Is it just my school that treats chess like it’s not a real sport?

I’ve been feeling pretty frustrated lately. In my school, students who play sports like football, cricket, volleyball, table tennis, badminton or any other sport, are allowed to skip lectures for practice, play or practice during school hours, and even stay after school to practice more — sometimes for hours. But when it comes to chess, none of that applies. We’re not even allowed to practice during school time.

I actually brought this up with my sports teacher once. I told him that we don’t get any time to prepare for tournaments and that chess practice isn’t allowed in school. He just laughed and said, “Then practice at home.” He took it like a joke — and that honestly stung. It’s really frustrating, because that means I have to use my home time (which should be for academics or self-study) to practice chess. Other sports players can practice at school and study at home, but chess players from my school don’t get that balance. Practicing at home ends up eating into study time, which makes it really inefficient and unfair.

What makes it worse is that other sports players are also allowed to take 1–2 days off before or during tournaments which they go via school without any issue. But that doesn’t apply to chess. I went to represent my school in a chess tournament(district level) and even won, but I was still marked absent. And to top it off, the school sent the message about the prize distribution ceremony right before it happened, so I couldn’t even attend. It’s been almost two months, and I still haven’t received my medal.

People really underestimate how much effort chess requires. It’s not just sitting at a board — it’s hours of studying openings, calculation training, doing puzzles, and studying endgames. I’m not saying other sports don’t deserve their time — they absolutely do — but it just feels unfair that chess players, who also represent the school at district or higher levels, get zero recognition, zero time, and barely any respect.