John Donvan Impact On American Sports

Growing up many of us knew the importance of sports and recreational activities and how they benefit both physical health and mental health. Our parents, school teachers, the media, and even our childhood sporting hero’s told the importance of sports and how it can keep us fit and healthy.

The sport is dangerous, but to this sports gives the athletes a purpose, a reason to continue living and not being depressed. Being a part of the team gives them so much more than just playing a sport. These athletes chose a different path than what we normally see in individuals who become quadriplegic, they chose to continue living and despite the sadness they found a new happiness They didn't think they would feel again. I also feel that this sports has helped most of the athletes with their emotional stability. It takes a great strength and endurance to compete the way these athletes do. Being a part of the team has helped their daily life. These athletes have become very independent; they drive themselves to practice they live on their own.

The beneficial aspects of participating in sports are often noted but there is another side that cannot be ignored. Mental health issues among elite athletes is a topic of increasing interest and public awareness. Sport-related factors such as injury, overtraining and failure in competition are showing to influence the prevalence of mental health issues in elite athletes. Whatever the cause or reason mental health issues and concerns cannot be ignored. High performance athletes need to be provided with mental health support, despite the negative stigma of mental health issues and the concept of mental toughness in athletes. In the past, there has been a “widespread assumption has existed within the sporting world that only emotionally and mentally strong athletes are able to complete at the highest levels. Psychological disorders, such as depression, were thought to infrequently occur among elite athletes” (Hammond et al, 2013, pg.276) There may actually be an increased risk for mental health issues in athletes as they are less likely to; seek treatment, reveal symptoms, are more accustomed to work through pain, fear of showing signs of weakness and may not have developed healthy coping mechanisms to deal with failure. In addition, many athletes have not developed their identity outside of being an athlete and therefore if this role is threatened by injury or illness, they may experience a significant sense of loss. Treating a psychological ailment in athletes should be given as much importance as treating a physical

Sports are extremely popular around the world and only get more popular as time goes on. Sports is on television (TV), in the news, in the newspaper, and online. It only makes sense that this is the case. A sporting event is the ultimate drama. The variability of a game is what gets people so into it. Sports can tell a story, and teach great life lessons as well as inspire people. If sports are that important to the people around the world who watch it, just think about how important sports are to the ones who actually play it and coach it. It is their passion, their persona, their life. With the media’s harsh expectations of teams today, unless a team wins a championship, they are deemed unsuccessful. Since expectations are so high,

Throughout generations, social mobility has become something everyone wants to attain in their lifetime. Through social mobility comes a better and more stable life. There are many ways to achieve maximum mobility, which include getting a higher education and reducing risk in your life. There are also a lot of myths towards this concept that has been portrayed by the media and one of the myths is the social mobility gained by a person playing a sport. Americans in today's world believe that sports are the path we should take to have full financial and social flexibility. Examples leading to this conclusion are obvious as we see kids from poor areas escalate their nobility and capital through their abilities to compete in sports. From the million-dollar contracts and endorsement deals, the ideology behind being an athlete is that your social mobility will rise, but many statistics will prove otherwise. Although it is possible for athletes to gain revenue and fame, the overall ideology of sports of gaining maximum social flexibility from being involved in a sport is a myth.

During childhood, many young Americans (most prominently young boys) idolize the stars of their favorite sports teams. According to Epstein, “The model of the type may be the professional athlete.” (par.25). This seems to be the biggest problem that Epstein addresses relating to the obsession with youth culture. Since it is true that many young males aspire to become professional athletes once they become old enough, the vast majority who does not complete their goal still follow their favorite team. The professional athletes they admire live in utter excess, living with careers that require little effort more than perfecting plays and passes to entertain the masses. This relaxed lifestyle allows them to spend their (almost entirely) disposable incomes on whatever they want. The professionals who have made it seem to have kept the “stay young” mindset. The others who watch the stars remember how they could be living that life if they worked harder on

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

During my childhood, I played many sports I absolutely adored, and those sports taught me many lessons I will never forget. Sports were how I made the most of my friends and how I relieved most of my stress. I believe sports can have noteworthy influence in other areas of life. In Kevin Kniffin’s article, “High School Athletes Gain Lifetime Benefits”, Kniffin explains how research shows people who played sports go on to get better jobs and better pay by using the life lessons they were taught from sports.

As athletes become immersed in the sporting world, they are more prone to mental health related concerns as pressure and stress begin to build. Rigorous training, pressures to perform, media attention and large sums of money at risk all add to the damaging effects of stress on one’s mind. Dr. Barry Cripps, a chairman of sports and exercise within the British Psychological Society was noted saying, "Stress-related illnesses are extremely common in professional sports, and they are becoming more so as the pressures on athlete’s increase. The expectations are enormous and sometimes people cannot handle it" (Bran, 2012). Athletes are expected to perform to the best of their abilities and beyond and the pressures of these expectation often lead

Athletes have always known their risks but chose to play anyway because they love playing the game. Associations and administrators in the sports world need to take a step back and consider the athletes in each situation before they take away the game many people have grown to love. Athletes

Imagine a youth baseball player stepping up to the plate ready to bat. In the stands, parents and coaches yell “Stop shaking the bat so much!” “Come On, Swing Already!!”. The more the batter thinks about what the parents say, the more the player starts to worry. His hands get clammy and sweaty, and he keeps gripping and regripping the bat. Batters who worry about their performance are more likely to mess up than relaxed batters. When the players mess up, they get down on themselves. Games have changed from an experience players love to a super competitive experience. Screaming coaches and overly enthusiastic parents make sports less of a hobby and more of a battle. Some players say that they love the challenge, and that the competition

Sports are very vital. They offer a lifestyle, an occupation, and even a dream. Sports require physical activity and skill in which a team or an individual compete against others for entertainment. As David G. McComb comments in "Sports in World History", "there is a high degree of training, investment, and coaching, along with spectators, rules, publicity, and institutional control that come along with these activities." While participating in sports, it is required to be able to undertake a difficult situation and perform the best out of it. Sports are definitely more than just a game.

In conclusion, athletes damage their body for their own tranquility. In an odd, profound way, it is their very own peace. At the end of the day, they know they are killing themselves for an award. Whether it is a physical reward, or just an emotional reward they have a goal to achieve. Even though the outcome can be very brutal and what may seem very irrational. Athletes push their body because to them, the best results is when they reach their goal of

Athletes are willing to risk their health and well being because they want to keep going and playing or doing what ever it is they love. I know this because In both passages it tells of how several athletes have sustained injury's and still played. I know this because in the passage "Hard Hit" it states that "An Athlete should never return to their sport before being fully healed" this shows that the person writing this wouldn't have said this had it not happened

What does Adrenaline do? Adrenaline rushes give people a boost of energy in stressful or exciting situations. It allows for extraordinary abilities, and pushes people to do amazing things that they wouldn't typically have the energy or drive to do. Fathers will sometimes get what is referred to as "dad reflexes" when they grab their child quickly before the kid falls off of something and gets hurt. People tend to show unknown talents when they need them the most. "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents in which prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant" agrees with these kinds of situations. The Roman poet Horace was correct in claiming that people come out stronger in difficult situations.