Junior and senior student athletes are always given the choice whether or not to be exempt from physical education classes under one condition: the sport they play must be through the school. Student athletes who do not play school sports are not given this option, but should be because these athletes put in just as must effort and time as school athletes, if not more.
“Even though it’s my offseason for my high school [sports], I’m still either going to soccer practice, baseball practice, speed training, or just going to work out almost every day of the week,” Kevin Johlie, soccer and baseball player, said. “I have to do all this, still have time for homework, and get more exercise during the school day [during P.E.], when an open or a study hall would be more useful for me to get my schoolwork done.”
While athletes who play for the school usually practice five to six times a week, outside teams usually play around four times a week, depending on the sport. Even though these teams may practice less, the practices and games are not at the high school. Instead, these practices and games can be a lot further away. Johlie, for example, travels to Palatine multiple times a week for practices on school days, which does not leave a lot of time for him to complete his school work.
“During the school season, I am getting home at the same time every day, so I can make a schedule and give myself enough time to do all of my work,” Johlie said. “For my out of school teams, the practices or workouts won’t always be at the same time, and I might have two [practices] in one day. I don’t have enough time to finish my work and another [open] period in school [instead of P.E.] would be helpful in order to get some of my work done.”
Ali Thompson, senior soccer player for Hawthorn Woods Elite Soccer Club, believes P.E. is not beneficial for her and her other teammates.
“I spend around six and a half hours a week exercising outside of school in a competitive sport, so I’m getting all the physical activity I need to stay fit during the season,” Thompson said. “Being a competitive athlete, P.E. does not affect my physical health at all because I already get conditioning from playing soccer, so everything we do in P.E. is easy [for me].”
Just because an athlete does not play sports for the school does not mean he is not putting in the same time commitment as student athletes. Sometimes, the athlete can be committing more time to his outside teams than if he were to play for the school team. For this reason, these athletes should be given the same treatment as student athletes and should be allowed to be exempt from P.E.