At my school, it is a requirement for middle school students to do one sport per school year. It is also an option for students to participate in the fall play or, in the winter, a musical. However, putting in the time and effort towards the play/musical does not count towards your one sport per year. As someone who was a main actor in the fall play and did tech for the musical last year, this makes me quite mad. We are running around on a stage every day for nearly an hour, so why do we still have to do a sport after? Being in theatre should count as a sport. Not just at my school but everywhere.

1. Theatre Involves Physical Movement, Too

Being an actor in the play/musical involves a lot of moving around. Everyone is required to do a warm-up before the rehearsals actually start, too. These warm ups can include things such as museum, which is either walking around or standing there for ten minutes, or follow the leader, which could or could not involve physical movement, depending on what the leader wants. My character in the fall play, The Snow, didn’t speak until near the end of the play, but I was on stage nearly the whole time. I had to express what my character was thinking through movements (and big movements, so the whole audience could see what I was doing). For people in the musical, it’s even worse than that! They have to sing and dance for two whole hours during the show. That’s exhausting. Tech has to move big set pieces around every scene, and they have to build them! Because a lot of the set pieces are big, it takes a lot of moving around to put together the large pieces.

2. We Stay Late For Both

For two weeks before the opening night of the play/musical, actors and technicians have to stay late to prepare for the performance. In sports, people have to stay late for games. If a student did a sport in the fall and the musical in the winter, they’d have to have two afternoon activities back-to-back that require them to stay late. I understand having to stay late for theatre. It’s very important to be prepared. But, in sports, there’s no final product you’re working for staying late. It’s just playing against other schools. Some people don’t want to play against others. Some want to just learn a new sport and then go home and relax after it, but no, you have to play the sport. For example, I just finished fencing as my winter activity. I hadn’t fenced before and was expecting to be given the basics of fencing. The basics I was given was two weeks of ‘learning’ how to fence before we had to play against another team. I hadn’t even learned how to properly hold my blade. In the play, I was taught crucial acting skills and how to improve the abilities I already had. And even, who would’ve ever thought of this, I was having fun. It is important for teens not to have to constantly compete against each other. This can diminish and even ruin friendships, as well as the student’s self-esteem if they lose. 

3. Sports Shouldn’t Even Be Required

Finally, I don’t think sports should be a requirement. Why do kids have to be forced into a sport they might not even want to do? If someone is passionate about robotics, why are they playing tennis instead of enjoying themselves in LEGO League? This is just going to teach students that their opinions don’t matter and that they aren’t allowed to have different interests. Also, if a student really doesn’t want to do a sport in school, they have to do ten hours a week of sports outside of school. Let’s do some math here. There are 168 hours in a week, minus 8.5 hours of school per 5-day week, which gives us 125.5 hours. And middle schoolers need at least 10 hours of sleep at night, which leaves us with 75.5 hours. Also, nobody wants to do things on the weekend, so we’ll subtract that time, too. 27.5 hours. I take 1 hour a day to eat breakfast and get ready. That leaves us with 22.5. Now, let’s finally subtract the 10 hours of sports we have to do to not do them with school. 22.5-10=12.5. Students would have only 12.5 hours a week, two and a half hours a day, to do homework, eat dinner, and take care of themselves. That is unfathomable. No adult could deal with having that little time, so why should literal children have to?

Honestly, this is about student individuality and how making students all do sports they don’t want is denying them it. I want you to look at your school and see if you can find things that don’t sit right with you. Also, this is not meant to hate on people who do sports all three semesters. You’re kind of insane for that, but I respect it. 

This article was written in partnership with Steppingstone.