Does Involement in Sports Begt Better Character Development? Essay

Sports as a whole offers the opportunity for student-athletes to advance their physical skills, mental toughness, and develop a code of morality and ethics (Hardman, 2010). Much of the maturation of the student-athletes code of ethics may be established through the interaction of their coaches (Hardman, 2010). This process begins the moment they participate in an organized sport and is deeply rooted through their athletic career. Furthermore, the head coach of a team sets the tone for what type of ethics and morality they will lead their team by (Hardman, 2010). Thus, the head coach in essence, is the role model for each of their student athletes will model their own behavior (Hardman, 2010). Therefore, the

In professional sports today, there are thousands of professional athletes. Some have more fame than others and have varying levels of influence on young children throughout the world. It is important for all athletes to realize that they are role models. Also to reflect a positive character to the youth around the world. Athletes tend to do things in a selfish manner, not realizing that they have thousands of kids following their every move. According to Solberg and Ringer “professional athletes generally operate with a different set of values and behavioral norms than do non-athletes who participant at a less competitive level” (93).

The term sport is highly complex and often tough for people to define. Concepts that are associated with sport can be equally hard to understand. One such concept is deviance among athletes. Coakley states that “Deviance occurs when a person’s ideas, traits, or actions are perceived by others to fall outside the normal range of acceptance in a society” (Coakley, 2015, p.108). These normal ranges of acceptance are created by societal norms. There are two kinds of norms; “formal, which are explicitly written rules or laws and informal, which are unwritten customs and traditions of how a person should think and act in society” (Coakley, 2015, p.108). In order to be able to examine deviance, one must first define the norms in their area of interest. For the purposes of this paper, the area of interest is football. Football is a social world in which the prevalence of deviance is high. There are many levels of football, and this paper focuses on High School football players.

Joe Black is writer for The Daily Times. In “Athletes Stand As Role Models, Like It Or Not” Black sheds light on the tendency of star athletes to shape society’s perception of right and wrong, and criticizes athletes for not promoting moral conduct. He argues that “young folk” are highly impressionable and that the influential nature of being a professional athlete obligates sportspeople to uphold a higher level of moral integrity than members of the general public (par. 3). According to Black, by putting sportspeople in a position to directly influence the ideology of fans, the media has inadvertently designated professional athletes as role models.

The relationship between aggression and sports has been a controversial subject for many years. Within sport, aggressive behavior is deliberate and controlled by the aggressor, but perception of aggressive behavior varies on the basis of the sport and of the participant. When an observer views a culturally aggressive sport, such as football or soccer, an otherwise aggressive act might not be deemed aggressive within that observed sport. The same act might be perceived aggressive in a less culturally accepted aggressive sport such as baseball or volleyball. Aggressive behavior can be legal even if it causes harm. The social environment in which the act takes place often defines the legitimacy of the aggression. Just as the serial killer can

I saw in his eyes sheer delight and the joy of accomplishment. He had successfully faced a pitcher older and bigger and had fought off pitch after pitch before knocking a single into left field. His base hit drove in a run, continued an inning and fueled a rally which brought the team a victory from what looked like a certain defeat. He was willing to be taught and was willing to try. Success was secondary to the life skills he was mastering. Character traits will certainly be developed as one participates in team sports, but to attain positive character traits will require deliberate efforts by parents, adults, teammates and even leaders of the organization itself.

Research has illustrated that athletic competition has a strong influence on psychological development, impacting an individual’s formation in areas such as self-esteem, body image and overall well-being (Anshel, 2000; Findlay & Bowker, 2007; Haugen, Safvenbom & Ommundsen, 201; Peden, Stiles, Vandehey & Diekhoff, 2008). A large sector of this research has specifically analyzed the outcomes of negative experiences within athletics, especially those high in stress and therefore resulting in potentially detrimental consequences for athletes. A major source of stress within athletics is due to potential and veritable athletic injuries due to overuse, during-game accidents and other competition/training related afflictions (Hanson, McCullagh & Tonymon, 1992). Approximately 3-5 million injuries occur due to athletics each year (Smith, Smoll & Ptacek, 1990), and the prevalence of such injuries suggests that the trauma experienced could pose a significant threat to athletes, both physically and psychologically, a phenomenon that warrants further investigation.

