DeGrooth, Goodman, Haik 1

Julia DeGrooth, Hope Goodman, and Alisa Haik

Mrs. Oliveira
College Writing
23 December 2016
Sleepy Student-Athletes
High school sports demand time, energy, dedication, and perseverance. Being a part of a
sports team can also allow long-lasting relationships and life skills to develop. High school
student-athletes, however, must make significant sacrifices in order to succeed both athletically
and academically. According to a 2012 study at a private high school in California, 76.7% of
student-athletes reported getting less than eight hours of sleep on an average night (Neale).
Unfortunately, this presents a startling problem because studies prove teenagers need a minimum
of eight hours of sleep to function at their personal bests. Lack of sleep can lead to a plethora of
problems such as inability to concentrate, headaches, mood swings, and reduced immunity and
memory ability (Teens). With the majority of student-athletes getting less sleep than what is
recommended, student-athletes often do not function to their full intellectual, mental, emotional,
and physical potentials. To combat this issue, the Westerly High School late policy should be
altered to allow student-athletes to come into school late after losing sleep the previous night due
to a sporting event.
Sleep represents a vital aspect of life; without it, the body and brain will not function
properly. As previously stated, most teenagers do not get the recommended amount of sleep. This
especially harms student-athletes because when an athlete does sleep, his or her body naturally
heals and rejuvenates small injuries and muscle tears. As a result, the less a student-athlete
sleeps, the more injury-prone he or she becomes. For example, during a 21-month study ending

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in 2012, 57% of the high school student-athletes who reported getting a lack of sleep sustained
injuries, and 38% suffered multiple injuries (Neale). Besides risk of injury, academic
performance can also worsen with lack of sleep. For instance, Matthew Lynch, a tri-seasonal
athlete at Westerly High School, stated he usually arrives back at the school around 10:30 or
11:00PM. after away games (Lynch). Despite the late hour, he still has to complete his
homework, which results in about five hours of sleep (Lynch). A lack of sleep, as Lynch
exemplifies, can tremendously impact grades. On average, students who receive less than six
hours of sleep can maintain a 3.3 GPA. In contrast, students sleeping for at least eight hours can
earn a 3.6 GPA (Mccullough). While receiving a sufficient amount of sleep does not guarantee a
higher GPA, it does greatly increase their chances. This considerable GPA gap indicates the
academic repercussions of students sleep routines.
The effects of lack of sleep inhibit the performance of student-athletes. For instance, the
Stanford University mens and womens swim teams participated in a 2008 study. For the first
two weeks, five student-athletes maintained their usual sleep-wake pattern. They then extended
their sleep to ten hours per night for six to seven weeks. After each swim team practice during
the study, the five students were assessed for any changes in their athletic abilities. The
researchers found that when the students slept for ten hours, they swam a 15-meter meter sprint
0.51 seconds faster, reacted 0.15 seconds quicker off the blocks, improved turn time by 0.10
seconds, and increased kick strokes by 5.0 kicks. Cheri Mah of the Stanford Sleep Disorders
Clinic and Research Laboratory stated that These results begin to elucidate the importance of
sleep on athletic performance and, more specifically, how sleep is a significant factor in
achieving peak athletic performance (Extra Sleep). Although all student-athletes possess
different capacities for a given sport, this study suggests the amount an athlete sleeps determines

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if the athlete will perform to the best of his or her ability. Ultimately, the Stanford study proves a
lack of sleep will result in decreased athletic performance.
Westerly High School athletics late policy, enacted in 2012, prohibits athletes from
missing school if they wish to participate in a sports practice or game that day. Unfortunately,
when student-athletes return to the school from a game past 10PM, preparations for the
following school day often result in athletes staying awake until 11:30PM. or midnight.
Consequently, athletes receive limited hours of sleep, making it difficult to attend school on time
with an optimistic and focused attitude. Student-athletes, however, must be in their first period
class on time; otherwise they will be prohibited from participating in all after school,
extracurricular activities, including athletics (Student Tardiness). If athletes miss any of the
school day without a valid excuse, such a doctors note, they will not be permitted to participate
in any sports-related activities. Mrs. Sammataro, Dean of Students at Westerly High School,
finds the late policy for athletes and non-athletes is beneficial (Sammataro). She added that
being tardy in general is frowned upon, and the late policy will help equip students with the
soft skill of time management to benefit them later in life (Sammataro). Although promptness
and time management may help students later in life, the consequences of such skills currently
hinder the athletic and academic performances of student-athletes due to loss of sleep. With such
a strict late policy, Westerly High School unknowingly harms its student-athletes by not allowing
an exception for tardiness after late games resulting in minimal sleep.
Late nights cause fatigue as well as decreased academic and athletic abilities in the
student-athlete the following day. For instance, a Twitter poll sent out by Hope Goodman
questioned if Westerly student-athletes believed the late policy was helping or hurting their
performance in school and sports. An overwhelming majority of the respondents, or 89%, voted

