Scoliosis and School Sports: Why You Don't Have to Play to Belong

By Stacey Teytel

It seems, nowadays, that everywhere you turn everyone and their mothers are signing up for schools sports. Being a student with scoliosis may prevent some kids from taking part in what is often viewed as a rite of passage for many high schoolers. It seems that all strong bonds are forged on the field, and being excluded from that chance can be devastating.

However unfair this may seem, it is not the end all be all of forming that type of bond with other kids. Sports teams have that bond because they work day in and day out with one another to achieve a goal that is important to them. Schools have so many opportunities to do just that are not restricted to athletic fields. For example, mock trial, robotics, trivia, FBLA, theater, or HOSA, are all non-althetic based activities that can bond students in the same way.

As a student who has taken part in robotics for three years, I can vouch for the fact that these clubs force you to be surrounded by the same people for incredibly long periods of time and form powerful friendships in the process. Having also done a brief stint on my school’s track team, I can also say that sports are not all that they seem to be.

Being a high school student is hard enough without an innate disease making you stand out from the crowd even more. However, playing to your strengths, being athletic, if you can, theatrical, or academic can make it so much more fun. Despite all that teachers can throw at us (and it is a lot), high school is meant, on some level, to be a fun time in our lives. The most important thing is to never let scoliosis hold you back in life. In now way does being different make anyone a worse person, and embracing that can change everything.