In Evanston, Illinois, there is a distinct socioeconomic divide. One of the most important missions of Evanston Township High School, and reasonably so, is to help overcome this divide, whether it be in the form academic or extracurricular equality. Currently, however, there is a visible difference between the performance of students on the lower side of the economic spectrum and those on the higher side. Although ETHS should be applauded for all of the progress it has made so far, the problem will not go away for a long, long time. However, what ETHS does not see such a gap in as a result of differences in economic status is the performance of athletes. Sports are an incredibly powerful equalizer, as someone’s athleticism is not a result of how much money they have. It can certainly have an effect, but overall money has very little to do with it. It comes down to determination, leadership, dedication, and as a result, sports are a fantastic tool to help aid the youth of impoverished communities in learning these important skills and evening the playing ground with financially better off youth.
A key element that a sport can provide an impoverished youth that other activities cannot is something to strive for. In the novel The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, the protagonist, a working class student attending the University of Washington named Joe Rantz, works hard to realize his dream of becoming a successful rower. The novel is based on the real story of the team that won the eight-person Olympic rowing competition against Hitler-controlled Germany in 1936. Joe Rantz and his band of misfit rowers defeated the rowing powerhouses of the East, schools like Harvard and Yale, defeated the power houses across the Atlantic, Oxford and Cambridge, and proved themselves worthy enough to represent the United States of America at the 1936 Olympics. The novel is a very accurate portrayal, for that matter, as the author obtained most of his information regarding the story from Joe Rantz himself, the two men being neighbors. As a result, Brown’s portrayal of the emotional baggage that Joe Rantz took along on his journey as a poor young man using sports as an outlet and a motivator is spot on. One quote in particular summarizes what rowing meant to Rantz, and how it would lead to him becoming an Olympic champion: “To fail at this rowing business would mean, at best, returning to a small, bleak town on the Olympics Peninsula with nothing ahead of him but the prospect of living alone in a cold, empty, half-built house, surviving as best he could” (Brown, 13). A lot was on the line for Rantz, and the result was international success. Rowing gave Rantz the platform to prove himself, to the world, literally, and acted as the inspiration for him to work hard and pursue a difficult dream.
Joe Rantz is one of many young people living in poverty who are able to find solace and able to stand out because of athletics. Because of stories such as Joe Rantz’s, many organizations have made it their mission to bring sports to less fortunate communities. The United Nations implemented a plan called the Millennium Project with the goal of reducing the growth of poverty and hunger around the world. The Millennium Project was a very large and overreaching project with many components to it to achieve this goal. One of those components was bringing sports to communities of poverty. They describe this benefits of sports as such: “Many of the core values inherent in sport are compatible with the principles necessary for development and peace, such as fair play, co-operation, sharing and respect. The life skills learned through sport help empower individuals and enhance psychosocial well being, such as increased resiliency, self-esteem and connections with others” (UN Millennium Project). By providing impoverished children with the opportunity to participate in sports, the Millennium Project offers fun and engaging ways to learn valuable life skills. The power of sports is its educational value without having to sit down children in a classroom.
As well as providing an outlet for impoverished youth to learn life values sports teach youth to be active and develop healthy habits. By playing sports, they are exercising, which is vital to help poor communities. According to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), people living in poverty are more vulnerable to becoming obese than well-off people. One of the reason that this is the case is that “low-income children are less likely to participate in organized sports...This is consistent with reports by low-income parents that expense and transportation problems are barriers to their children’s participation in physical activities” (FRAC). Although this is only one bullet point amongst many other reason why impoverished people are at higher risk for obesity, data points to the fact that getting youth involved in sports does help to reduce the odds. According to the Datalys Center, a center for sports injury research and prevention, “A study of public high schools found that 29% of boys and 34% of girls are overweight and 16% of boys and girls are obese. At these schools, students who participated in one or more sports were much less likely to be overweight or obese” (Datalys Center). There is undoubtedly a need for addressing the high risk poor youth have of becoming obese, and it is very clear that sports are one way to help prevent youth obesity.
Impoverished youth inherently have something that older people living in poverty do not, and that is the ability to work hard and leave their current situation. There is hope amongst children, and it is society’s job to provide some sense of tangibility for this hope. Although it is not the solution, sports are a large stepping stone on the path to helping to improve the lives of poor youth, giving them something to work towards, teaching them valuable life lessons, and helping them stay active and in shape. All youth are the future of the world, and to pave a road for all youth to travel along is the job of the current generation for the sake of a brighter future.
Work Cited
Brown, Daniel James. The Boys in the Boat. New York: Penguin Group, 2013. Print.
"The Scope of Sport and Poverty." Frogleaps.org. Frog Leaps, 2002. Web. 22 May 2015.
C3D62E2A545_64F10266-2C18-4D89-8656-B30AF205D6BC_2.htm>.
"Sports Participation Helps Prevent Youth Obesity." Sports Facts (2005): n. pag. Web. 21 May
Obesity.pdf>.
"Why Low-Income and Food Insecure People Are Vulnerable to Overweight and Obesity « Food
Research & Action Center." FRAC.org. Food Research and Action Center, 2010. Web.
22 May 2015.
ople-vulnerable-to-obesity/>.
