The crowd is going nuts, he made the winning basket, and the Warriors win! This sounds a lot like an athlete at the high school level of sports winning the game and everyone gets excited. High school is the primary years of learning a sport and finding your talents. As you enter college and continue to do sports, you find that your talent is met with many other people who also are good at a particular sport. Sports can be anything including basketball, football, soccer, badminton, tennis, ping pong, and even cross country skiing. You are considered an athlete if you participate in any sport. So being named an athlete is an honor because your skills are put to the test at all ages which leads to the question of: does aging bring only sadness to an athlete? In this essay, this question will be answered from many different points of view including external and internal validations.
Firstly, can aging bring sadness to an athlete? This question can have multiple answers of yes and no, but with my agreement with A. E. Housman I believe athletes do get sad. Athletes can become very saddened that they can’t play the sport they have loved forever because of old age. We see this today in many profession sports around the world, where once you turn thirty-five or older, these players retire because sports teams no longer want them. Sports teams want the young people to take over the spots that older athletes are in now. We can look at the National Basketball Association for an example, the athlete Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs is close to forty years old and nearing retirement age because the younger, faster, and stronger athletes are pushing him out. This can sadden the player because of the blood, sweat, and tears he put into the ...
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...fans and loss of physical strength and endurance.
In conclusion, I agree with A.E. Housman and his idea that athletes get sad because of the fact that they age and become too old and weak to keep up with younger athletes. We can see that even today with sports teams in America that there is always a cycle of younger replacing the older. We can see players be happy and sad because of their forced retirement due to the aging process. They are happy because they get quality resting time to be with friends and family and can spend their money freely. And sad because the talent they have been playing all their life is no longer something they can physically do because they lose the breathe easily and need more resting time. So yes, I agree with the author because athletes lose their fans to younger people, and lose their endurance levels all due to the aging process.
The main point Epstein is trying to discuss is the heightened pressure on children to become star athletes is becoming counter productive. The
The speaker addresses three advantages to dying young in To an Athlete Dying Young, by A. E. Houseman, these are an athlete’s glory fading, records broken, and being forgotten. After the athlete’s death, the speaker states that the athlete was right to leave “fields where glory does not stay” (10). Moreover, the speaker implies that the athlete is lucky because he will never live to see the glory of his achievements fade away. Similarly, following the athlete’s burial the speaker states that the athlete “Cannot see the record cut” (14). Furthermore, the speaker implies that an early death is to the athlete’s advantage because he will never see his records and achievements beaten by another athlete. Lastly, the speaker states that the athlete
Sports play a large part of an athletic student’s life, weighing heavily on one’s identity. In his essay, “Cut”, Bob Greene relays how he and several others are cut from their middle school sports team because “[they weren’t] good enough” (Greene 58). Because of this cut, Greene and his peers end up pushing harder than ever in other areas of their life. He notes, “an inordinately large proportion of successful men share… the memory
When the coach turned his head, the seven-year-old stuck a finger down his throat and made himself vomit. When the coach fumed back, the boy pointed to the ground and told him, “Yes, there it is, Coach. See?” (Tosches A33).It emphasizes the fact that if a child gets hurt once, they will fear the possibility of getting hurt again ,so they try to find excuses to prevent themselves from playing the game.Second,Statsky states how competitive adults have drained the fun out of children's sports and made the game unappealing for children.She cites Martin Rablovsky, a former sports editor for the New York Times says that in all his years of watching young children play organized sports, he has noticed very few of them smiling. “I’ve seen children enjoying a spontaneous pre-practice scrimmage become somber and serious when the coach’s whistle blows,” Rablovsky says. “The spirit of play suddenly disappears, and sport becomes job-like” (qtd in Coakley 94). It shows the fact that competitive adults are oblivious to their actions and don't notice that what they are doing can really affect a child mentally.Third, Statsky is concerned that competitive sports will lower a child's self-esteem and make them lack confidence.’’Like adults, children fear failure, and so even those with good physical skills may stay away because they lack
One crowd was made up of middle-aged college graduates who played division one sports. The supplemented group comprised of middle-aged college graduates who did not participate in sports. The study showed they were in much poorer physical condition, and agonized from a number of things including depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. Non-athletes portrayed much less signs of wear and tear. The fact that they do not get paid is only part of the problem.
The history of sports goes back since ancient times. It has been a useful way for people to explore nature and their environment. Sports include different activities and games such as football, soccer, basketball, and etc. to express their skills and talents. Also, sports are a way to relax and have fun; but are sports all our African Americans rely on? The dream to become future sports stars. The reason why Gates begins his essay with an anecdote is to show and compare how many african-american athletes were at work today and how little the chances of African-Americans becoming athletes are compared to being a lawyer, dentist, or even a doctor. African-Americans assume that they are born athletes and it’s because the school system doesn’t teach them reality and educate them to undertake more realistic goals for careers.
Athletes in times of difficulty can be important role models.” This shows that sports are in fact helpful because they can grow children into being important role models for the rest of society. Studies have shown time and time again that playing sports can be beneficial to children and we also believe this to be true. Many people still think that sports cause “too many injuries”, or coaches “are not fair enough”, but adolescents will experience these things all throughout their lives because injury can happen anywhere and they will not always be the best at what they are doing. Sports are beneficial to the youth because they can teach children and teens important life skills, help them maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle, all while improving their mental health.
