College Entrance Exam preparation
There are other additional benefits to math competition. One of the most obvious, in my mind, is the experience one gains in taking a timed test. Although the emphasis on college entrance exams has shifted in recent years, there is still no doubt that for many students this is an important exam. However, many students do not have experience working through a set of problems in a limited amount of time. Math competition gives students that experience. When I started coaching a math team as a teacher, a coach from another school told me that in his opinion, based on his observations after years of coaching, a student who worked diligently at math competition throughout their high school career, would typically score about 100 points higher on the SAT than a student who did not compete in math competition. Although this is not a statistical study of any type, it does seem to make sense - students who are used to working under timed conditions would be expected to do better on the SAT than a student who is not used to working under that time limit.

Confidence
Another benefit is the obvious improvement in a student's confidence level within his or her math class. I have had freshmen and sophomores who have worked at some Pre-Calculus level topics while preparing for a math meet. Obviously, these students, when they see these topics when they finally reach Pre-Calculus, will have a much greater confidence in the material. They will be ahead of their classmates who have not been in competition. Additionally, they will also be continually reviewing these topics, even after they have left the material in their math class. This preparation is going to insure that they reach a far higher level of understanding of the material than their classmates. This certainly has far reaching value, far beyond their high school careers.

Finally, there is no reason to limit math competition to the "math geeks." I tell my students that ANYONE can join the math team and prepare for and attend meets. One year, I even had a Special Ed. student, who as a senior was struggling through Algebra 1, on my math team. It was one of the most exciting things for her when she scored some points at one of the math meets. Now, she didn't turn out to be the next Newton or Pythagoras, but she was able to look at mathematics with a completely different perspective because of her experiences. She could actually say that she LIKED mathematics. Isn't that something that we would like to see for all of our students?

There is no doubt that athletics provide many benefits to students. There is also no doubt that math competition provides as many benefits, if not more, than these sports do. If you do not currently engage in math competition, I encourage you to give it a try - both for your sake, and for the sake of your students. I am confident that you will not regret your decision.