In the grand scheme of things, high school sports are generally irrelevant. Right now, they can mean a lot to the athletes, but based on the long term impact on their lives, they mean little to nothing. The reason athletes play a sport defines its importance. Sometimes people play sports for all the wrong reasons and have a skewed view of high school athletics.

For some, high school sports are a way to get exercise or get one step closer to a college scholarship. For others, it may be a way to escape their troubles or find out who they are. High school sports are great for these exact reasons; they help people find out what they like and who they may be. These are great short term impacts, but what we are looking at is the long term.

People will put too much importance on these sports. They will determine how valid your argument may be in any sports discussion based on if you play or not. They will treat their sport like their first born child when, in reality, it really is not as critical to their lives as they make it out to be.

If someone is an exceptional athlete, he or she may become a professional. For some people living in tough situations, this is the only way out. It is no coincidence some of the best athletes come from small financially strapped households.

Of course, there will be exceptions to the poverty situation, like Tiger Woods, but some of the best athletes were poor growing up. Getting paid or receiving a college scholarship is the only way that a sport will have significance on their life outside of high school.

In the end, the actual importance of high school sports on anyone’s life in the near future will be nothing. No one will care if you played a sport in high school, and no one will really care if you didn’t play anything.

To act like these sports are the most important things in your life is ridiculous. Sure they provide a great source of fun and bring you together with teammates, but in the grand scheme of things, they have no importance.