What is the impact of sports role models to the youth?

By: Cheyenne Behrends

     It has become true that if they want to or not, professional athletes are role models to others. Talented athletes hardly win every time, and sometimes they do not show fair play. But, many athletes convey attributes about performance, character, and resilience that draw admiration from fans. High-profile athletes are widely looked at as public figures outside of sports, just like celebrities in other entertainment professions. In sports, such recognition is said to come with additional responsibilities, most in the assumption that athletes are role models in the community.

     Athletes are employees when representing their club during community events such as school visits, and charity fundraisers. Off-field expectations of athletes are couched in punitive terms. It is common to refrain that athletes are role models for a wider community. However, this taken-for-granted assumption has not been accompanied by research to explore the efficacy of such claims. There appear to be profound differences between athletes’ self-perception as off-field influencers.

     Clubs and leagues have expectations that athletes will conduct themselves appropriately during their private lives. If they don’t, then bad things will happen. Such as the Danry Vasquez baseball player case. He was a professional baseball play that got in trouble for beating his wife. He was obviously suspended and went to jail for a while.

     It is still unclear why athletes have the skills or values to be positioned as custodians of virtue in such initiatives. The underlying assumption appears to be that sports give off good character. As a consequence of that, athletes are thought to be equipped to exemplify positive character traits both in sports and during their private lives.