National Student-Athlete Day is a holiday that’s annually observed on April 6th every year. The purpose of this holiday is to give everyone the opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of student-athletes. In the U.S., millions of student-athletes compete in individual and team sports.

However, only about half a million of these students will advance their careers to the college level. Many of these students maintain a high level of athleticism while maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA. Many of these student-athletes will grow up to become leaders and role models in their communities, so maybe it’s time to acknowledge what they do by celebrating this holiday.

The History of National Student-Athlete Day

This holiday was created by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports—also known as NCAS. They founded this holiday back in 1987 to honor those high school and college students who are not only doing well academically but are also excelling in sports. It’s also a day to honor those student-athletes who take time out of their already busy schedules to contribute to the school and/or greater community in a meaningful way.

The Benefits of High School Sports

Below are some of the benefits of high school sports that we discovered during our research on National Student-Athlete Day.

• Student-athletes have higher self-esteem and participate more in volunteering.
• Student-athletes tend to have a closer sense of family.
• Student-athletes tend to be better at cooperating with others.

Observing National Student-Athlete Day

Since this holiday was created, over 4 million student-athletes have been honored with the National Student-Athlete Day award certificate. As of the writing of this holiday article, people could also request special silicone wristbands as well. These wristbands are black and silver and have “National Student-Athlete Day” written on them.

People can celebrate student-athletes at their school by putting forward their names for this award or by requesting special wristbands. People can also use the hashtag #NationalStudentAthleteDay to give a shoutout to student-athletes all around the U.S.