Griselda Lucero

April 9, 2019

ENG 21002

Research paper

The Bronx is a known to be a low income community in the process of rebuilding itself and its residents. Many schools provide a series of athletic teams for the student body but yet we see many students not participating and being neglected. Another option the youth within these communities have are recreational youth programs within their community. One of the two sports teams that offer the opportunity of progression and opportunity for students and their academic performance are soccer and squash. The soccer club named “South Bronx United” programs aims to ” Use soccer for social change through activities promoting educational achievement, health and wellness, character development, and immigrant services” (South Bronx United, 2015). Another sports team I found is “City Squash” which is a popular sport within an upper class community but is being introduced to a lower income community which creates a powerful impact and social change. City squash aims “To motivate talented young people from economically disadvantage households fulfill their academic, athletic and personal potential” (City Squash, 2019). The importance of outside resources within a community helps students excel in school and create future opportunities. Being so do sports in low income communities impact the academic performance for students?

Sports help improve concentration, fitness and test scores and also disciplines a student, which helps improve their academic performance for future years. “In many schools, physical education classes and recess have been squeezed out because of increasing educational demands and tough financial times” (Hellmich, 2011). In the United States the importance of a child’s physical education or sports participation has been neglected because of the high demand of test score preparation. Students are being neglected the essential introduction to sports within their school and this could be an important element to their success in the future. Both the education system and student will benefit from offering students sport teams. The students’ academic progression will reach high scores eventually leading to high test results complimenting the school itself and helping the school system progress. “Participation in sports teams and physical activity clubs, often organized by the school and run outside of the regular day, can improve grade point average, school attachment, educational aspirations and the likelihood of graduation” (Hellmich, 2011). As seen studies have been made that participating in sports can cause an increase in graduation rates, if communities that are low income can have access to these necessities of recreational sports then it will result in higher graduation rates. Since schools are neglecting the importance of sport introduction to students many of them turn to community resources.

The Bronx, New York, is a community has many large school campuses but their high school graduation rate is only 69.90%. In order to help the community’s academic performance grow it must offer resources for its student residents. The Bronx is also known to be a low income community and by creating programs outside of school will help the academic growth for students in this borough. An issue that is risen by students who depend on community resources to success sport teams face the difficulty of financially paying for them. The group of people that face thus issue is the lower income community, a solution that New York City has created is by providing families who make a minimum requirement with a “fee waiver” for their child to have access to a recreational team clubs for free. Although the city provides this advantage many of its residents don’t have knowledge of this free access and leave their children with no exposure to sport teams outside of school. “Waiver requests soared by 1,200 percent. Participation jumped 31 percent; for children who attend high-poverty schools, it shot up almost 80 percent” (Rosenwald, 2016). Families and students are finding new opportunities and programs to help students be introduced to sport facilities. With the help of waivers there won’t be a financial barrier between the community’s resource and the student’s academic growth.

By students being part of community sport teams it creates a different form of life especially in low income communities. The students are put into academic support services such as tutoring and are encouraged to do community services which help them stay away from unsafe environments. As many students grow and progress they are introduced to many stages in life and peer pressure can be one of those things. By giving students the opportunity to join programs such as City Squash and South Bronx United it will occupy their time wisely and become better students and guarantee and academic success by 90%. “But city officials say they are weighing those downsides against a growing body of research that says participation in youth sports improves physical and mental health, lowers crime and teen pregnancy rates, and increases college enrollment.” (Rosenwald, 2016) As the article states that sports help the youth not only in academic performance but keeps them away from the dangers of often seen struggles, such as drugs, teen pregnancy and enforces them to enroll to college.

