Sports and the athletes who compete in them are entwined into the lives of the public. Usain Bolt, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, all names which trigger an effect in people’s minds. Whether it be their achievements or physique, many athletes and people in society look up to these role models. They seem almost superhuman, striving to become like a professional athlete may change how we perceive ourselves. As one’s values of sports increase, they way they see themselves will also change. Body image, eating and substance abuse, and dedication are just some examples which change as a person values sports more. Appearance and body image is very important to athletes. There is a direct correlation between attractiveness and popularity among the …show more content…
From high school athletes to Olympians, there have always been many reported doping incidents. For them, winning is everything. Even though this problem affects a wide range of people, it definitely is more prominent among males. Even at a young age, many males given unrealistic standards. According to Dr. Pope “Steroids made it possible for men to look as big as supermen, and now we see that standard reflected in our toys for the very young” (487). Even in little things, the underlying message about the “perfect” body is shown. Things as harmless as G.I Joe figurines and superhero comics many affect the mental perception of how people see themselves. Because younger boys are influenced more by these sources, they are more likely to see their body as not adequate compared to their idols. As they grow older, they may resort to trying alternative methods. As stated by the American College of Sports Medicine article about this issue, “male athletes who constantly seek instant results from working out by frequently looking at themselves in mirrors or weighing themselves at the gym could be exhibiting a dangerous psychiatric condition” (489). Disordered eating and other attributing disturbances may cause male athletes to desire something unreasonable in a short amount of time. Looking into the mirror and being displeasured by one’s body can lead to a plethora of other issues. For example, as the article later reveals, muscle dysphoria, a dissatisfaction of one’s muscles, can lead to the abuse of enhancement drugs and supplements
Professional athletes, throughout history, have been exalted for their outstanding abilities and achievements in sports. Unfortunately, many athletes have turned to anabolic steroids in order to give them an edge, a boost their athletic performance. Starting with the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships, where the Soviets unexpectedly dominated their lifting classes with the use of steroids, it has become increasingly popular among athletes to cheat with the help of this drug. Although the appeal to steroid use is evident when observing how it increases someone’s athletic abilities, many users fail to consider the detrimental side effects of the drug. Also, in my opinion, athletes should be expected to perform based upon their natural abilities, opposed to abilities enhanced by anabolic steroids. Ultimately, anabolic steroids should continue to be illegal in professional sports due to their major health risks and the unfair advantage they serve players.
You see sports everywhere, on your TV and even your local park. The value of sports in the average American is astronomical, sports is a major priority in people’s life. Sports teaches young kids how to be successful (and not successful) at life. There is so much that goes into sports that people who never have played will never understand. With each sport there is specific skill that one must master to be good, and with that takes hours and hours of hard work. You can talk about a certain individual’s skill and capabilities that make him great, but the real value of sports lies within a person. Sports creates determination and a competiveness that can be used in other areas of life, not just sports. There are millions of kids who attempt to become professional athletes but as the level of competition increases the number of athletes decreases, very few of them ever becoming a professional athlete but they are able to take what they have learned from sports into different professions in life. When a kid spends hours in the backyard perfecting his swing it can translate to the kid spending hours of hard work in his job. Companies and business like to hire ex-athletes because they already know what kind of person they are, hardworking and
Human beings have always had a strong competitive nature, and many people have a inclination towards achieving fame and glory. Professional sporting events measure the great spirit, unique natural talents, and competitive nature of humans as they attempt to heroically represent the entire race. Often times humans search for the ultimate advantage in sports to put themselves above and beyond the other athletes. Unfortunately, some athletes turn to unnatural agents to supplement their own natural talents. They often ignore the side effects of the drugs and more importantly ignore the damage they do to how they are perceived and how people view the game. Athletes who use performance enhancing drugs, also known as PEDs, create a monstrous persona,
The era in sports from the late 90s and into the 2000s has often been nicknamed “The Steroid Age” due to the raging use of anabolic steroids and other PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) by professional athletes. The usage of drugs in sports has never been more prevalent during this time, and many people are making it their goal to put an end to the abuse. Influential athletes such as Lance Armstrong, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens, who were once held as the highest role models to the American people, now watch as their legacies are tarnished by accusations of drug use. The American population, and lovers of sports everywhere, have followed in astonishment through recent years as many beloved athletes reveal their dark secrets. As organizations such as the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) and BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) attempt to halt the use of PEDs, both the drug users and their high-end suppliers work diligently to avoid detection. The use of performance enhancing drugs in recent years has proven to be cancerous to the honesty and competition of modern sports. Although some strides have been made over the past few decades, the use of steroids is in full swing in Major League Baseball, The dangerous side effects of the drugs are often overlooked and many do not realize the message this sends to the youth. The support for halting the usage of PEDs is in need of attention or professional sports will face the loss of all progress made through the past two decades in its war on steroids.
In our days, most people have set the goal and dream to have the perfect body. They believe by having this image, they will be popular and/or attractive. People want to achieve the body that they desire, like a super star, a hero in a Hollywood movie, a strong soldier, and an Olympic athlete. However, what are the extent people will go to get the perfect body? The biggest problem for those who dream to have a beautiful body today, as many people know, is the consumption of steroids. It is amazing what people and athletes will do to enhance their performance, strength and muscle size by taking steroids. Whether right or wrong people who use steroids to become the fastest and strongest will prevail, so who would turn down a substance that could turn them into a super athlete and a muscle man? The purpose of this essay is to inform the reader on the popular anabolic steroids that most people use and the positive and negative side effects of steroid use on its users and finally my personal point of view.
