said yourself that you didn’t play team sports, so how can you profess to know if they’re beneficial or not? Booksmarts don’t always equal common sense, and yes, there are a lot of out-of-shape intellectuals too.
I don’t have the disdain for computer geeks or bookworms that you have for athletes. I played team sports in high school but not college. I was no Jim Thorpe or Albert Einstein but I made a good showing on the playing field and in the classroom.
Speaking from the experience I had in team sports, I can attest to the long-term benefits to be derived from particpation. If you don’t want your tax dollars going toward school sports, that’s fine. Maybe we should put ALL special programs on the a la carte menu and only make people whose kids are in those programs pay, why stop at team sports?
Brian Reilly
Benford Drive, Princeton Junction
