Final+paper

__ Being on a sports team in High School helps people build character, maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep up their academics. __ In high school girls have many choices and decisions to make, but by being on a team it will help girls have someone to go to or to turn to for help. It is all about finding yourself and being a part of your school. When you are on a team you are only as strong as your weakest player and there is no “I” in team. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses’; only you can show what yours are. You practice skills in lacrosse that lead to team building, you work together to complete one task. You build character by working together with others and completing the tasks while gaining accomplishments. Goals are set by the team to accomplish and you build skills which can be used to deal with people and you can use this in the real world after high school. After you graduate high school and if you choose to go onto college or just go right out into the work world you will need people skills. You can take the skills and advice you get from your coaches and teammates and turn them into dreams that you have, you can do anything you set your mind to. Since girls who are on a lacrosse team learn lessons for later in life, it can be concluded that the sport of lacrosse helps young women build good character, promotes good academics and prevents childhood obesity. Being part of a team gives someone the ability to build their character and become a person that they want to be. The definition of character is an aggregate of features and traits that one portrays. The definition of teamwork is cooperative and coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together to accomplish one goal. Applying character to a team while working together is honesty built and given toward your teammates, gives you the courage to help fight for the one common goal, which is to get the ball in the net. One also builds integrity by being able to know right from wrong; this theory comes into use in the classroom as well. Lacrosse in high school promotes good academics, because you cannot be failing your classes and it gives you something to look forward to at the end of the day. You can also learn to work hard on the lacrosse field during practice to prepare for games, while in the classroom you work hard to achieve good grades. Also, lacrosse gives girls an outlet where they can gain confidence to then turn around and use inside the classroom. With the confidence you gain from lacrosse you can then excel in class which will result in good grades. Lastly, you learn how to rely on others for help, whether they are your teammates or your educators. This factor helps you to not solely rely on yourself but on others who can offer positive and influential advice. So being on a team gives you something to work for and be able to strive for success. When you need help and have no one to go to you have your team to fall back on and ask for their opinions. You have to work for what you get, and students should have some responsibility and commitment, being on a team is commitment. You have many obstacles to overcome and work through as a team. When you are on a team you don’t want to let just yourself down you will be putting your team down. Working to achieve your goals is what you need to do, doing well on a test is an accomplishment or getting “A’s” in all your classes is another accomplishment. Being on a lacrosse team helps you learn the skill of commitment to a team and responsibility of a team. You have to be there for your team and cannot run out on them half way through the season. You are there rain or shine and sick or not and most times all week after school. In an interview with a girl from Nazareth Area High school named Amy is asked, “What ** are your thoughts on being called "the best player in the league" by coach Nolan and highly-regarded by opposing coaches?, she responded by saying, “ **"I play because I play and try to do my best. I go out really serious and I want to do really well. The recognition is great but it's not what I play for. I play to play the game. I don't feel any pressure by it. It makes me want to get better. I don't feel like I have to impress anyone. I do it for myself" (Leigh Valley Live). Amy was named player of the year and she feels that she earned it by playing the sport she loves and working for herself and not for anyone else. Amy is a true athlete and just one of the many examples of good character and demonstrations of a team player. Lacrosse also helps you support a healthy lifestyle. It requires skills as well as endurance. It is a lot of running and fast foot work. You are always on the move and need to eat a healthy diet to maintain your body and be in shape. To be on any lacrosse team you have to be able to run one mile without stopping, it does not matter on the pace but time might be important and you must be medically cleared and free of injuries to play. Teenagers need a healthy and active lifestyle to be in shape. Lacrosse is a high speed sport and you need to be in top conditions and keep up. Jogging and running daily supports a good lifestyle or going to the gym on a weekly basis helps too. On another note staying away from the negative influences in high school such as drugs and alcohol which would harm your body and playing lacrosse keeps your mind off of those types of things to keep you safe along with one making good decisions. It can be quoted that sixty minutes of physical exercise daily is the equivalent of one dose of antidepressant to a child. One must always bring a positive attitude and a smile to every practice no matter how your school day was you do not bring that on the field that stops at the sideline, once you step on that field it is all about lacrosse and your teammates. This consists of eating a balanced nutrition along with following the food pyramid of the amounts of servings. Many books and databases are now available for one to go check in and research a little more about how to each right and stay fit. Each and every teen should have six ounces of grains, two and a half cups of vegetables, one and a half cups of fruit, three cups of milk and five ounces of meat daily. Having a well balanced diet of fruits and vegetables along with the other results in controlled weight and lowering chances of childhood obesity. Teens especially follow the food pyramid due to the fact that their bodies are still growing and need all the vitamins and minerals they can get. Binge eating on junk food on the weeks only will hurt one in the long run by slowing themselves down at practice on that coming Monday. One knows when they are on the team to choose and apple over a bar of candy or drinking a bottle of water over a soda. Smart choices like these come from the minds of young athletic lacrosse players. “Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver is excited to be working with Major League Lacrosse, and appreciate their