Sports and Athletes of Color

My personal experience of being a athlete of color has been different in every sport I have participated in. When I played football for the first time my freshman year everyone expected that I would be great at it and that I had played before high school. This was not the case, it was my first time playing ever. I did not understand all of the rules of football and I had did not know any of the techniques. Where as when I went into wrestling my sophomore year It was not as much of a race issue by my team mates they had no racial bias of how I should perform. I believe that many people stereotype athletes based on race, for example since I am 1/2 African American I should be good at basketball and football and should not be a good swimmer, where as a full Caucasian student might be stereo typed into being a good baseball player or water polo player. I do believe that people are starting to open their eyes to the fact that people of all races can be great in any sport, and to the fact that race is not always a factor in the sport that a athlete chooses to participate in.

Jason C.

Kin 339I