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
Athletes are often pressured from an early age to be better than the rest. In sports such as football, baseball, basketball, and soccer, the need to be “great” is becoming a dominant factor in the world of sports. Regardless of which sport is chosen, the stigma to be great is slowly surpassing the main goal of sportsmanship among team players. With the notion that being great is the key; many athletes, both amateur and professional, are relying on steroids to help bring them to the top of their game. Steroid use can cause damaging effects to the body and preventing this may save the lives and careers of current and future students. This essay is written to explain the problems of steroids in sports and the solutions in which to help deter or stop this problem.
The intent of this essay is to show that steroids have many negative effects and that steroids, and other natural supplements, should be closely studied by the FDA. This essay will also support the claim that the professional sports industry needs to eliminate steroid use and set a good example for younger athletes.
When you look in the mirror you see your imperfections. You see your perceived flaws; things that nobody else recognizes about you and you think that there has to be some way to change it. In today’s world, society places impossible standards on the way you’re supposed to look and recently young American males in their teen age years have become increasingly self-conscious about their physical appearance. In the article “The Troubled Life of Boys; The Bully in the Mirror” author Stephen Hall investigates the changes and causes of the increase in males becoming concerned with wanting to be more muscular.
High school sports are approached with clashing opinions. Some of these opinions are positive, and supportive of athletics. “Athleticism, among many activities, offers teens a physical outlet to exert their troubles, anger, emotions, and other feelings” (Chen 1). This can be observed in nearly all of the football players in Friday Night Lights. This can also be noticed in the world today. “Athletics help high school students understand their own abilities and talents” (Chen 1). This piece of evidence is very accurate when describing high school athletes. Sports can make a high school student humble. As can be seen by the preceding information, high school athletics can have a positive impact on a student’s life.
My issue over the concern of athletes have been struggling with the usage of steroids has widely spread among athletes and others; not only do steroids give an athlete a hard times but it’s also an unfair advantage to the other athletes and what they’ve accomplish. “Besides making muscles bigger, anabolic steroids may help athletes recover from a hard workout more quickly by reducing the amount of muscle damage during the session” (“Steroids in Sports”,2005). Now a days steroids are everywhere as an athlete. Many males and female young athletes preferably take it because they want to look and feel good when it comes to impressing someone and trying to become someone they look forward too. Young teens and adults try to cheat themselves in the career of their dreams. When it comes to a sport, teen athletes are not aware of what type of consequences may happen to them at the time. It may come to the time where it’s too late to take care of. In other cases, some athletes may like feeling the aggressive they get when they take drugs such as steroids. Athletes shouldn’t take steroids as the harmful health effects of the anabolic steroid in population wise. Many people have had their lives ruined by the use of illegal steroids and yet the desired effects are overwhelming that people tend to forget about the results and consequences that may effect. Athletes on steroids believe taking steroids will enhance their performance, strength, and size without having to put necessary work. These benefits, however, are associated with much short-term and long term risk.
Athletes are always searching for ways to enhance their performance. Recently, beginning in the 1950s, that search has included the use of illegal substances like steroids and growth hormones. Illegal substances have been used widely by athletes in hopes of achieving the desired Olympic gold medal or multi-million dollar contract. Some nations, for example the late East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, have mandated the use of steroids by their athletes. The downside of using those illegal substances is that because they are illegal, getting caught using them can lead to losing that coveted gold medal, a lifetime ban from sports, and a total loss of honor and dignity.
Steroids became an option to athletes in the Olympics and other major sporting events during the 1950’s. But this use of steroids among athletes only became widely apparent when Canadian sprint runner Ben Johnson tested positive for steroid use after winning the gold medal for the one hundred-meter dash during the 1988 Olympics (Francis, 45). Now a skinny fifteen-year-old can just walk down to the local gym and find people who either sell or know how to get in contact with those who sell the drug that will make him envious of his friends. Steroids are an attractive drug. While steroids seem harmless to the unaware user, they can have a risky effect. Most of the time whether the users are new or experienced, they do not know the dangerous consequences steroids can have on their bodies and their minds. Though steroids cause a relatively insignificant number of deaths in our society, the banning of steroids is justified because steroids have a lot of side effects not known to the uninformed user.
The usage of performance-enhancing drugs in sports is commonly known as Doping. Doping is banned worldwide in every sports administration and competitions and doping gives an unfair advantage to those using illegal substances, such as steroids to boost their performance. It also puts at stake the integrity of those athletes who do not use performance-enhancing drugs also known as “clean” athletes. In fact it seems that we’re now entering the era of performance-enhancing drugs within professional sports. Doping rids the true athletes of what they truly deserve and is wrong; because why should those who put in a hundred per cent of their effort, be outshone by individuals who are choosing to use substances to enhance their physical and mental abilities? Doping damages the sports industry as a whole because it has a serious physical and mental effects on the athletes, as well as damaging the idea of sportsmanship and it also breaks the trust of the fans, as they realise their idols are hypocrites.
In conclusion, it is explicit that sports is a positive influence on athletes, spectators and the world as a whole as it teaches imperative life lessons as well as allows its participants to experience enjoyment, fulfilment and gratification. As mentioned previously sports enables its players to bring out the best in others and create unity amongst groups as team work is so essential. This highlights the views I have in conjunction with the views of Joe Humphrey.