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the policy causes more harm more than good (@hopeegoodman). WHS student-athletes are
expected to attend school on time regardless of the time of their return home the previous night.
As a result, they will often choose to neglect studying and other homework because they cannot
stay awake, or they know the quality of the work will be subpar due to the late hour. This
situation unfortunately harms the student-athletes academic performance greatly. Nonetheless,
athletes will come into school on time regardless of how much they slept because of the
dedication to their sport. Because of this, there is a definite decrease in tardiness by all students
with the tardy policy during sports seasons (Sammataro). In spite of this fact, even though the
policy is increasing student attendance does not mean the student-athletes are awake and alert
enough to put forth their best schoolwork. If given an extra hour of sleep after a late game night,
WHS student-athletes would likely see a significant increase in both their academic and athletic
performance the following day.
Contrary to Westerly High Schools athletics late policy, Stonington High School
practices one which allows athletes to come in late and still participate in athletic activity.
According to a Stonington High School junior, Margot Goodman, As long as an athlete comes
into school by the beginning of second period at 8:53AM, he or she can still attend a practice or
game after school (Goodman). If the tardiness can be excused by a valid reason with
documentation, students may arrive after 8:53AM, but must have a doctors note or other
documentation specifying why the student arrived after this time in order to be eligible to
participate in co-curricular activities (Tardiness). By allowing athletes to arrive around an
hour late to school, they can recover from a late game or study night, if necessary. However,
more than four tardies in one quarter will result in an office detention; more than six will result in
an in-school suspension (Tardiness). Stonington High Schools late policy for student-athletes

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allows them the option to get more sleep if they really need it, but the limit on tardies holds
students accountable and does not let the athletes take advantage of the policy.
High school students involved in sports tend to receive substantially less sleep than those
who do not participate in athletics. Also, issues stemming from chronic lack of sleep negatively
impact student-athletes grades and their athletic performance. Although Westerly High Schools
athletic late policy encourages school attendance and time management, it ultimately affects
other significant aspects of the athletes lives. Athletes are more negatively impacted than their
non athletic peers from the repercussions of late games, lasting practices. and tedious school
work. Non-athletes have less to lose when they enter school late. Thus, a new late policy should
be developed with student voice contribution in order to improve the performance and health of
student-athletes. When high school sports teams arrive home from away games past 10PM, they
should be given the option to arrive to school up to an hour late the next morning. By being
allowed to come in late, student-athletes could get the necessary sleep they need, complete
homework, and eliminate unnecessary emotional stress. While administrators might dismiss this
idea because student-athletes might take advantage of the new policy, athletes understand they
cannot participate in a sport if grades begin to drop. Lack of sleep inhibits the abilities of the
student-athlete, but a change in policy can help remedy this important health issue.
Works Cited
"Extra Sleep Improves Athletic Performance." American Academy of Sleep Medicine,
ScienceDaily,
10 June 2008. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080609071106.htm.
Goodman, Margot. Personal interview. 15 Dec. 2016.
@hopeegoodman. "WHS athletes: do you feel that the late policy for athletes is helping or

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hurting?" Twitter, 9 Dec. 2016, 11:06 AM,
twitter.com/hopeegoodman/status/807255109042323460.
Lynch, Matt. Personal interview. 14 Dec. 2016.
Mccullough, Adam David. SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy.
WordPress, 7 Oct. 2015, sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/10/07/how-does-sleep-effectgrades/.
Neale, Todd. Sleepy Athletes More Likely to Be Injured. Medpage Today, 21
Oct. 2012, www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAP/35466.
Sammataro, Carmela. Personal interview. 12 Dec. 2016.
Student Tardiness. Westerly Public Schools Student Expectation Handbook, 2016-2017,
http://westerly.k12.ri.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/944297/File/Handbooks/W
HS%20Student%20Handbook%202016-17%20FINAL.pdf.
Tardiness to School. Stonington High School Agenda, 2016,
www.stoningtonhigh.org/Resources/Live/Administration/Documents/SHS_Agenda.pdf.
Teens and Sleep. Sleep for Teenagers, National Sleep Foundation, 2016,
sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep.