Research from Murdoch University details the benefits of co-curricular participation for students. While concerns are often expressed about the over-scheduling of youth and the resulting lack of time to dedicate to their studies, research does not support the notion that too much participation is detrimental. Even at extremely high levels of co-curricular participation – such as more than 20 hours per week – highly involved students perform better than their less involved peers.

Particularly interesting results include:

• Participation in co-curricular activities tends to protect participants from risky behaviours.

• While participation in sport develops positive personality traits such as effort, perseverance and leadership, the negative side is that sports participation is linked with higher levels of alcohol consumption.

• The majority participate in a combination of both sports and non-sporting activities. This combined profile appears to be most developmentally beneficial in terms of school attachment, academic outcomes and university aspirations.

Reference: Youth Activity Participation Study of Western Australia, Murdoch University.