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March 28, 2022

Why online schooling is perfect for young athletes

By King's InterHigh

The life of a young athlete is exciting and fulfilling, but it’s not without its challenges. Sadly, pursuing sports on a serious level can quickly start to interfere with schooling. If your family is struggling to balance athletics with education, you’re not alone. From training session and class conflicts to the lack of sleep that comes with early school starts, many students and parents have trouble making athletic and academic goals work together.

Of course, it’s important to remember that traditional schooling isn’t the only option out there. In fact, your child can get a high-quality education that fits around all their sporting needs with online school. Let’s take a look at just a few of the ways online schooling can help your child make great academic progress without compromising on their sports success.

No more scheduling conflicts

Without a doubt, balancing training with education is one of the most difficult challenges for student athletes. From the Olympics to Wimbledon, young sporting stars aiming for world championships must train for numerous hours each week. Of course, there are only so many hours in each day. As a result, training sessions with the top coaches often conflict with school.

This leaves students and parents in a stressful predicament. Should young people prioritise schooling and risk losing their chances at a trophy? Thankfully, that doesn’t have to be the case. While mainstream schools operate on fairly rigid schedules, online schooling offers young athletes unmatched flexibility.

You may have heard that a great online school should teach classes live to keep students engaged with their learning, the best schools also record these lessons for later viewing. When learners have 24/7 access to past classes at the touch of a button, they no longer need to sacrifice their training to keep up in school. If your child does need to miss a class due to sports practice, they can catch up with it as soon as they get home.

Travel freely for competitions

Making it to the international competition ring is a huge step for any young elite athlete. Sadly, however, the excitement often feels dulled when families realise how traveling abroad conflicts with a traditional education. Every day spent overseas is missed day of education, and many parents struggle with the logistics of routinely taking their child out of school for sporting events.

This is another problem that online schooling can solve with ease. Alongside providing a more flexible schedule that fits around competitions, virtual school doesn’t take place in a fixed location. As long as you have access to a computer with an internet connection, your child can attend classes anywhere in the world. In fact, many online school students even watch their classes in airports, on planes, and on trains while travelling from destination to destination.

Keep up with a healthy lifestyle

Health is of the utmost importance for any athlete—especially a young sportsperson with a growing body. That said, some students do struggle to keep up with a healthy lifestyle while attending a traditional school. In particular, one of the biggest health concerns is sleep.

According to research, student athletes need at least nine hours of sleep every night; depending on age, 10 to 11 hours may be preferable. However, at least 42% of students report that they regularly get poor sleep, and three in five get less than seven hours a night. Not only does sleep deprivation interfere with sports training and increase the risk of injury, it also has a significant effect on academic performance.

If you’re child struggles with early wake-up times, online school could be the answer. Most students spend a considerable amount of time commuting to school and waiting in the playground or in classrooms for lessons to begin. When students take online classes from the comfort of their own homes, there’s no need to commute at all. In turn, your child gets that precious time back to get more sleep before school.

Online education can make other aspects of a healthy lifestyle easier to maintain too. For example, while school lunches and packed lunches are limited in scope, you’re free to prepare your child a highly nutritious, body-boosting meal when you’re both at home.

Bond with fellow athletes

Unless your child has been lucky enough to attend specialist sports school, being a young athlete can sometimes feel isolating. When students are regularly missing classes or even whole days of school to keep up with athletic life, it’s hard to maintain friendships. Children and teens can quickly feel left out of inside jokes and memories that happened while they were away, and not every school student can relate to the life of a young elite sportsperson.

Attending online school, on the other hand, often brings students the opportunity to meet other young athletes in a similar position to them. Since virtual schools attract so many athletes in need of flexibility, your child will likely find plenty of classmates who know exactly what they’re going through. Plus, in a school environment where following your individual dreams is the norm, even non-sporting classmates won’t be surprised when your child misses a lesson here and there.

Online School at King’s InterHigh

With over 16 years of experience and more than 10,000 successful alumni, King’s InterHigh is the leading British online school—and a perfect option for young athletes. At King’s InterHigh, we bring students aged seven to 18 a high-quality education, no matter their location, lifestyle, or aspiration.

Students attend live and interactive classes each school day, where our expert teachers bring learning to life with innovative technologies. Plus, each lesson is recorded and uploaded for round-the-clock viewing, ensuring your child never misses a minute of education despite their training schedule.

Hear from our student athletes

Our school is already home to numerous young sports stars, many of whom are international champions. Table tennis player Anna Hursey, for example, is the youngest Commonwealth Games athlete in history. Anna tells us: “King’s InterHigh allows me to continue with my education whilst developing my table tennis career. The teachers always explain things very clearly, meaning I can progress with my education alongside my training.”

Joshua Andrew, meanwhile, is a rising football star, a King’s InterHigh student, and one of our ambassadors. Joshua explains: “I’m proud to represent King’s InterHigh and raise awareness of the flexibility it offers. Working independently will help me as an athlete, as I can focus on my sport. Other athletes might also find it beneficial.”

Meanwhile, our surfing champion student Ben Larg says, “I can be anywhere in the world, but the constant is my school – my parents have always wanted me to achieve my potential and with King’s InterHigh, I can.

To learn more about how King’s InterHigh can help your child achieve their athletic dreams without compromising on education, get in touch with us or attend our next open day.

By King's InterHigh

King’s InterHigh is an independent British international online school. Offering Primary, Secondary and Sixth Form education, we cater to students from age 7 – 18 who are looking for a high quality British education delivered in a way that revolves around their lifestyle.

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