Intramural sports are a tool almost every high school student here at CHS and around the nation can benefit from. Intramural sports can be defined as recreational sports in which teams play other schools near the area in various activities such as basketball, soccer, and volleyball. Most intramural sports are implemented at the collegiate level as a way for students to be active in the sport that they love without having to be on a serious, time consuming team that competitively plays for the school. Intramural sports are important for mental health, can promote physical activity without time constraint, and may drastically improve the physical well being of any high school student.

It is no secret that physical activity is great for the body, especially growing ones. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), regular physical activity in childhood and adolescence improves strength and endurance, helps build healthy bones and muscles, helps control weight, reduces anxiety and stress, increases self-esteem, and may improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels. With intramural sports, a student can utilize all of these health benefits without the competition being too serious or the sport being too time consuming. Becoming a part of a team is crucial for a student’s long-term social skills as well. Operating within group dynamics not only builds a solid foundation for potential employment prospects, but also enables people who might not otherwise have a social outlet.

The overall idea behind intramural sports is to have fun playing the sport that a student loves without the time restrictions and also to play at a lower level of competition than the teams that play for the school. For students that have very busy schedules and can barely make time to sleep, intramural sports are the best and easiest ways to get physical exercise, to have fun, and to interact with other students from their school and other schools. Competition and the pressure upon students to perform at a high level has become predominantly present in the academic part of their lives. Students should not feel the need to carry that pressure into their extracurricular activities as well. Intramural sports give those that are less competitively inclined an outlet by which to blow off steam that an academically rigorous schedule has created.

Furthermore, intramural sports are the perfect stepping stones for people that do not have prior experience playing a sport, but may want to compete aggressively in the future. There is no penalty for missing the game winning goal. Rather, it gives students a cushion and softens the blow of being newly introduced to a sport. Because of their non-competitive nature, there would be no embarrassing cuts and no benching if a practice or two is missed. This opens doors for students and can expose them to a sport they can grow to love, without the harsh realities of varsity athletics.

Intramural sports have many benefits, ranging from physical to mental to social. Implementing these recreational sports here at CHS and at high schools around the country can aid students in almost all aspects of life. Loose time commitments allow for students to have lives outside of sports, easy competition appeals to students who do not have the same competitive drive as some athletes, and physical and mental health are hugely improved.