For many, sports provide a way to push their body to the limits in a competitive and challenging way, as well as a way to relieve stress from a draining day. However, physical exhaustion and mental relief aren’t the only benefits sports provide. Being in a sport is a way that students can improve their social skills inside and outside of school.
Juniors Jaslene Fernandez and Luis Welling have been in a sport for over two years. Over time, they noticed their social life and skills have improved.
“Ever since I joined cheer, I noticed the way I interact with people has changed in a positive way,” Fernandez said.
She first joined cheer after she received a flier on her freshman orientation day. Since then, she has stuck to her sport because of the many benefits it brought to her social life.
“I joined football because I wanted to play a sport,” Welling said. “I went to the football field and talked to the coach and he said they’re always happy to get a new player.”
Even before joining the team, Welling had already been welcomed.
Before Fernandez joined cheer, she struggled with communicating well with others. Being in a team-oriented sport pushed her out of her comfort zone and forced her to interact with other people a lot more. By doing this, she was able to learn how to speak to not only her teammates, but also people she would meet outside of school. She now feels a lot more confident speaking to people she’s never spoken to.
Welling also learned a few communication skills through his sport. Before he joined the football team, he had a hard time speaking with strangers. However, as he met more people on the team, he eventually grew more comfortable talking to new people.
“Honestly, before I joined any type of sport, I didn’t really know how to talk to people that well,” Fernandez said. “But in my sport we have to do a lot of communication to make things work, so that really helped me. Now that I have a lot more friends, I usually hang out with them during lunch and outside of school.”
Welling agrees with this idea of socializing with teammates is a way to improve social skills that some might struggle with.
“Before I joined football, I honestly found it hard to talk to new people,” Welling said. “But I eventually got over it, since I got to know all of my teammates.”
Both used the communication skills they learned in their sport to make friends outside of school. Fernandez met one of her closest friends when she was out with her family. She was able to use her communication skills to find something they both related to, which was cheer. Through that, they became very good friends.
“I definitely have a lot more people to hang out and talk with in different classes,” Welling said. “I made many friends in football especially because football is a huge team sport. To win, everyone has to do their job.”
