By Nwe Win

Have you ever been lost and confused on what sports you should join at school? Well, I’ve got the perfect spot for you. You should join the Cross Country team because there are so many benefits and fun you can have. I decided to do this sport as an incoming freshman and I think it is one of the best decisions I’ve made. So here is a list of 10 reasons why you should do the school cross country team.

1. Anyone can join!
You can participate in this sport no matter what, there isn’t a skill required to be good at this sport. You can be in any type of health condition or body type. All you need is good work ethic and endurance to persevere.

2. It’s a great way to get in shape
Cross Country is a great way to motivate yourself to get in shape or stay fit. You can run with your peers and constantly help each other throughout the courses. This is important because this will help you build a better self-esteem overall.

3. Be more social
Doing this sport will help you make new friends and meet people from different grade levels. This will help you feel less socially awkward before the school year starts. This is also a great team building sport because you want your teammates to do well at meets against other teams.

4. It is a rewarding sport
Joining cross country will help you reach a better mental capacity. It is 99 percent of the time a mental sports rather than physical, whether it includes long runs, interval, and etc. You will feel so accomplished when you finish a race because you put so much effort and training into it.

5. It is inexpensive
This sport only needs work out clothes and a good pair of running shoes. It doesn’t require as many types of equipment as other sports do.

6. It’s a great sport for goal setting
There is an endless amount of goals you can make when you do this sport, whether it is getting a better time or a becoming a better athlete. You can make any type of goal at the beginning of the season and further into the season you can see how much you improved.

7. It provides great training
People think this sport is essentially just running but there is so much work that goes into it. In cross country, there is a planned schedule that our coach makes us do. A regular week of cross training is long runs, interval workouts, and some sort of core workout. All of these workouts will help you become a better runner and become stronger each week.

8. It offers good team building
Doing cross country will be a great way to build a sisterhood or brotherhood. As much as this is an individual sport, it is also a team sport. People always encourage each other in races or runs because everyone wants the same goal.

9. It helps you stay productive
After you go on a run or do a variety of training, you will feel like you did something with your day.
You also wake up very early instead of sleeping, which allows a good start to your day.

10. It makes you feel replenished
I feel like after going on a run and working your butt off it feels good afterward. I usually will take a shower or eat a lot and not feel guilty about it. Also ever since I did cross country, I’ve been getting better sleep and feel less tired.