Essay on An Old Champion Athlete

For some athletes, sports can be a good way to cope with stress. When they hit the court or the field, they feel as if all of their worries from that day vanish. But for others, sports can be how a person identifies his or herself and where they derive most of their self-esteem. So that moment when you realize something in your body or your mind isn’t right, you push through it and tell yourself it will go away. But sometimes the pain gets worse. So you have two

Over the years, the growth and changes in competitive sports has increased significantly. Sports games are now available twenty four seven weather it’s on national television or the radio, these activities have become a staple to American culture. Due in part to this, organizations have changed American athletics from more of a fun playtime to competition. Although, we may enjoy watching an intense sports game on television, the emotional and physical long term effects outweigh the entertainment of the people eagerly watching these activities occur. Also, the motivation to play the sport has become less about the team aspect and more about the emphasis on victory. Due to the unhealthy support from those around developing athletes, they’re

Again, professional, elite, collegiate, and high school sports are immensely popular in the United States. However, the aforementioned information highlighted some of the difficulties that may accompany an athlete’s retirement from sport. Moreover, research established that one of the major difficulties experienced by retired athletes is the loss of athletic identity (Hurley, 2014, Taylor, Ogilvie, & Lavalle, 2005). Therefore, a comprehensive review detailing the role of athletic identity will be conducted here.

Depression is a mental health disorder that interferes with the physical and psychological well-being of an individual. ‘About 1 in 5 adults have a mental illness in any given year. Mental illness can begin at any age, from childhood through to later adult years, but most begin in teen life.’ (Staff, n.d.) The stress of school and the expectation that parents have for their children is high. This can put a lot of pressure on students, it can effect their everday life, work and relationships. These issues can also heavily affect adults too. Its hard enough as it is for everday people to deal with depression but when you’re an elite athlete this can be a real problem. Athletes are at risk for depression as they’re in high pressure sporting events, there’s also personal and team expectations. Individual disposition may increase bouts of mental health issues in athletes. Also the media has a big influence in the lives of athletes and can be brutal to an athlete.

Today in sport we see athlete’s lives dominated by their sport. The structure of day-to-day life as an athlete becomes their foundation. Everything is mapped out for them in an effort to keep them focused and on track. Being an athlete becomes a part of you and defines you as a person. So what happens when it is all over? What happens when that part has to end?

Sports are not for everybody, not only because of talent level, but because a certain mindset is to be had to be successful at any sport. A commitment is made. Forty hours of practice a week, the average amount of time spent practicing for football players, all for a one hour game, the average time of one game of college football, takes dedication. That is not even counting the time spent icing, resting, and studying the playbook or film, not to mention the school work to be kept up with for college and high school students. Most athletes have become used to the grind and juggling three or four time consuming activities all at one time while being successful at each. Waking up at the break of dawn, following a schedule, and suffering consequences when a bad choice is made creates character and discipline that is often needed for many little league, high school, and college athletes. The most important non tangible thing sports teach anyone is how to get back up after falling, how to get knocked down but get right back up and keep going, how to move on from failure and overcome it, focusing on the next important part of life. These skills of determination and courage taught through sports are essential for being successful in any part of life and are hard to come by anywhere

The strength less dead are the athletes whose “name died before the man”(20). Housman emphasizes through the imagery that it is better to do while one is still remembered since the glory will stay with him and not fade away. “To An Athlete Dying Young” glorifies the athlete through the use of imagery while “Ex-Basketball Player” uses it to emphasize the athlete’s fading glory.

High school athletes need to be students, and perhaps more difficult need to balance the social life of a teenager. It is stressful at times, but the stress melts away when you're standing at the top of the podium, realizing that everything you've done for this sport has paid off. And past the podiums and the medals you become even more proud when you're standing on the stage of your university accepting your degree and starting a new chapter of life, ready to take on the world. Athletes know what it means to work hard to become the best, and when it comes time to hang up the sports equipment and move on to the real world, athletes will have the resolve to do what is necessary. Because in the end it’s not going to be about the accolades but instead about the time you put into the things that matter. And when you grow up working hard, and develop that great habit of putting everything you have towards your goals, then reaching out towards then won't seem so

In his poem “To an Athlete Dying Young”, A.E. Housman makes a quite different approach on death. People have different perspectives on death, but more often than not, it is viewed as an undesirable event that people wish to avoid. The speaker in the poem, however, praises a young and famous athlete for dying before he became old and forgotten. This can be interpreted two very different ways. One can assume Housman believes that the only way for athletes to capture the glory is to die when at the peak of their careers. One might criticize him for having such a pessimistic view of life, but we must realize that we are among many people who give those athletes the feeling of disgrace as they are no

In “To An Athlete Dying Young”, time has stopped altogether for the runner and will no longer continue. The runner will not have to face the end of his glory days, as he died at the peak of his career. Early deaths of people seem to give them eternal life in the eyes of their admirers. Because they pass away when they are most popular, they do not have to witness the decline of their popularity. The runner will not live long enough to see his records broken and his accomplishments slowly fade.

A.E. Housman was a poet born in 1859 who became very successful during his lifetime. “To an Athlete Dying Young” represents the theme of glory is fleeting by illustrating the point that if a successful athlete dies young, they will not have to worry about their glory of victory fading. They can rest in peace knowing they will be remembered at their athletic peak when they were successful and victorious. They will not have to go through the pain of watching their fame disappear or whither out with time. In this poetic masterpiece, Housman pulls together figurative language, sound devices, and structure to illustrate that glory is fleeting through a

Greatness in sports is a status that only very few reach, however to be labeled the greatest athlete of all time is for that one soul individual who excels at all aspects of the game and exceeds every other player in that sport. In my exploratory essay I established what makes an athlete the greatest athlete of all time. In the following paragraph I am going to summarize what makes an athlete the greatest athlete of all time. For the sake of the argument to follow I am going to stick with just the NFL. When I look at the NFL one name comes to mind when thinking about the greatest NFL player of all time. His name is Tom Brady. Tom Brady is the greatest of all time.

For High Performance athletes, there can be a lot riding on their results and performance in competition. If athletes develop an over-reliance on sporting success as a source of self-worth and identity, it can lead to serious emotional issues if things do not go as desired. Athletes often identify their self-worth with their ability to perform, and performance failure has been significantly associated with depression (Taylor, 2015 pg.11; Troijan, 2016, pg. 137) Athletes face many struggles and when something goes wrong it can leave them not knowing where to turn for help. They can be left with they feelings that they are nothing, undeserving, and alone. This may also exacerbate their feelings of seclusion, depression, or grief. Most athletes

Many times we find that young people look up to athletes. There are countless community centers that offer different athletic programs. Many times there are young people with endless talent and ability, striving to be just like their favorite athletes. There are a number of good athletes that display an incredible amount of perseverance in their everyday lives. This alone serves as inspiration to young people.

The transition out of sport can be problematic for professional, elite, collegiate, and high school athletes. In addition, Warriner and Lavallee (2008) stated that the retirement process is specific to the individual. It is imperative to also evaluate athletes’ transition out of sport on an individual level. Before evaluating the literature, it is important to understand the majority of research that has documented individual perspectives is predominantly qualitative. Most studies utilized small sample sizes with semi-structured interviews. However, some authors utilized various quantitative measures as well, i.e., the Athlete Retirement Questionnaire (AIQ), the Life After Sports Scale (LASS), the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS), and the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Therefore, validation of the findings will be determined by the level of consistency among the different studies.