Athletes As Role Models Essay, Research Paper

In today? s universe, athletics stars and other jocks are looked up to by all ages. Everyone loves them. They look great in the eyes of the mundane public. They appear on telecasting, they perform like stone stars, and make this with the full universe observation. No admiration we make heroes out of our favourites. They are seen, as heroes because they can make things that most of us can? t. They hit heaters at 95 miles per hour, spring at balls in mid air, or defy gravitation and throw down a stuff shot. Their words are repeated and broadcasted throughout the universe and their faces have appeared on the forepart of cereal boxes. But if you examine jocks while they? re non on the tribunal or on the field, you can see what they are like in every dimension. Athletes have many positive and negative sides that affect their public face and both benefit and harm their abilities to go function theoretical accounts.

The jock as function theoretical account is by no agencies a new issue. In fact it is rather ancient. Equally distant as 800 B.C. , when the Olympics were first played in Greece, the jocks all paid court to the Greek God Zeus. Olympia was originally on the sacred site of Gaia. Sports were started as a spiritual rite and the jock was considered a demi-god, stand foring both the witness and the Gods. In Roman times 2000 old ages ago, jocks represented the province during the gladiator games and chariot races. They were seen as soldiers who reassured the citizen that the state was strong. Today, jocks are non considered to be spiritual figures but however are accorded great stuff wealth, privilege, and celebrity. These figures are seeable to us on a hebdomadal footing. Because of their endowment, salary, and places as leaders, it? s inevitable that we admire and place them with such unity ( Ferraro ) .

Courage and finding aren? t the lone lessons we can larn from successful jocks. Some of the best jocks in history are the 1s who can take their accomplishments in pace. You have to love a athletics in order to make it good. Hard-working and motivated people understand that winning International Relations and Security Network? T everything. Leading a squad in homeruns or 3-pointers, is nonmeaningful when compared to one merely giving his/hers best shooting at it. Champion distance smuggler Joan Benoit says, ? Winning is neither everything nor the lone thing. It is one of many things? ( Globus ) .

Athletes have made many parts to society over the old ages. Los Angles Rams line backer George Andrews is one illustration. Andrews stood outside the rule? s office at Douglas Macarthur Fundamental Intermediate School in Santa Ana, watching about three hundred 6th graders file into the auditorium for his anti-drug address. ? I think you can give childs a positive function theoretical account, it helps. ? Andrews said ( Berkow ) . All professional squads in the L.A. country have Adopt a School plans, in which athletes meet with pupils and emphasis acquiring an instruction and remaining off drugs ( Berkow ) .

Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox is another pro jock who has done good workss particularly for childs with disablements. Wakefield ran a golf tourney ( Tim Wakefield Celebrity Golf Classic ) in Jan. 1993 and raised $ 40,275 for the Space Coast Early Intervention Center, which would hold closed down in July of 1992 if it weren? T for the caput of the centre, Betsy Farmer, a close friend of Wakefield. In the past eight old ages, Wakefield has raised $ 1,127,704 for the organisation, which has later blossomed into one of the state? s taking installations in assisting kids with disablements ; chiefly Down Syndrome. Tim said this about the organisation: ? I? thousand really fortunate to be populating a dream and doing the money I am, so why non give it to person who truly needs it? ? ( Horrigan ) .

In 1989, approximately 8,000 schoolchildren from the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys, carried ruddy, white, and bluish balloons that read? JUST SAY NO? into the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA for an anti-drug mass meeting ( Simross ) . This is merely one plan invented into assisting immature pupils recognize how negative drugs are. Ira David Wood founded an eight-month leading plan designed for high school jocks. ? Leadership by inspiration is merely one event of the eight month plan. The plan involves experiences designed specifically to utilize every bit many as the participants, senses as possible. When they can see it, experience it hear it and smell it so a memory is created, and a memory means they? ll have a callback. Student-athletes involved in the plan participate in police ride-alongs and mock city-council meetings ; they solve community jobs and coach and manager simple pupils ( Kurek ) .

When we look at jocks, we tend to see that non all that they do is good. Yes they are supposed to be function theoretical accounts and show the young person with positive vibraphones. But in world, they do every bit much bad as they do good. In the intelligence all the clip, we hear about people like Darryl Strawberry and his multiple strong beliefs of usage of cocaine. Although he? s merely one of the many pro jocks who are in the same boat, their actions affect younger student-athletes, specifically in high school. A study in Chicago, done by the Chicago Sun Times, found that more than 50 % of Chicago country student-athletes said that imbibing among their equals is a bigge

R job than most people realize ( Survey ) . Play athleticss by twenty-four hours, acquire rummy at dark, and travel to category in the forenoon. Is this an accurate image of student-athletes today? 80 % of high school senior drink intoxicant in the 50 provinces of America. Student-athletes attend parties, devour some beer, and their parents and managers have no hints about it ( Survey ) . Where do the childs get the? Oklahoma? to make this? Yes, peer force per unit area is a job, but by hearing and seeing professional jocks twenty-four hours in and twenty-four hours out acquiring in problem for drugs and intoxicant, childs will believe it ok.