commitment to helping children and teens achieve academic success, live healthy lifestyles, and develop good character and citizenship,” (Inside Lacrosse). This quote signifies the idea of supporting good academics, active lifestyle, healthy life and learning the idea of a team. The major part of being team is commitment, you are there for you team no matter what whether you like it not, if you are winning or losing. The key goal of this metro area team is to teach children and teens the game of lacrosse along with the confidence, positivity and life lessons you gain. Putting children together in small teams gradually gets them use to interacting with other children their own age and later accelerates to progressing into young athletes. Coaches promote positivity and good sportsmanship; good sportsmanship is critical to being on a team. Statistics state that 16% of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight or obese. Since the early 1950’s there has been an increase over 39% in children being overweight. Statistics also state that children in the older ages should get at least 250 minutes of exercise weekly. Lacrosse in high school is a two and a half hour commitment a day times five. This is 150 minutes per day, which equals 750 minutes per week. This is well over what the statistics say you should have per week. Lacrosse is a good way to stay in shape and not be a statistic. Lacrosse also has you always moving, when you are running to and from the ball and other times when running away to protect yourself from loosing the ball. Teens should be active and exercise so they don’t end up being and overweight person, because the lifestyle you have now will end up being the lifestyle you will keep as you grow up to becoming and older adult. Promoting a healthy lifestyle and preventing obesity is the key to a good, successful life. If you are also over weight you are at risk for many other diseases to follow one being heart disease and the other being diabetes. The heavier you are the more your heart has to work to pump blood throughout your body. When your are obese you have a very high risk of having a heart attack which can be fatal and also a high risk of being diagnosed with diabetes. You may also become diagnosed with many other diseases such as; stroke, cancer, gallbladder disease, gallstones, respiratory problems and gout. Many girls should also be very concerned with their families history if one knows they have had family members dies of a massive coronary then they need to watch themselves especially by running and eating right. For the past ten years lacrosse has been a vast growing team sport in this country. Annually, there are over 218, 000 high school players, boys and girls, which have grown 8.7% since the year 2007 to 2008. Male players are higher at 131,000 and females are over 87,000. (U.S Lacrosse) Based on the NFHS (National Federation of State High Scholl Associations), lacrosse is one of the highest growth rates right along side of bowling. With in the past ten years over 2,300 new programs and teams have been established for the youth and high school ages. Over 2,000 schools in the United States have just women’s lacrosse programs as of 2008; they also have about the same number of boys leagues. Majority of the leagues in the U.S are high school level but at a competitive level to prepare many for the college level game. With the formed programs in high schools in over forty states, it is positively proving to promote and develop good skills of lacrosse and teach young adults lessons. For the senior seminar project questions were gathered regarding my topic and a survey was constructed. This survey out to the girl’s high school lacrosse team and had them answer these four questions. The end results were positive and proved the thesis due to everyone circling all four “Yes” to prove that lacrosse does promote good character, good academics and a healthy lifestyle. When girls asked about the project they were all better than average students, many in honors courses and on principals honor roll. Being a senior on the varsity lacrosse team feels pretty good and I have played with most of these girls for four years and counting and they are always positive, happy, cheerful, willing to help and are easy to go to. All have excelled since being a freshman on the lacrosse team; all these girls have made me become the better person that one is today and would be dedicated to the team building activities and the great leadership we all have. Lacrosse has made me a well rounded person who is living a healthy lifestyle and keeping up with the academics. I know that lacrosse is a way to stay healthy and fit in a fun and goal achieving way.
 * My transition between here is my thesis statement if the last sentence of the first paragraph and leads to my first topic of discussion. **
 * My transition here is how I went to the next idea of being on a team on the field and in the classroom to talk about in my next paragraph how lacrosse promotes good academics. **
 * My transition here is giving examples of how lacrosse promotes good academics and what lesson you can learn in the classroom to use other places. **
 * This transition shows how I am changing ideas after the interview. **
 * This transition is good because I added in the eating habits a lacrosse player should have along with some statistics that are important. **
 * There is not much of a transition sentence here I will have to update this before the due date next week. **
 * I need a transition sentence here. **
 * This transition shows how I did my project to prove my thesis. **
 * This transition is good because I am going from my last sub-topic to my conclusion which brings everything together. **

__ In conclusion, lacrosse is a way for you to find you and have fun. Lacrosse promotes a good healthy, active lifestyle and keeps you positive. In the long run lacrosse is helping young women get ready for the real world. You learn many life lessons that you can take with you into college and then out into the work world. Your coach gives you many words of advice and up to you to make them useful; some you will remember for the rest of your life. The best skill you can take away from lacrosse is positivity; you learn this by winning or loosing a game in the end you know you played your hardest and tried your best and that is all that matters. __ __"Coaches are, first and foremost, teachers; they are among the most influential people in a young athlete’s life. Because coaches are such powerful role models, young athletes learn more from them about character than about athletic performance”(Live Wire Media).__ __ You can be anything you want to be and do anything you set your mind to; it’s a big world and you have many choices and paths to take in your world so choose wisely. Lacrosse is an amazing sport and can do so much for a young woman; more girls should get involved in sports to help them stay healthy and help them gain confidence within one self. __