Athlete Stereotypes

Have you ever heard about an athlete being labeled as “loud” or “not smart”? Well that, my friend, is called a stereotype based upon athletes. Stereotypes are mostly known as bad, and are thrown around carelessly without the knowledge of hurting or affecting the performance of an individual. Most are inaccurate, however, and also differ depending on the people that have been aimed at from the labels. We also have good stereotypes, nonetheless, such as “brave” and “courageous”. I’m an athlete, per say, and I’ve heard both of these assumptions around my school. Not only is it unfair to my fellow athletes, but also unreasonable. People are all different, and labeling based upon a sport we do is wrong. Somehow, a few people think sports are only

The stereotype “athletes are dumb” is proven false here due to the fact that if we aren’t eligible (which means a 2.0 or above GPA), we can’t participate in the sport we love. Athletes have to stay on their grades just as well as their coaches stay on top of their actions with consequences. With coaching comes a great respect from the athlete, also. We learn how to maintain school and practices with tight schedules, but also to respect figures of authority. Although sometimes it may be hard for an athlete to study for a test coming home from a tiring practice, it may actually be argued that we are still on top of our necessities, because there is absolutely no days off until everything is finished. In the article The Brain: Why Athletes Are Geniuses published by Discover Magazine states, “Claudio Del Percio’s team has measured brain waves of athletes and nonathletes in action. In one experiment, the researchers observed pistol shooters as they fired 120 times. In another experiment, Del Percio had fencers balance on one foot. In both cases, the scientist discovered that the athletes’ brains were quieter, which means they devoted less brain activity to these motor tasks than non athletes did. Del Percio argues that the brains of athletes are more efficient, so they produce the desired result with the help of fewer neurons. His research suggests that the more efficient of a brain, the better job it does in