Role Models in Sports:
A role model is defined as a person who serves as a model in a particular behavioral or social role for another person to emulate. In sports, those people are children. And millions of kids in America cheer for their heroes in the sports world. Athletes are thrust into the spotlight and that’s exactly the way they want it. Many will say that they don’t want the negatives that come with fame. But in the 21st century, the power and money that come with professional sports forces athletes to except their status.
Many sports stars don’t shy away from their power as role models and take advantage of it by giving back to their community. From Hall of Famers like Jim Kelly, Nick Buoniconti, and the late Walter Payton, to the entire San Francisco 49ers roster donating blood after September 11th.
Not every athlete embraces this idea, and not every athlete has to. It is not the responsibility of a sports star to act like a saint every day of their life and then try to rip opponents heads off for three hours on Sunday. Some athletes are unable to separate professional sports from their every day lives. Everything has to be 100 miles per hour and aggressive. Our sports heroes today play for the money, spotlight, and fame and all the positives that come with that. Unfortunately most of our treasured athletes would not be playing the sports they “love” if they weren’t receiving an enormous paycheck every week.
Children will always love these talented men and women, because they are playing the sport that each child loves. Whatever the sport, and whoever the athlete is that they are emulating on the playground, they will always be role models. And it doesn’t matter how an athlete carries themselves off the field for the children around this country to put up posters, attend games and stand in line for their autographs. It only matters to the child that they produce on the field. It matters to their parents how they carry themselves off the field. So when a Payton or a Kelly come along who care as much about their community as their sport, we as a society can truly love the game.