Going into senior year, many students find themselves filling one of their periods on their schedule with a gym class. However, one of the main reasons they end up taking a physical education course is because they have forgotten they needed that gym credit. For most seniors, their schedule had been too full the first couple years of high school and pushed the gym credit off until the very end. The downside to this, however, is that this end of the year gym class is very inconvenient for some students, filling up a slot in their schedule when they could be taking more AP classes for college.

For the Sioux Falls School District high school credit requirements, every student is required to have at least a half credit for gym. This means they have to take at least half a year of gym in their four years of high school. For some students this is great because this is a period where they can relax by playing sports, running, dancing or doing yoga and they don’t have to worry about difficult assignments or tests. However for others, like a majority of seniors, this mandatory gym class requirement is very inconvenient. 

As someone who plays club and high school soccer, I am already getting my workout in for the day with practice or games. Not to mention that I often lift in the LHS weight room during the week as well. As an athlete, it is important that you get a lot of rest for your body so you do not overwork or injure yourself. 

Working out for an hour while lifting, having a two hour practice or a two hour game is already very tough on the body. Football athletes are constantly getting hit and tackled; volleyball athletes are diving and jumping non stop; tennis athletes can have matches up to three hours or more. These are just three of the many sports at LHS that a lot of students participate in. With all the soreness and fatigue that comes from LHS athletics only, it would help so many athletes out if they got to take a break during their school day and not have to worry about being sore from any gym class. 

As a senior and an athlete at LHS, I believe that if students compete in two years of LHS athletics, they should not have to take a gym class to get the required credit. The gym classes at LHS are designed for students to participate in athletics, learn about having a healthy body and how to work as a team. Students can meet all of these requirements by doing a high school sport. 

Allowing students to participate in athletics at LHS instead of having to take a gym class would possibly push more students to do school sports. This would allow seniors to be able to take more AP classes instead of trying to fit a random cardio class in their day and it would let students have their school day be an opportunity to catch their body up from their high school practices and games.