How Have Athletes Impacted Society?

Jan 14

Jan 14 How Have Athletes Impacted Society?

Navdeep Singh

Former world number one tennis player Billie Jean King once said, “Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose; it teaches you about life.” Sports not only contribute to our physical fitness and mental well-being, but it also helps build character, develop leadership skills, and communicate effectively, and most importantly, it helps make lasting impacts on an entire fanbase, both socially and physically.

Being involved in sports can have a lasting effect on your life as you can have a close group of friends around you who can support you both on and off the field, which is very special. Sports also help you not only build strong relationships with your teammates, but allow you to connect with your family who dedicate time and energy to cheer their kids to develop a passion for a sport and cheer them on the sidelines.

More importantly, athletes use their platforms to impact fanbases and people all around the world, every day. There are examples from this from today, and even from 100 years ago. These athletes can bring people together to support a charitable cause or even break a social barrier that lasted for hundreds of years.

Not only can you connect to others by playing sports, sports can be used for entertainment purposes as well. Whether it's watching the sport on TV, discussing a certain game with your friends, or purchasing tickets to watch a sporting event in person, sports can be enjoyed in various ways. When it comes to pro sports, many people have a favorite athlete who they look up to when it comes to personality or the way they perform on the field. Athletes can be an inspiration and positive influence to those who also want to be like them, on and off the field.

Athletes are some of the most influential people in the world. They can use social media in great ways, and can really push an idea throughout the population using it. By implementing social media, fans of athletes can bond through their support of that idea, and can also use social media to further promote the athlete’s cause. One great example of this is the Why Not You Foundation, which is run by Seattle Seahawks Quarterback Russel Wilson. In this organization, they provide funds to sponsor education for underprivileged children. This organization has thousands of followers on Instagram, and has had hundreds of thousands of dollars donated towards it. Wilson, and other athletes, have used their influence to bring people together to support a good cause. If athletes continue to use their influence for good purposes, the worldwide sports fan base will be more united than ever.

Sports are a way to bind people from different ethnic groups and can break social barriers amongst fans. One of the biggest examples of this was with Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. When Robison was first brought into baseball, the United States was just coming out of World War II. The Americans had just defeated the Nazis and the Soviet Union. However, other countries could not call the US the Land of the Free, as they oppressed their own kind. At the time, the United States was an extremely divided country. Blacks and Whites did not live in harmony, and something needed to change that. Then Jackie Robisnon came along.

People were skeptical at first, due to his race. However, his play on the field was exceptional, and it made people forget his race, and made fans look at him as a human. In 1949 he won Rookie of the Year in his first year playing pro ball, and the Dodgers became an extremely successful team. The success of Jackie Robinson called for other African Americans, and other ethnic groups to be called up to play pro sports, and sports became more integrated than ever before. This integration in sports in essence ended the separation of racial groups in society as well, and it brought an entire country together.

Sports isn’t just a game, it is a way to communicate and break cultural barriers on the field. The beauty of sports is how universal it can be. Regardless of ethnicity, language, or culture, its power lies in its ability to connect people and communities.