Someone posted the question to another forum I frequent about whether or not homeschoolers should be allowed to participate on public school sports teams. In my mind, they are asking the wrong question. The question they SHOULD be asking is whether extracurricular sports belong in public schools at all.
There is a school of thought that holds that a healthy body and a healthy mind are inextricably linked. And I cannot argue that, as indeed, it seems that many of the chemicals that aid learning are present in greater quantities with regular exercise and healthy eating. But it is possible to maintain a healthy body without crushing 250 pound adolescents together in heavy padding on a field for the surrogate glory of the parents and the voyeuristic glory of the alumni and nonathletic among us. When a school has a strong athletic program, it quickly becomes a "farm team" for higher level sports, and eventually the pros, and academics fall by the wayside. In addition, it quickly creates a more pronounced caste system; everyone in school can name the QB who led the team to regionals; nobody can name the math whiz who won the state Academic Bowl.
I don't begrudge a student their desire to smach opponents to pieces, I just don't see it as an integral component of education. It is my position that our education dollars are poorly spent, giving us poor return for our money as we reward poor teachers too often as equally as we reward great teachers. If students want to play sports, there are many community civic clubs who can and do sponsor such endeavours. But when they walk in that school door, they walk in to learn things OTHER than the mechanics of a good swing, and schools should not be spending money maintaining athletic departments solely for the ego of the community.