Why are professional athletes looked up to so much as role models? And what are the impacts? Chloe Clark has the story.
There is no doubt professional athletes are put under the spotlight more than the average person like you or me. They are often magnified for their good and bad, and placed on a pedestal with high regard and influence.
So how and why are pro athletes positioned as such big role models in our society?
We spoke to USC’s professor of sport and LA Rams defensive back Robert Rochell for insight on this topic.
USC’s Professor Durbin tells how athletes’ influence translates beyond the realm of sport.
DURBIN: “The rules in sport set up value expectations. It’s good for you to struggle and try hard and strive. It’s bad for you to be lazy. So, athletes in the performance of sport embody a set of values. Athletes today, however, aren’t simply athletes— athletes have basically three lives. They have a private life, athlete life, and celebrity life.”
Durbin says that when an athlete does something in their celebrity persona, it may contradict the performance of their sport. They play different roles before the public.
What he talks of can be seen in players like Aaron Rodgers and Kyrie Irving with their choice to be unvaccinated.
Since their values contradicted the NBA and NFL’s values to promote vaccination, these events created controversy.
The events also call many to highlight and question the overall responsibility of professional athletes.
Ram’s player, Robert Rochell, offers his view.
ROCHELL: “Being an athlete plays an impact on society and the youth as well. It’s difficult for athletes to be able to really say how they feel sometimes or move how they feel because of the public and how they will conceive or take what an athlete is saying so it’s just one of those things where you gotta make the best decision right then.”
So is creating this dual role for athletes a logical expectation?
DURBIN: “Athletes are expected to embody values in the performance of their sport. A lot of people get confused and think well that’s got to go out and bleed over into the rest of their lives. They tend to think that because their first recognition of an athlete is as an athlete performing values in their sport. But an athlete in their celebrity role is like any other celebrity. You cannot force them, you cannot claim that they must exemplify your values when they’re not playing sport because they’re out of that value of performance within the sport.”
So between performing values in sport, playing the role of celebrity, and living out their own private existence, many do believe athletes shouldn’t be expected to act exemplar in all realms.
This echoes Charles Barkley’s sentiments in a 1993 Nike ad where he said “I am not paid to be a role model...I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.”
[Ad Snippet]
Almost 30 years after Barkley’s commercial, there still seems to be even more pressure and expectation placed by society that professional athletes must carry themselves in a manner both on and off the field that positively impacts the public.
ROCHELL “Being an athlete and having that type of impact you always bring backlash one way or another. It’s always gonna be a big controversy about everything because they feel like we should always do the right thing, or we should always follow what the law says or just be into what’s going on with the world, but we’re still human as well. We still should have a say over our lives.”
CHLOE: For Anneberg media, I’m Chloe Clark