Although student-athletes are involved in this, some topographic points are making something about it. In North Andover, MA for illustration. Student-athletes will lose their right to play merely for being in the presence of intoxicant or drugs ( Ogden ) . As it stands, jocks caught really imbibing or making drugs face a two-game or two-week suspension from drama ( Ogden ) .

Misbehavior is ever present in athleticss and fans can be cognizant of that. But what are the rights and demands of the fans? Should they be mad when they see this misbehaviour? For most fans, their lone contract with this will be found in the regulations of athleticss and in just drama on the playing field and by the jock. Athletes can? Ts have their bar and eat it excessively.

If they want the love from the fans, so they better non misconduct. When the media gets involved, some say that they should merely describe the intelligence. But this is like stating when they score a touchdown Don? t celebrate. The media can voice their moral place. In making so, they are really straightforward. The media has an duty to specify issues, study error, and at times act as a moral barometer for the athletics civilization ( Ferraro ) .

Star jocks learn from their errors every bit good as from their successes. They have what it takes to be a victor. Top jocks are invariably endeavoring to better. What? s more, they can remain focussed, frequently under intense force per unit area. ( Who can bury Kerri Strug? s stupefying vault, despite an injured leg, that sent her squad to a gold decoration coating at the 1996 Olympics? ) It? s mulct to look up to Michael Jordan? s genius on the tribunal or Picabo Street? s delicacy on the inclines. To lift to the top, it takes infinite hours of pattern to polish the accomplishments needed to carry through your ends ( Globus ) .

Another major factor that athletes put on society is the strength they show when the odds are against them. For illustration, Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins. After being diagnosed with malignant neoplastic disease, he continued his calling in the NHL. Not merely is he one of the greatest to of all time play hockey, he? s achieved his ends while losing a respectable sum of games ( Globus ) . Another illustration could be former Olympian Wilma Rudolph. Born with infantile paralysis, physicians said that it could forestall her from walking. She played hoops and ran path at 13 and competed in the 56 Olympics as a sophomore in high school. Positive thought goes manus and manus with these jocks. Great athletes can concentrate on the undertaking at manus. They can go to the full focussed and arrive feeling like a victor before they even begin to vie ( Globus ) .

Athletes who are title-holders besides show qualities such as doggedness, dedication, and the ability to maintain their cool under force per unit area. Narratives about ace jocks teach us about working difficult and believing in ourselves and being passionate about what we do. Many high-profile participants work hard to be positive function theoretical accounts to kids. In add-on, they raise money for charities and act as wise mans, speaking to groups and volunteering their clip to plans that help childs remain off from drugs and intoxicant ( Globus ) .

They get paid 1000000s of dollars for their attempts, and their names and faces appear on everything from running places to hoardings. Still, even the greatest title-holders have flaws. Just because person has a perfect swing, it doesn? t mean that he? s a good friend, parent, or interpreter. Merely because they? rhenium rich and celebrated, doesn? t mean they don? t face jobs like the remainder of us do. Just because they have such an image, doesn? t mean that they wear? t get ill and have to remain in bed. However, dividing an jock? s professional and personal life can be rather hard. Fans do acquire disappointed when jocks get in problem with the jurisprudence or do important errors in their personal lives. Before he died, the great Mickey Mantle, who was a ramping alky, told immature ball participants, ? drama like me ; wear? t be like me? ( Globus ) . The athleticss universe gets shocked of all time clip it hears of such a thing like Roberto Alomar ptyalizing in an umpire? s face or Mike Tyson being accused of colza. As these narratives arrive, inquiries form in the heads of fans across the state. Who are jocks truly function theoretical accounts for? Is the media ham it uping to these narratives? ( Ferraro )

In decision, athletes inspire and encourage every bit good as bring upon a bad influence on society today. They know what they are in the limelight to make and by all agencies they accomplish it. Good and bad come out of athleticss and with today? s media ; it? s swallowed up and ptyalize out in many different signifiers. Everyone out there is watching and for a premier clip jock, every determination is monitored. The jock as a function theoretical account is non an issue ; it? s a portion of mundane life.