Dear Parents,
I hope you had a lovely long weekend. I spent the weekend with my family enjoying some quality time together. I need to treasure every moment with my children, as I only have about 7 years before they are out of the house. This time is precious.
Benefits of Athletics
This year has been a special year in the development of XLIS. We have been developing our sports program for years with the goal of joining a national ACAMIS division. This year our high school students had the opportunity to travel to other cities, make new friends, develop independence and play. Thank you to all the parents who support these trips as well as all the parents from primary to secondary who support their children to play sports.
I was recently given eight articles to read by Mr. Dwyer, who directs our athletics. A number of them were peer-reviewed research papers on the benefits of sports. I have attached three of them to this email for you. The recurring theme of the research is that playing sports in school has both short-term and long-term benefits for students.
Some of the short-term benefits include:
- Collaboration and teamwork
- Elevated academics
- Time management
- Positive character traits
Some of the long-term benefits include:
- Relationship building
- Networking for employment
- Understanding limitations
- Immediately being in a community when moving overseas
Here is one highlight from the literature: Several larger-scale studies (McCarthy, 2000; Branch, 2003; VanDuyne, 2004; and Corbett, 2007) have reported academic benefits associated with participating in extracurricular activities. I want to encourage us all to see the connection between athletics and academics.
Today, our students are busy taking their MAP assessment and e-assessment in our MYP. Let us all wish them the very best.
Sincerely,
Brian Lalor
Deputy Head of School
