Did you know its proven that extracurricular activities boost student academic performance in subjects they are taking? Well I for one agree with the principal's decision (that every student should take at least one extracurricular activity).This is because of my satisfactory experience with soccer for the school varsity team; soccer as an extracurricular activity for me has been beneficial in ways such as providing me and teaching me principles/essential fundamentals that are used in real life scenarios (such as collaboration, and team-work),it is a productive break from school, and soccer has kept me in good shape and, physically in a healthy condition because of practice, and other things required to play the sport. So because I took soccer and it has helped me with those aspects in characteristic traits,being a productive break, and keeping me healthy, everyone should participate in an extracurricular activity and abide by the principals decision.

One reason to take an extracurricular activity such as soccer and support my position is because it guides students into learning traits like collaboration,team work, and communication (components used in soccer), and they carry out to a students daily life. For example before I took soccer as an extracurricular activity I didn't know how to work with people and that lead to me doing bad in group assignments; we had one for science where we worked on a environmental poster I did not know when to share Idea's,take leadership, or surprisingly how to ask for help! However, when I took soccer we worked on those fundamentals (in training you learn how to pass, how to ask for the ball, and how to get support from your teammates,etc). Those ideals carried on to my personal life and I noticed I started having better coordination with my peers in the science project (also just groups in general). Therefore all students should take at least one extracurricular activity so they learn the vital skills such as the ones I learned in soccer which improves coordination,communication,collaboration, and many more; these skills carry onto daily life for a student and make real life scenarios easier to deal with.

Another way soccer has benefited me and proves every student should take an extracurricular activity is because they act as productive breaks from school. Studies have shown students spend about 2 hours on their phone daily, we can all infer these 2 hours were spent on their free time because phones aren't allowed to be used in school. This fact is accurate for me because before I took soccer, I spent most of my time for recreation on my phone; it acted as a very unproductive break and didn't benefit me in any way (all I did was scroll through social media), but that all changed when I emerged my self into soccer. Those hours I spent on my phone were all replaced with productive training and it was more enjoyable than scrolling through Instagram; I also found my self less guilty and soccer provided me benefits way more superior then just staying at home and doing nothing with my time of leisure (such as the benefits listed in this essay, healthiness,a guide of skills,etc). Ultimately, students should be required to take an extracurricular activity such as soccer because of how they act as productive breaks from the useless addictions of teens such as phones,video games, and many more, and they provide more benefits then those leisurely activities.

Finally, the last reason to support the principals decision is because extracurricular activities like soccer or regarding sports, and activities that get adolescents moving, make them physically more healthy and make exercise fun for students. My personal problem used to be weight ;before I took soccer I was 5'10 and 160 pounds I found exercise UN-enjoyable, and was on my way to face the huge problem of

"American Obesity". Since I loved the sport so much I naturally lost 30 lb; since soccer requires a lot of cardiovascular training such as running. I also found my self doing other exercises to help my self get better at the sport such as swimming,yoga, and much more! It is a known fact that people who are more fit tend to look after them selves, and move around much more than the "average Joe." Therefore, extracurricular activities such as soccer are important and one should be taken by at least every student because they provide a healthy amount of exercise (that is enjoyable), in a students daily life, and can solve problem such as being over-weight.

In conclusion I support the principals decision to require extracurricular activities for every student. Because of my experience with taking soccer has provided me traits relevant to real life scenarios such as team work,collaboration and many more other traits important for real life, It acted as a productive recreational activity while substituting for my phone usage, and at last it has made me a healthier student, and stopped me to my path to obesity. So whether its soccer,football,media communications for the school,or any other activity I cannot stress enough the importance of extracurricular activities, and I definitely agree with the principals decision for the requirement. The fact extracurricular activities are proven to boost student performance in subjects is more than enough of a reason to partake on an activity, don't you think?         