High School Sport

In the early 1900's, the United States became one of the only nations in the world that funds inter-school athletic programs. According to Coakley, the "idealized" purpose of high school sport is to propagate learning experiences and social identities, as well as educate youth about participating in a team dynamic-- working with a group of people towards a shared common goal is a fundamental skill not only on the basketball court, but also in the workplace, in academic settings, and even interpersonal relationships. Of course, these fundaments of high school sport aren't necessarily objectives that are being met. Instead of simply encouraging students to be more well rounded individuals and team players, high school students are being forced to prioritize between their academics and their athletics, and in this unintentional binary, it's often the education that suffers. 

Demetrius Walker, former child prodigy

Though the intentions of high school sports in an ideal world are fairly pure and simple, sports have become such a large-scale national pastime that the sporting identity becomes one that's difficult to escape from, so students aren't just students, but "student athletes" (and there's a reason that the word "student" comes first). The meeting of these expectations is what's causing issue in American high school sports: instead of just encouraging students to get out, get active, and be part of a team, the obsession with sports in our culture is motivating students to push themselves to absolute limits starting at a very early age. 

As evidenced in the article about Demetrius Walker, an immense amount of pressure is being put on young athletes-- if they don't live up to their projected potential, there's a vast arena for disappointment. 

The main concern with the "student/athlete" identity is the blatant imbalance of priorities: though remaining academically eligible is important when it comes to not getting benched, often student athletes will regard workouts as more important than homework, and their education has the potential to be stunted simply because of their over-adherence to the sporting identity that the United States sports culture seems to want to cultivate from day one.