Sports can be good when it gets students who are sedentary moving around and exercising. It is good for the metabolism, heart rate, pulse and for keeping fit. When people eat a lot of high calorie foods which are so readily available in the US, its a way to burn off some of those calories. It can boost teamwork skills and give confidence. On the other hand, sometimes sports can be taken so seriously that it can negatively affect self esteem when a team loses. It can also lead to bullying or exclusion. There are always two sides to every coin.

There are many advantages to sports such as gaining exercise, learning to be a team player, making one's body stronger and so on. Plus playing sports is enjoyable and can be a stress reliever for many people. As for disadvantages, I will have to say injuries, danger, and the toll they can take on the body and the mind.

I think everybody needs a reason to "wake up" in the morning.  Something to give their life a goal and passion.  Sports are great because it gives some students a passion for coming to school, even when they aren't academically as motivated as I would prefer as a teacher.

I really enjoy sports, so I tend to look at the positives. But I realize that there are also negatives. Ironically, these negatives often affect the best athletes. These athletes often allow their sports performance to define them as a people. This becomes a problem when they inevitably fall back to earth as the competition and/or injury catches up with them. By then it is sometimes too late for them to catch up academically, because they have never worried much about the academic side of school.

I would say that sports are important given they help students to become more rounded. ON the other hand, some students put far more focus upon their sports than on their academics. When this happens, I would say that this is a negative aspects of sports.

I must start this by saying that I love sports.  I lettered in multiple sports in high school and have coached sports as a teacher.  I love them because sports let you do things with your body that are joyful.  There is nothing that is satisfying in the same way as doing something just right in sports.  That said, people overemphasize sports and make people into heroes because they are good at sports.  This leads to excessive self-importance on the part of athletes and lack of self-esteem among those whose talents lie in other areas.

To speak very generally, some people like to argue that sports can take the place of warfare, allowing distinctly different peoples a chance to confront one another in non-violent ways. This may be too much of a stretch for some people, but it's an interesting idea.

International sporting events like the Olympic games and the World Cup (of soccer) are two examples of sport as scaled-down-conflict but still large scale competition.

On a more person level, sports are obviously beneficial in their promotion of physical health. Sports get us moving. Fitness and sports go hand-in-glove. This point is probably too obvious to bear examples. 

Potential negative aspects of sports might include the creation of unhealthy psychologies such as a belief in the idea that "winning is everything". This type of belief system could lead to low self-esteem on one end and unscrupulous/immoral behavior on the other.