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Educating the Student Body
Other studies, however, have found no association between participation in 
sports and academic performance (Fisher et al., 1996). The findings of these 
studies need to be interpreted with caution as many of their designs failed 
to account for the level of participation by individuals in the sport (e.g., 
amount of playing time, type and intensity of physical activity engagement 
by sport). Further, it is unclear whether policies required students to have 
higher GPAs to be eligible for participation. Offering sports opportunities 
is well justified regardless of the cognitive benefits, however, given that 
adolescents may be less likely to engage in risky behaviors when involved 
in sports or other extracurricular activities (Page et al., 1998; Elder et al., 
2000; Taliaferro et al., 2010), that participation in sports increases physi-
cal fitness, and that affiliation with sports enhances school connectedness.
Although a consensus on the relationship of physical activity to aca-
demic achievement has not been reached, the vast majority of available 
evidence suggests the relationship is either positive or neutral. The meta- 
analytic review by Fedewa and Ahn (2011) suggests that interventions 
entailing aerobic physical activity have the greatest impact on academic 
performance; however, all types of physical activity, except those involving 
flexibility alone, contribute to enhanced academic performance, as do inter-
ventions that use small groups (about 10 students) rather than individuals 
or large groups. Regardless of the strength of the findings, the literature 
indicates that time spent engaged in physical activity is beneficial to chil-
dren because it has not been found to detract from academic performance, 
and in fact can improve overall health and function (Sallis et al., 1999; 
Hillman et al., 2008; Tomporowski et al., 2008a; Trudeau and Shephard, 
2008; Rasberry et al., 2011).