Teamwork is one of the most important skills that high school students can learn, and nowhere is this easier to teach than on the sports field. Here students can learn how each individual's effort combined with that of their team-mates creates the success level of the team. If all the members of a team give it their best and pull together as a team, then the team has a greater probability of winning.

Although winning everything isn't always the best lesson to learn, the fact that if everyone does their best the team does better is the more important lesson to learn. Once the students leave school/college and start in a working environment, they are going to find themselves on a job-related team of some description whether it's for a legal firm or the local garage; they are going to helping their employer to do better than the competition.

Even if your child isn't happy with team sports, and some kids much prefer working at their own level, there are plenty of sporting opportunities where individual effort is required. Track and field events are usually the more obvious ones to be undertaken at high school level, and high school students get the chance to test their skills against peers at inter-school athletics events in much the same way that the teams compete in inter-school games.

Another good reason for having sports in high school is the possibility of college sponsorship. This is especially important for lower income families who haven't the financial opportunity to build up a college nest egg to help their child further their education. Many of the better colleges offer up to 100% scholarships for the best athletes/sportspeople they can identify in high schools around the country and so if your child is hoping to go to college, and your finances are low, then you could do well to encourage your child into trying out a number of sports to see which, if any, they can excel in during their high school years. Of course sports aren't for everyone, and it could be that your child just isn't sport's-minded, but if they are then it's a great way of getting their education at a much reduced rate.

Not all teens enjoy sports during their high school years, and for some of them they are an absolute misery, but if your child's school has a compulsory sport's program then the best you can do is to encourage your child to become interested in some sporting activity. Even if it's one that's not on the high school curriculum, at least they will be able to say that they are proficient in at least one sport and therefore be less at risk of being a target of ridicule from the other students.