Sixth Grade Sports

In previous years, sixth graders at St. John’s were allowed to play on a school team sport. But two years ago, the school removed the option.

All throughout Lower School, students learned to play all kinds of team sports. For example, I’ve played softball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, dance, and swimming. Despite this training and experience, St. John’s decided to prevent us from playing team sports in sixth grade and instead provide an extra taste of a variety of team sports. We had prepared for middle school team sports for six years, yet now we must go through another year of physical education.

Earlier this year, a group of girls had an St. John the Divine United Church Athletic League basketball team. But after two practices, the team closed, because there weren’t enough teams to have a league. Because other schools had school team sports, our opportunity to play in the church league was taken away.

According to NewportAcademy.com, sports decrease rates of stress, anxiety and depression. I believe that sports help clear your head and help you relax. This does not mean, however, that St. John’s physical education is not stimulating. With sixth grade sports, we would be able to participate in an actual sports league and apply what we had been improving upon for the last six years.

Sixth graders are part of the middle school community, so we should have the same rights as the older kids, including joining sports teams. And, if coaches are concerned about our health or getting injured while playing a sport, many middle schools allow sixth graders to play only the sports that don’t involve a large risk of getting injured (like football).

Another reason that coaches might be holding students back from playing on a team might be that they think that we will “underestimate a sport.” Many of the physical education coaches have told us that one reason why they are holding us back is because they think that we don’t know a sport, and if we try it, we will like it. I think that at our age (eleven to thirteen) we have had enough experience throughout our life — whether outside of school, P.E. or somewhere else — that we are already prepared to make a commitment to sports we are passionate about.
Also, as shown in “The Importance of Sports in School” from “The Asian School,” being on a sports team develops leadership skills, cooperation, teamwork, self-confidence, and self-esteem, all of which lead to better performance in our academics.

Sixth graders should have the opportunity to be on a school sports team because we are prepared to represent the St. John’s Community.