Adolescence can be a time where passions are misspent and given to rage, to the ruin of character, or a time where passions are controlled, given necessary vent, and temper character. The teenage years often manifest an inherent urge for trials to discover the limitations of individual abilities in a rebellious nature, where the limits of circumstances are pushed, which is a misplacement of a young man’s natural tendency to discover his strengths and his weaknesses.Such necessary examinations and discoveries should result from an appropriate venue. This important discernment of self can be achieved with marvelous success through gymnastic involvement, where a young man is able to embrace challenges, assume risks, and gain a real and raw knowledge of himself based on his own accomplishments and failures alike.
It is the duty of a boys’ school to understand the nature and disposition of boys, which is to understand their psychology, physiology, and temperaments. At St. Gregory’s Academy, competitive sport is a crucial source of educational development and formation in these vital areas. The body must be cared for as well as the soul and mind. Playing sports leads a boy to a true self-awareness and can teach him such important virtues as perseverance, courage, self-mastery, and magnanimity. Athletics also give boys very tangible lessons about human nature and how to react to adversity. Winning or losing a hard match properly and in the right spirit teaches young men much about what it is to be a man. Therefore the students at St. Gregory’s are strongly encouraged to participate in the Academy’s well-organized sporting programs and engage in structured physical education.
Education in Exercise
The daily training in the athletic programs at St. Gregory’s carries a two-fold purpose. Firstly, boys require exercise for healthy development both physically and mentally. Secondly, methodical sporting endeavors demonstrate the importance of proper training and discipline, both on the practice pitch and in the games. When these requisites are, or are not, done well the effects eventually become evident to the players and they are able to see clearly the consequences of their actions. In this world of immediate gratification obsessed with convenience and instantaneous acquisition of whatever is desired, the role of physical competition is a true awakening. In sports, good results are the outcome of long, hard toil, dedicated effort, strict discipline, and responsibility. It is no mean lesson. All ends that are worth achieving in this life entail such drawn out processes, requiring both patience and practice.
Competing at a high athletic level demands that the contestants invest themselves to a certain degree and take the necessary risks to become proficient and confident. Also, given the academic focus of St. Gregory’s, athletics cultivates and balances intellectual efforts by supplying a critical outlet for young men to exercise their bodies, while testing and determining their individual physical capacities. The teaching and coaching staffs take these truths a step further by pedagogically pointing out to their athletes that sports can and should be viewed as a microcosm of life. As such, they can at least disclose to an individual his own stamina to succeed and level of devotion to a cause.
