Athletes through their performances, social engagement, activism, and overall behaviour outside of the sporting venues, can set the right examples and show the right path to their young admirers. But it also depends to a great extent on who children look up to.
It is important to take a more holistic view of athletes and not limit themselves to any given person’s athletic performance.
Growing up we all needed our role models, heroes, and idols that inspire us to dream and mumble: “One day I will be like them”. It is healthy and desirable not just for young athletes, but also for kids in general who will not pursue or even try to pursue a professional career in their favorite sport to have role models beyond the household.
We tend to often underestimate the impact that an athlete can have on a child’s psyche, mentality, determination, and perseverance levels because they fail to realize that the beauty of being young is that your dreams are immune to reality and indifferent to statistics. On the other hand, there is a dark side to having athletes as role models.
Match-fixing, extravagance, substance abuse, performance-enhancing drugs, and heavy partying are just a few of the unsavory and morally questionable choices that some athletes make.
There is a second dimension to being a role model-athlete, a much more important one which is how athletes behave outside the field, by setting the right examples through action and social engagement.
Professor Cary Cooper CBE, former WHO advisor and expert in occupational health psychology, said: “We live in a multi-media age and consume information on things like television and social media far more than ever before. There are many drivers to getting children active and the research shows that parents believe seeing ‘celebrities’ or well-known sportspeople through the media can play a role. The reason for this is simple, the media, particularly TV and social media create influencers who have an impact on the attitudes and behaviour of those connected to it and want to model their behaviour after them. The role of sport provides an important, regular presence that can make us more likely to embrace participation than if we weren’t exposed to it.”
Despite the common focus on elite athletes as role models, research suggests that people in our direct circle of family and relationships—including teachers and coaches—have more positive and long-term impacts.
While many highlight the positive outcomes of using athlete role models to promote sports participation for people with disabilities, there are however, some advocates who question how Paralympic athletes are portrayed in the media, particularly the focus on what they have overcome (i.e. ‘disability’) rather than who they are or their accomplishments.
Several terms have been coined to describe this phenomenon including ‘super-crip’ (i.e. the ‘super’ cripple). These advocates argue that the media construction of a sporting ‘role model’ may be harmful to both the athletes and the broader disability community.
The bottom line is sports icons can be fabulous role models for young people, and coaches themselves have a huge influence on motivation, behaviour, and attitude. Moreover, we tend to, and should, look to athletes for things beyond sports, for imitating and developing certain qualities that we see in the pitch such as emotional behavior, sportsmanship, and fair play.
A common phrase, used in many spheres, is 'you can't be what you can't see'. The value of role models, and role model programs, is their ability to demonstrate diversity, and inclusion, and to encourage preferred behaviours. Currently, the Secondary Schools Football League can be seen as a platform for us to determine what sort of impact local role models are having on these young footballers but more how and whether the current youth players can be role models in their schools or towards players and students younger than them at this point in their lives.
It is important to observe and get a closer understanding of what type of impact the players, coaches, and other officials are having on others. For example, goalkeeper Marvin Phillip announced his retirement from international football after sixteen years and 92 international appearances for Trinidad and Tobago. He played in the SSFL, winning a national intercom title in 2001, shortly after representing the country at the FIFA Under 17 Men's World Cup. He was once a youth player in the SSFL and is also recorded for a few clashes with the laws of the game at a young age. But I can assure you that Marvin has gone on to become an inspiration to many with his exploits on the pitch and also how he matured off it. He is an example of how you can turn things around for the better and surely his story needs to be explored further.
Editor's Note:
Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Media. He was a FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. The views expressed are solely his and not a representation of any organisation. shaunfuentes@yahoo.com
