Читать реферат по английскому: "Athletes As Role Models Essay Research Paper" Страница 1

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

Athletes As Role Models Essay, Research Paper

In today?s world, sport stars and other athletes are looked up to by all ages. Everyone loves them. They look great in the eyes of the everyday public. They appear on television, they perform like rock stars, and do this with the entire world watching. No wonder we make heroes out of our favorites. They are seen, as heroes because they can do things that most of us can?t. They hit fastballs at 95 mph, leap at balls in mid air, or defy gravity and throw down a dunk. Their words are repeated and broadcasted throughout the world and their faces have appeared on the front of cereal boxes. But if you examine athletes while they?re not on the court 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 become role models.

The athlete as role model is by no means a new issue. In fact it is quite ancient. As distant as 800 B.C., when the Olympics were first played in Greece, the athletes all paid homage to the Greek God Zeus. Olympia was originally on the sacred site of Gaia. Sports were started as a religious ritual and the athlete was considered a demi-god, representing both the spectator and the gods. In Roman times 2000 years ago, athletes represented the state during the gladiator games and chariot races. They were seen as soldiers who reassured the citizen that the nation was strong. Today, athletes are not considered to be religious figures but nonetheless are accorded great material wealth, privilege, and fame. These figures are visible to us on a weekly basis. Because of their talent, salary, and positions as leaders, it?s inevitable that we admire and identify them with such integrity (Ferraro).

Courage and determination aren?t the only lessons we can learn from successful athletes. Some of the best athletes in history are the ones who can take their achievements in stride. You have to love a sport in order to do it well. Hard-working and motivated people understand that winning isn?t everything. Leading a team in homeruns or 3-pointers, is meaningless when compared to one just giving his/hers best shot at it. Champion distance runner Joan Benoit says, ?Winning is neither everything nor the only thing. It is one of many things? (Globus).

Athletes have made many contributions to society over the years. Los Angles Rams linebacker George Andrews is one example. Andrews stood outside the principle?s office at Douglas Macarthur Fundamental Intermediate School in Santa Ana, watching about three hundred sixth graders file into the auditorium for his anti-drug speech. ?I think you can give kids a positive role model, it helps.? Andrews said (Berkow). All professional teams in the L.A. area have Adopt a School programs, in which athletes meet with students and stress getting an education and staying off drugs (Berkow).

Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox is another pro athlete who has done good deeds especially for kids with disabilities. Wakefield ran a golf tournament (Tim Wakefield Celebrity Golf Classic) in Jan. 1993 and raised $40,275 for the Space Coast Early Intervention Center, which would have closed down in July of 1992 if it weren?t for the head of the center, Betsy Farmer, a close friend of Wakefield. In the past eight years, Wakefield has raised $1,127,704 for the organization, which has subsequently blossomed into one of the nation?s leading facilities in helping children with disabilities; mainly Down Syndrome. Tim said this about the organization: ?I?m very fortunate to be living a dream and making the money I am, so why not give it to someone who really needs it??(Horrigan).

In 1989, about 8,000 schoolchildren from the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys, carried red, white, and blue balloons that read ?JUST SAY NO? into the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA for an anti-drug rally (Simross). This is just one program invented into helping young students realize how negative drugs are. Ira David Wood founded an eight-month leadership program designed for high school athletes. ?Leadership by inspiration is just one event of the eight month program. The program involves experiences designed specifically to use as many as the participants, senses as possible. When they can see it, feel it hear it and smell it then a memory is created, and a memory means they?ll have a recall. Student-athletes involved in the program participate in police ride-alongs and mock city-council meetings; they solve community problems and tutor and coach elementary students (Kurek).

When we look at athletes, we tend to see that not all that they do is good. Yes they are supposed to be role models and present the youth with positive vibes. But in reality, they do as much bad as they do good. In the news all the time, we hear about people like Darryl Strawberry and his multiple convictions of use of cocaine. Although he?s just one of the many pro athletes who are in the same boat, their actions affect younger student-athletes, specifically in high school. A survey in Chicago, done by the Chicago Sun Times, found that more than 50% of Chicago area student-athletes said that drinking among their peers is a bigger problem than most people realize (Survey). Play sports by day, get drunk at night, and go to class in the morning. Is this an accurate picture of student-athletes today? 80% of high school senior drink alcohol in the 50 states of America. Student-athletes attend parties, consume some beer, and their parents and coaches have no clues about it (Survey). Where do the kids get the ?ok? to do this? Yes, peer pressure is a problem, but by hearing and seeing professional athletes day in and day out getting in trouble for drugs and alcohol, kids will think it ok.

Although student-athletes are involved in this, some places are doing something about it. In North

Похожие работы