Student-athletes put themselves in physically strenuous positions for the entire length of their season. With many seasons lasting months on end, this creates a level of physical and mental stress for them. So why is it that student-athletes must still participate in physical education classes?

There are a few key benefits to having student athletes participate in Phys. Ed. Athletes are competitive; they work hard and they love to show off.

Coach and Athletic Director, Mr. Brian McCartney ‘04 stated that “athletes are the ones that put effort into gym. They make it more competitive.”

At Xaverian, student-athletes are given the benefit of the doubt. They are able to communicate with their phys. ed. teachers and their coaches to make sure they stay safe. If there is an important game or practice, students are able to take it easy. They have the option to go into the Fitness Center or do something less physical taxing.

While there are certainly benefits for athletes to take part in gym classes, the question of their participation would not even be mentioned if it weren’t for the potentially damaging consequences.

One large undertaking for student-athletes is a large time responsibility outside of school. For many sports, practices will be close to every day after and/or before school and last anywhere from 1-3 hours in length. Furthermore, teams compete all throughout the five boroughs, and travel time to and from games can be extensive. Not even taking traffic into account, student-athletes sacrifice a lot of their time in order to perform for their chosen sport. In turn, this means they have much less time to focus on schoolwork, from homework to studying.

It has been proposed that athletes, while in season, can use gym periods as a study hall to catch up on work. This solution, while ridding the gym class of student-athletes, could become a good compromise for faculty and students alike.

Homework is however not the only issue. The biggest qualm surrounding student-athletes and gym classes is the risk of injury.

Student-athletes treat their bodies like a temples. They work hard for hours and hours every week for the length of their season. An athlete's biggest fear is injury: putting all that time and effort into a sport only for opportunities to be taken away by an unexpected injury. Gym class is an extra hour of physical exertion that puts an athlete at risk of injury. A simple twist of an ankle or a clumsy fall and someone could be out for the rest of the season. Even worse, an injury could prevent college commitment opportunities. These students are potentially risking their futures to participate in a class that they arguably don’t need.

Even though there are some benefits, the real question surrounding this is: why risk it?

If Xaverian could work around the issue of space and scheduling, the faculty would certainly not be opposed. The biggest benefit of student-athletes being exempt from the gym would be an increase in sports participation.

This is not an issue that Xaverian is particularly worried about, however, since most of its student population is a member of at least one sports team.

There is no right or wrong answer. There are risks and there are benefits and neither outweighs the other. On one hand, athletes bring energy to class. On the other hand, they are putting themselves at risk. At Xaverian, athletes not participating is not an option. However, there are open lines of communication that allow athletes to feel safe and protected.