Many people assume how a person will perform based on their ethnic background. Men and women of color have been deemed the “athletic race” because of how dominate colored people have been in popular sports around the world i.e. football, basketball, soccer, track and field. But with this rise of colored people excelling in sports, a bitter taste of racism returns to the racial forefront. Personally, I have been discredited because of my race. People will typically say, “He is fast because he is black,” discrediting all the time and hard work that I have invested in track. Yes, it is true the majority of exceptional athletes around the world are black, but that it is not because they are black; it is because they have put in the effort to achieve that exceptional status. Nothing is stopping any other race from excelling in sports but the time and effort it takes. I am not saying that other races don’t have the time or the drive to excel in sports, but I am saying that black people typically do because they have seen other black people like them do it. It takes nearly fifteen years to reach an Olympic level for most human beings. The problem with is that most people don’t start or focus training in the sport the love until they are well into their teens, and fifteen years from then sets a person well behind the Olympic level. In Africa, it is normal for a boy or a girl to almost focus their entire life on training for one sport, because it is all they have to do. People already know of the horrible conditions in Africa now, and those conditions are forcing young African boys and girls to focus their lives on a sport to escape those conditions. I remember reading people being upset because the Great Britain 4x100 meter team was all African. Sometimes, people fail to realize that where they live doesn’t determine who they are, or how they will do in life. When it comes down to being a competitive professional athlete, the determining factor of being elite is whether or not you will allow someone else to be better than you.
-S.May
kin339I
Mon. 7pm
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There is definetely no place for racism in sports. Often times we stereotype a certain race to play certain sports and excel at them. Fact of the matter is that you excel at a certain sport because you work hard for it and have natural ability regardless of what color skin you are. People of color are seen to excel at certain sports like track, football, and basketball. However, we never talk about white athletes excelling at sports like tennis, golf, or baseball. Is it just because this is "white America"? If an athlete succeeds, it is because he/she is talented and the color of their skin is a non-factor. The perception on television is that African Americans are good in sports because of various stereotypes. These athletes work just as hard as any other athlete. So for people to judge athletic ability based on the color of their skin is unacceptable. There are various reasons why people judge athletes based on skin color, but the one thing that people can not take away is the dedication and desire that an athlete has to want to improve their game and those who cannot except that needs to re-evaluate their perception on sports. As sports are becoming more diversified, success will be purely based on talent in order for that athlete to succeed.
ReplyDelete- Brian Chan
KIN 339I
Mon 7PM
I must say that I do agree. Too many times people come up to me and say o your fast because you are black and that my body is nice because I am black, while that is a factor in the reason why I look and perform the way I do, people fail to take into account that black people may just work harder to remove that stigma that they are worthless as a result of past experiences. Young black children growing up see that the black people who are successful are athletes and strive to be like them. That is not the fault of the children that is the fault of society. This also goes both ways. Asians see Asian business people and assume that that is what they must do to become successful. I fell it all just reverts back to the idea that the world put this image of people out there and when someone steps out of the box society fell that they need to put them back in their place or find a way to flip the script when people just need to learn to accept the fact that no matter your race or creed ability is granted to individuals who work hard, it is not distributed based on the lack of pigmentation in your skin.
ReplyDeletethat one is louis wards above
ReplyDeleteI absolutly agree that you get out of a sport with what you put into it. I also strongly agree about racism in sports due to this because of an individuals sport preference. I grew up playing all different types of sports, and have followed the professionals as well. Being on a Junior College soccer team, it seemed as if hispanics chose soccer. I would ask them why they chose this sport, and their response would be something similar to the fact that their friends or family members played and enjoyed it. My caucasian friends would jokingly call me a Mexican just because in Southern California, it is mostly latinos that would play this sport. Although it may seem racist, I believe that my friends are just being stereotypical. In my opinion, stereotypes get pushed to far, and when this occurs, I feel this is when racism in sports comes in to place.
ReplyDeleteT. Harter.
In Korea, sport has been on e of the most conservative areas in terms of structure and opportunity which is not fully open to women.However,with the economic growth and the rapid epansion of leisure, more women started to enjoy sport activities. Now we can fairly say that sports has settled into our lives in the modern society, both for men and women.
ReplyDeleteThe promotion of sport for all in Korea started in 1962 with the establishment of "National Sports Promotion Law". Due to the overriding social climate of Korea which focuses mainly on econoic developments and it's sports policy which put emphasis on 'elite sports' to enhance international status, sport-for-all had remained inactive.
Now, the women's participation about sports activies in korea through the policies and goverment's effort. But still women's environmet in sport need to be improved due to the history of woment sport is not long and there has to be lots of change of people concept about women's sport and athletes.
-miae yun