 “City Squash” and “South Bronx United” are two Bronx sports team that aim to help students in low income parts of the Bronx become athletes but also support in financial, legal and academic situations for those students and their families. These sports also offer “fee waiver” access which means students do not make payments to be part of the team. City squash is a sport teams that recruits students since the 3^rd grade and help them gain scholarships to high schools and colleges. They work with private colleges such as Fordham University and use their facilities to help the students in that community academically but also introduce them to an upper class style of sport. The exposure to a different form of sport for a low income community is essential because it defeats the barrier between social classes. Squash equipment can cost up to $300.00 for basic equipment, without the access to fee waiver for the lower income community there would be no way that they students would be able to afford it but the city has created these programs to give an importance to these type of sports that are not seen in minority communities. City squash also has a strict academic rule of not having any grades less than a B, if students fail to meet this requirement they are encouraged to stay extra hours within tutoring hours. Although they are a sport club outside of school their main concern is to get the students’ academic performance as high as they can and incorporate the experience of the sport into their life. The club also offer tournaments outside of the city for the students to participate in, this also gives the students an exposure of outside environments which is just another advantage that the students have apart from an increase of academic performance. All of these students reside within the Bronx, to get exposure to outside facilitates, perhaps in a different state or environmental helps the students mental growth. All of these opportunities wouldn’t be possible without the organization itself, the communities local school don’t provide sports but they provide their main objective of introducing squash to students.

The other sports team is South Bronx United which is a community sports center that help recruit students into soccer teams. They also offer “fee waivers” for the students and are connected with the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. South Bronx United also follows a strict rule for their students to maintain a grade point average of at least a C, many of the members of this team are immigrant students and rely on the tutoring services to help their academic performance and eventually graduate. The students don’t just get finical, academic and sport opportunities but they have had the advantage of meeting many famous soccer players. Many of them Being part of the Women’s USA soccer and many teams such as Real Madrid, Manchester United, New York Red Bulls, and NYCFC. The students are even awarded free soccer tickets if their academically equipped and have met the requirements the organization enforces. This club also travels around the city and even other states to compete in tournaments. South Bronx United and City Squash share the same qualities in how a community organization sport helps students be exposed to sports but also guarantee an excel in their academic performance.   

These two programs main objective is to offer support through sports to help young students through their academic performance. Many of these students must maintain a grade point average in order to continue in the program, if they fail they are given tutoring services. South Bronx United students have a 100% graduation rate and 90% of these students go off to college. “Thirty-eight students in City Squash have won scholarships to selective prep schools… these team members have been awarded over $5 million in financial aid. City Squash’s first three classes of students have gone on to attend four-year colleges…” (City Squash, 2019). City squash has a 100% graduation rate and 100% of these students go off to college. Both of these clubs are located in low income communities but guarantee 100% graduation rate which is a success achievement for students. By exposing students with sport facilities it can increase their academic performance and guarantee a success future. These organizations guarantee graduation rate for their students and even try to get every student to continue their education to college. The organizations prove that providing students with sport participation will guarantee success in their academic future as well as personal future. These results are more influential in communities such as the Bronx because of its recognition of low income communities. The Bronx is breaking their barrier of graduation rate by providing its students to sport introduction and academic support. It is also breaking barrier of what society believe social class sports must attain to, now a low income community is part of the sport squash in which it is known to be an upper class sport. These organizations are making a difference in many students lives as well as in their communities.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Citations:

Blisss, K. (n.d.). Does Playing Sports Help Improve Grades? Retrieved from https://www.livestrong.com/article/506980-do-sports-help-improve-grades/

 

Hellmich, N. (2010, April 14). Study: Physical activity can boost student performance. Retrieved from https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-04-14-letsmoveinschool15_ST_N.htm

 

Rosenwald, M. S. (2016, October 28). ‘An incredible impact’: Poor kids are being priced out of youth sports. Here’s one solution. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/an-incredible-impact-poor-kids-are-being-priced-out-of-youth-sports-heres-one-solution/2016/10/27/027fb7a0-97ce-11e6-bb29-bf2701dbe0a3_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2d6d6a60536b

 

Mission and Goals. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://citysquash.org/about-us/mission/

 

South Bronx United. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.southbronxunited.org/mission

 

City of New York. (n.d.). After School. Retrieved from https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dycd/services/after-school/comprehensive-after-school-system-of-new-york-city-compass.page