High school sports are approached with clashing opinions. Some of these opinions are positive, and supportive of athletics. “Athleticism, among many activities, offers teens a physical outlet to exert their troubles, anger, emotions, and other feelings” (Chen 1). This can be observed in nearly all of the football players in Friday Night Lights. This can also be noticed in the world today. “Athletics help high school students understand their own abilities and talents” (Chen 1). This piece of evidence is very accurate when describing high school athletes. Sports can make a high school student humble. As can be seen by the preceding information, high school athletics can have a positive impact on a student’s life.
However, what this argument does not take into account is that athletes have an abundance of pressure put on them that most non-athletes don’t ever experience. Hence, the saying, “go hard or go home”. A recent study emphasizes this fact as McClatchy notes, ”The researchers monitored mood levels of 465 collegiate athletes over three years and found 6.3 percent of the athletes met the criteria for clinically significant depression and 24 percent were considered ‘clinically relevant’ “ (2016). Studies like these prove that athletes are not blind to the idea of depression, but rather experience this disorder themselves. Anxiety has a huge role in depression. As sportsperson, there is constant effort to become an awe-inspiring player. As the stakes of the game raise, so does the anxiety. Some want a scholarship, some want to show off what they offer to a team that got a scholarship, and some are professionals. Regardless of whether it's grade school sport or a professional sport, failing at personal goals one set is down right depressing. Kearns and Hwang state that, ”While it’s not clear whether the source of challenges to a student-athlete's mental well-being is the same as those non-athletes, collegiate athletes are known to encounter unique stressor that the general population doesn’t have to deal with, such as the demands, relationships with coaches and missed scheduled classes” (2014). Pressure is something everyone experiences. However, athletes experience some of the same pressure that of non-athletes and then some. Being on a sports team is demanding to time and the idea of being “superior”. In athletics, coaches are everything. For example, If a coach likes how a person attributes as a team player, then that person will get a chance to shine. However, if the coach is not very fond of one, then the chances of opportunities are not very
In a study by Beamon (2012), the phenomenon of athletic identity and identity foreclosure following the retirement from sports was examined. Athletic identity can be defined as a social role or an occupational self-image incorporated of the social, behavioral, cognitive, and affective, obligations associated with athletic identification. Due to the entertainment nature of our culture, elite athletes are socially reinforced for their physical abilities and success. Unfortunately due to this, a majority of athletes conceptualize their identity and “self...
The movie we watched showed all the emotions that can come from sport. Whether it would be a gratifying moment with a win for your team, or a devastating moment with a loss. That is what makes you grow when you are a younger kid growing up. A kid who can handle a loss in his life with the same dignity as a win will become a better person in the future.
When you look at a basketball what do you see? Most would see an orange, sphere, shaped rubber ball. There are black lines and real leather. If you look closer, you would even see the size of the ball in which you are playing with. A basketball could be just a toy for many, or even represent a release for others, but for me, it means a lot more. A basketball represents my blood, sweat, tears, passion, sacrifice, and most of all, a sense of belonging, like a family. At this moment in my life, there are only three things I devote my life to- family, friends, and basketball. Basketball has shaped my life probably more than anything else. Basketball has instilled in me a vicious will to achieve and embrace my ambitions instead of fearing them. Basketball gave me an open opportunity to try something new. New opportunities and experiences are not such a big deal anymore. From academics to personal matters, the lessons that I have learned from basketball has impacted my life.
“Life is like a basketball, it bounces up and down.” I love basketball. I feel affection for the taste of victory, when you win a game. However, I also find losing a worthwhile experience. I worship the feeling where you score a point. It’s slow motion at first, as you gaze at the shot you’ve made, wondering if it is going to manage. Then the taste of your salty sweat and the sound of your pounding heart are back in action. *Swoosh* the ball rapidly swirls into the hoop and falls through the net. It is so stunning, and so breath-taking. “Beautiful shot! BEAUTIFUL!” the coach would yell. Everyone would give a little cheer, and I would smile and look down. I am proud to make the shot, but not cocky about it. It’s for the team, teamwork… I would think in my head. Afterwards, I would be focusing on how to get my head completely into the game, that’s how addicting it is.
Joe Humphreys states how sport should not be seen as a unifier or a metaphor for life, but rather as something that can bring out the worst in people and has a negative influence, in his book Foul Play: What’s Wrong with Sport. In my opinion, I would have to agree. So often we find ourselves focusing on how sport can occasionally bring groups of people together, that we often neglect the negative side of sports; how it can create barriers between groups, how it encourages unethical or discriminatory behavior and, the most controversial issue, doping.
In conclusion, it is explicit that sports is a positive influence on athletes, spectators and the world as a whole as it teaches imperative life lessons as well as allows its participants to experience enjoyment, fulfilment and gratification. As mentioned previously sports enables its players to bring out the best in others and create unity amongst groups as team work is so essential. This highlights the views I have in conjunction with the views of Joe Humphrey.