Athletes As Role Models

Everybody loves athletes. What makes them shine so bright? We see them performing on TV, the world their stage. They are our heroes, we worship them. They can do stuff that most of us can’t. They defy gravity, they stretch and dunk the ball like it is nothing, all the while making it seem effortless. Their faces stare at us from the idiot box and from our cereal boxes. These are our heroes, men we have chosen to glorify because of their special gifts.

It is their undying spirit, the willingness to excel and rise above the ordinary that makes them different. While all these are wonderful qualities that one would want to emulate, unfortunately these are not the only qualities that make the athlete the person he is. Tremendous responsibility lies on the shoulders of the athletes as kids worship them. They must pick with care the products they endorse because children assume that these products will make them like the athlete. Off court they need to really make sure they stick to decorum as they are constantly being watched.

Off the court, off the field athletes are just human beings like us. They face the same challenges, they must live in the same society like everybody else but unlike us, they are constantly in the public eye. The pressure of the media, the pressure to perform consistently, the pressure to deliver time and again is tremendous and on one so young sometimes it takes a toll and they tend to stray and it is times like this that one is convinced that being a role model is too big a responsibility for one so young.