We made our son take a High School sport. Why? We see a lot of benefits from being a High School Athlete.  From interpersonal, social to physical benefit which we believed to be a lifetime benefit for him.

Our son is a bookworm and excels academically. He can spend he evenings reading, studying and researching on his computer. As a result, he is less active physically, however. Being a freshman, we see High School Sports to be one of the best avenue for him be social, be a part of the school community and stay physically active. tIn addition, through High School Sports, he can learn the importance of teamwork, self discipline, responsibility, commitment, perseverance, time management and endurance. That way, we know he will develop his personal, physical and emotional health.

Participation in High School Sports also drives an athlete to focus on his studies. As observed by experts, they say team sports players and active students consistency achieve high grades. This is the result of the discipline, time management and concentration that they learn from their practice. Therefore performance is elevated both with their chosen sport and classroom performance.

Our son chose Beach Volleyball. It is a team sport played by two teams of two players on a sand court or beach divided by a net. Beach volleyball first appeared in the early 1920s in Santa Monica, California which started out as family fun before it spread rapidly across the world as a sport.

Interestingly, Beach volleyball is recognized by NCAA Division I and II schools. College admission counselors and college coaches  welcome students into collegiate athletics if they performed well both academically and athletically during High School. We all know that NCAA sets high standards on collegiate athletics for them to maintain their eligibility to be on a team.

We are lucky enough to live by the water so that my son can practice and play Beach Volleyball more often. This sport is not as competitive as football, soccer, basketball and other sports, but what's important is, he loves it. (And part is because it is less competitive AND they run less!). As long as our son enjoys what he is doing and we are seeing good impact on him as an team sport athlete in school, as a student and as a person, we are also into it! We went from saying he needed to do this, to enjoying him excelling and enjoying this so much himself!