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Thursday 27 December 2012

Self Destruction among Sports Figures

Sports figures and self-destructive activities

Self destructive behaviours among sports figures have been pushed by both the urge to be ahead of competitors and the pressure to meet the expectations of the society, family and coaches. Feelings of frustrations can lead to destructive activities if not well controlled. The high celebrity status accorded to athletes by the society is also pushing them harder than the sport itself. Finally the nature of the sport can also influence self destructive behaviours.

Sports figures and self-destructive activities
In the past, sports were superficial as models of normative societal behaviour and sportsmen were to be emulated in the general public as examples of right morality because they depicted high moral. Sports figures athletes were placed on pedestals and youth were encouraged to emulate them.

Recent civilization greatly focuses on competition and attaining dominance, this has put athletes along descending spiral therefore the prominence in self-destructive behaviors field of sports this is accounting for incidences of self- destructing behaviors being widely reported in the media.

Sports figures have been involved in self-destructive behaviors for various reasons including the eager to push themselves to edge to win in very competitive sports. They regularly risk what does not appear like a big deal, such as muscle spasms or knee pain, in an attempt to see if they can elevate the level of their competition even a notch above their rivalry. Whereas this is an outstanding celebration of the aggressive spirit and the individual capability to advance one’s self, it can also at times finish off becoming the first stride down the trench of self-destruction (Gould 2010).

Self Destruction among Sports Figures

In games such as American football, basketball, and baseball to a greater extent athletes are coming under scrutiny for taking performance enhancers like anabolic steroids to boost their build and athletic performance. The aftermath problem is that they also get addicted to the muscle relaxants.

The passionate centred on becoming the best every time has motivated several athletes to engage in exercise regimens which their bodies can’t hold. Most athletes ignore the attacks of chronic pain in their joints or lower back pain or for sometime, but it finally adds up. This urge worsens with the more publicity an athlete gets, because the media puts yet extra pressure on them than the sport itself (Copley 2008).

Although there several accepted vitamins and supplements that athletes and other sports figures who take on extreme exercise use with the aim of increasing muscle mass, preventing injury, shedding off weight, or speeding up injury recovery, some health experts have indicated that some of these vitamins and supplements, can cause serious health problems.

For example, steroids increase muscle strength and mass as well as aggression. Moreover, they can cause temporary health problems like testicular contraction, breast enlargement, and acne, plus long-term problems such as heart, liver and prostate illness. They can also depress the immune system, reduce sperm counts and testosterone production in men and cause masculinization in women and children.
Similarly long term ingestion of huge doses (400 IU) of vitamin E is in fact linked to higher rates of cancer and heart (Copley 2008).

Sports figures are increasingly reporting cases of self aggression. This has been mostly noted in those athletes who participate in combat sports. Such sports like boxing, ju-jitsu, judo, karate or tae-kwondo. Even though such sports may be designed to teach self- control, discipline and defence at times players depict self aggression which might be as a result of frustration, defeat, accumulated anger or even the push to do something better when they feel like they have not reached expectations However, these apparently simple cause-effect relationships maybe ambiguous.

It is more probable that the self-aggression and self destruction in athletes would be indirect and its causes complex repercussions. It is for this reason that boxers are viewed as more aggressive due to the increased testosterone which triggers violence. The exceeding urge for victory pushes athletes to great extend of injuring their competitors or worse even killing them. In other cases they have been involved in “abusive” exchange of words which degrade their dignity (Gould 2010).


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