Dear Honorable Governor Inslee, Washington State Department of Health, and members of the Washington State Legislature:

As parents, grandparents, friends and family of student athletes in the great state of Washington, we urge you to provide competitive sports to our students without delay.

According to the American Pediatric Association: ‘Re-engaging in sports activities with friends has both physical and psychological health benefits for children and adolescents. Participating in sports allows youth to improve their cardiovascular health, strength, body composition, and overall fitness.’*

The benefits of competitive sports are many:**

• Consistently higher grades
• More confidence, leadership, and self-respect
• More likely to earn a college degree
• Better at setting goals and managing time
• Stronger peer relationships
• Better attachment with adults
• Closer sense of family
• Increase in volunteerism
• Less likely to engage in high-risk behavior
• Greater sense of initiative, persistence and personal responsibility
• Decreased likelihood to use drugs, smoke cigarettes and carry weapons

While missing out on athletics, especially in high school, offers the following:

• Depression, thoughts of suicide, isolation
• Decreased physical health
• Loss of motivation
• Decrease in grades

With the potential loss of competitive sports this Spring, many of our athletes will have lost two of four seasons of high school sports. This leaves our students with few opportunities for college scholarships. Conversely, the majority of our 50 states are open for high school sports, giving their athletes a huge competitive advantage over Washington State athletes. For many lower income families, sports scholarships are their only way to provide an education for their student athlete.

We highly encourage you to open up sports for all of our student athletes in the state of Washington immediately.

Thank you for your consideration.

Source

*https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coron...

**https://www.atyourownrisk.org/benefits-of-sports/#...