The importance of sports in high schools: America is lapping the UK

In the heart of every American high school, a tapestry of athletic opportunities unfolds. Students are offered many different sports to explore, develop in, and master.

The wide variety is something unique to the US, as public schools have the facilities to expose children to traditional favourites like football and basketball, as well as niche pursuits like lacrosse and golf.

Dylan Chin looked menacingly over his college résumé; the weight of a draft four pages long buried itself into his bedroom desk. Expectations were high in the Chin household, and he met almost every single one of them: a starlet academic, charitable, and in enough debate and political science clubs to itch a route straight to the US presidency.

However, what clogged the pages of his résumé was the array of sports Chin had found himself excelling in.

"I played everything, I was on varsity for most things," Dylan says, confidence exuding from his person.

"We played sports seasonally at my school, so we went from football and rugby to lacrosse, tennis, and badminton. I was a kid in a candy store; I had to try them all."

Chin split his time in high school between an international school in Taiwan and one in Charlotte. His mother routinely spoke about the importance of academics and sports, pushing him to focus on both to a similar degree.

"It’s the key over here in the states (playing sports), whether that be actually getting you into college on scholarship or just highlighting the extracurricular effort you put in as a student," Chin says. "My time playing sports at school got me into UNC and Ivy League schools; we can't undermine its importance in that department."

The plethora of sports offered serves as a crucible to enable kids with life lessons and sporting merit that serve them well after school is finished.

Such an approach is heavily juxtaposed in most parts of the world, especially the United Kingdom. Its school system differs greatly from that of the US, as public schools typically don’t have such vast facilities and sporting programs, with the only way to expose kids being either enrolling your kid into private school, where school fees range in the tens of thousands of pounds a year or investing a large amount of time and money outside the classroom in hopes of them making an academy in that sport.

Louis Ramon, a university student from the UK, would routinely visit the United States with his father. A favourite pastime of theirs was to try as many golf courses as possible.

Ramon placed his left foot next to the other, achieving symmetry as he tiptoed into a perfect form. The wind waved in the bush of his eyebrows as he raised his licked finger to the wind, just like the pros did on TV.

He placed a drive so powerful that onlookers from far away would mistake the work of an 11-year-old kid for a seasoned professional certified by the PGA.

A golf coach was present at the Pound Ridge Golf Club in New Jersey that day in 2014 and extended an interest in the skills Ramon showed.

"Around hole 12, he asked to caddy, he drove me around asking all these questions to my dad and me about how long I've been playing, where I play in the UK, and my longest drive," Ramon said.

After a professional back half that saw the 11-year-old finish 3 under par, an invitation was offered.

"Would you be interested in pursuing a golfing scholarship at a school in Florida," the coach said.

The logistics were a complete mess, but Ramon and his father Raj took a minute to ponder. The talent was obvious and playing the game of golf since he was 6 years old had brought about a thirst for the sport.

With their trip to New York coming to an end, Raj consulted with his wife back home about the possibility of leaving Ramon on this side of the pond.

Permission denied.

"My father spent his childhood in boarding school in the deep English countryside and spent days complaining about what it did to him as a kid to my mother," said Ramon. "She didn't want me to go through a similar ordeal, being so isolated."

"Would it have been nice to stay? Absolutely. I'd be a better golfer for it and would probably be playing in college," Ramon said.

"Such opportunities are just not readily available in the UK, especially at school."

The schooling system regarding the integration of sports in the UK is a complete juxtaposition to that of the US. A large emphasis is placed on the more popular sports of football and rugby, with little to no exposure to any other.

"There's an awful established idea in the UK that if you do show natural talent in a sport, you have to fork out thousands of pounds for someone to develop it for you at an academy or private school, there's no help here," said Louis Ramon.

This is mainly due to an issue of funding stemming from a cultural difference that runs through the UK and its schools.

Schools focus more on academics than sports because the government mandates a need to meet academic performance targets.

The better a school does, the more funding they can potentially receive to improve other areas of the school; however, assessments are so academically focused by the UK's school governing board OFSTED, that funding would be funnelled back to academics to ensure the school maintains the standard to keep the money rolling in.

They are almost required to focus much of their time and effort on reaching these targets, neglecting the extracurricular activities that are considered essential for character and future building in the US.

Jack O'Keefe, coach of NBA player Jeremy Sochan during his time at Itchen College in Southampton, delved into how this issue affected Sochan.

"We had our basketball program, and Sochan excelled in it – it wasn't hard to see he had elite potential and he was better than all the competition we could offer him here," said O'Keefe. "If he remained longer, there would've been a risk of stagnation. The UK just hasn't figured out developing talent in a sport that isn't rugby or football."

"It's understanding the limits we have here in England; we can do everything to develop these guy’s basketball skills, but eventually we reach a threshold; it's then about getting them to the States," O'Keefe said.

Sochan moved to the US in 2019 to attend the basketball powerhouse, La Lumiere School. His time there, coupled with a stint at the Orange Academy in Germany due to Covid, was enough to get him into college and drafted into the NBA.

College in the States and its logistics remain a key component in this argument. The allure of potentially receiving an all-expenses-paid scholarship or the need to fill college resumes with the myriad of sports you've played and were somehow the greatest player in your state in is crucial. As sports and academics are so universally tied, more importance, and by default, more time and money are spent.

Charles Wilt, a student at the University of North Carolina, has recently become good at rugby.

Though only picking up an egg-shaped ball last semester of college and having to completely forget the rules of American football, Wilt has developed into a pretty fine player.

Though his mechanics of passing the ball are still rough, the rest of the skills he possessed due to playing a variety of sports in high school gave him the perfect launching pad.

"I'm good at rugby now mainly because of lacrosse, basketball, flag football, and baseball," Wilt said jokingly. "Playing those sports gave me the ability to pick up something new and be almost instantly good at it."

Wilt played six sports during his time at high school in Wilmington, North Carolina, with lacrosse being his standout.

"I was pretty versatile, but lacrosse is where I made my name on the varsity team," Wilt said. "I would say I was very good, not good enough to go D1 for it but just enough to rave about it on my college resume."

Wilt was an extremely introverted kid during high school, not nearly as confident as the quick-witted interviewee he is now. His mom pressured him to join as many teams and sports as possible just to be in such an environment where friends are made, and characters are built.

In the end, it's clear: the US and UK have taken vastly different approaches to sports in education. But perhaps it's time for the UK to take a page from its cousin across the pond’s playbook.

Investing in sports could unlock hidden talents and shape futures for a larger share of the schooling population, and not just those with the means to afford private education. It’s time to tear down the red tape and level the playing field for all.

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