The Relationship between Physical Preparedness and Academic Achievement among High School Students

The Relationship between Physical Preparedness and Academic Achievement among High School Students   A. A. Fallaahi, Ph.D.* M. H. Abdolaahi, Ph.D.**   In order to make the case for the need to increase the physical education hours in high school curriculum, a sample of 317 students were chosen and their physical preparedness in running, push up, and flexibility was measured using standard instruments. Furthermore, the subjects’ achievement in language, mathematics, and literature courses was also determined and their correlation with physical preparedness calculated. The results show that those who run better, do better in language course, while those who do well in all three courses are those who have done well in flexibility test. The push up test results correlated only with the language course scores. Therefore, it can be said that if more hours are spent on physical activities such as running, academic achievement would improve.   Keywords: physical fitness, academic achievement, coronary fitness                           _______________________ Date received: May 15, 2016                   Date accepted: October 30, 2016 *Faculty Member in Sport Sciences, College of Education, Shiraz University, [email protected] ** Faculty Member in Sport Sciences, College of Education, Shiraz University,(corresponding author) [email protected]