It can be inferred that sports is a social construct in which supporters acknowledge athletes for their talent and skill. As athletes are identified on the basis of membership of their sport and team, we as the general public, rarely acknowledge them as individuals. Rather, we decide when to individuate them –praising them when they shine a little a brighter than the rest, and when to chastise them because they went against the grain. When discussing the LGBTQ community and their involvement in sports, many thoughts come to mind, most of them negative with very few positive observations. The pros and cons in association with this group’s participation in sports are typically based on either breaking stereotypes or strengthen them as mentioned in our guest lecture. Although breaking stereotypes is seen as a good thing, this essay aims to address the discrimination that goes on within this social environment in regards to athletes who are part of the LGBTQ community.

Sports today are very popular not only in the United States, but also throughout the rest of the world. Due to the fact that sports have such a big impact on the world around us, it is common to see their effects on us as a society. Personality is who you are or in other words is defined as the sum of all physical, mental and sociable characteristics. It is important to understand the positive and negative side effects of being heavily involved in sports. What I have experienced from being involved in sports throughout my childhood and into my teenage years was that my personality was developed through sports and made me who I am. The results I came across while writing this paper have only increased my bias to the topic although it still had to be proven with facts. Sports have a positive effect on a person, much like it did on me mentally, socially, and physically. I came to my topic when I was trying to figure out what I was passionate enough to write about. Sports have always played a big role in my life and I had the opportunity to show how it affects people’s day to day lives.

But there is no truth in the widely held belief that sport and crime go hand in hand. Little research and few studies have actually been done on the prevalence of crime among athletes or the levels of crime in sport compared to the rest of society, but the public obviously doesn’t need studies to form an opinion (Coakley, 157). When you open a daily newspaper and have to wade threw the mucky headlines of rape and battery just to get to a box score, it’s no wonder people think that all athletes are criminals. Simply put, athletes live by different standards then everyone else. And it’s unfair. They’re in the spotlight and for some reason this means they should do no wrong even though they’re far from perfect just like everyone else. But being imperfect seems to be unacceptable for an athlete.

This article discusses the influence organized sports has on boyhood and masculinity. The article argues that organized sport is the perfect institution for males because males have an affinity towards intimacy towards others inside of a rule-bound, competitive, hierarchical institution. This article does elaborate on the central thesis, ending with a conclusive conclusion. This article does not explain further the lives of men who did not participate in organized sport and how it affected their masculinity.

Over seventy percent of adolescents play sports (Uzoma, 2015). Athletics can be used for the development of social character, values of teamwork, sacrifice, and obedience (Rudd & Stoll, 2004). The sports world offers social opportunities for adolescents (Rutten, Schuengel, Dirks, Stams, Biesta, & Hoeksma, 2011). Participating in sports as adolescents may help with learning how to respect the community, peers, family, and themselves (Berlin, Dworkin, Eames, Menconi, & Perkins, 2007). Sports may affect social character growth and development. The purpose of the paper was to understand peer interaction, influences of parents and coaches, and participation at the adolescent age impact character development (Hwand, Machida, & Choi 2017; Rudd & Stoll, 2004; Rutten et al., 2011; Bowers, Green, Hemme, & Chalip 2014; Sukys, Lesinskiene, & Tilindiene, 2015).

Although not playing sports in school can allow an individual to have other hobbies or interests, playing sports encourages students to make smart choices outside of school and essentially create a healthy lifestyle. For example, students who have low self-esteem and have no other alternatives to keep themselves occupied are likely to undergo peer pressure. This may include the use of drugs, the habit of consuming alcohol, or simply falling behind in school. In the same way, non-athletes may be using their time by hunting, fishing or hanging out with friends in the mall. Non-athletes are not all troublemakers, but have the tendency to make the wrong decisions with all the extra time they accumulate in comparison to those who are involved.

Every college athlete wants to be the best and with the increase of childhood athletes, stress to perform at a high level increase as well. The drive to be successful in their competition and perform at a high level often is positive, resulting in self-confidence, teamwork, and leadership. The drive can also result in a negative one as well. For an example, “winning at all costs.” Athletes sometimes lose focus of the game itself and become “selfish,” taking performance-enhancing drugs it not only puts athlete’s health at risk but it also gives them unfair advantage to others.

Along with the time consumption of sports, athletics also bring out the character in people. In some situations, sports bring out the bad character in athletes. Most sports require aggressiveness and a headstrong attitude to succeed and win. The player takes the aggressiveness and attitude from the court or the field into their everyday lives. If an athlete does not have aggression and easily gives up the ball to the other team then they are not succeeding. Sports also do teach good character in some situations as well, for instance while watching a high school football game if there is an injured player on the field then both teams