In today's society, everything revolves around money. It is about how an individual can obtain the most possessions and what they will do to obtain these items. Iconic figures such as rappers and movie stars are expected to have lavish lifestyles, mainly dominated by partying and drugs. Professional athletes also often fall into the category of celebrity. The same ideals apply to these athletes and, for many of these men and women; their sport is just a means to make money. This doesn't seem like such a bad concept since excellent performing leads to a large salary, but research indicates that when money is an athlete's only or primary incentive, that athlete may be limiting his full potential. Throughout the semester, the class discussed …show more content…
However, sports performance requires as much physical as psychological effort. Therefore, if an athlete’s psychological incentives are not well-placed, his or her performance will suffer. While there are many psychological factors that can influence an athlete’s performance, one of the most important determinants of an athlete’s success and performance lies in what persuades him or her to play the sport. In every sport there are risks of injury, and for professional athletes, these risks associated with sports mean they could potentially lose their career, which took them years and years of practice and sacrifice, any second. This is where the importance of their psychological mindset is reflected. If an athlete plays a sport solely or primarily for extrinsic value such as respect, fame, money, prices, competition, compliance, or ego involvement, his or her performance will suffer eventually because, what is supposed to be a game, will become work. What was once fun to do will then represent a danger, a risk of losing that luxury lifestyle, fame, or recognition. If a player fears the game he or she will not be confident, and that lack of confidence will be seen on their field or court performance. However, if an athlete’s sole or primary incentive to play the sport lies on intrinsic motivators such as mastery, autonomy, passion, belonging, self-knowledge, curiosity, or love, such athlete will be much more likely to perform well and improve their play, because they are there because they love the game, regardless of the fame, high salary, and recognition being a professional athlete brings them. As research has proven, while financial compensation can be a reliable motivator for athletic performance, it also has the potential to detriment it, especially in situations where the athlete’s position in the team
They entertain millions all while dealing with laborious training. Some athletes also have terribly short careers because of injuries. One famous basketball player, Maurice Stokes only played for three years before having a seizure and going into a coma. Even though they push through all of this, they’re still being paid an abundance of money. There are still other people risking their lives and falling victim to the same injuries as athletes. While they go out to save people’s lives, athletes inspire others to do things they wouldn’t think to do. The only difference is that they’re not receiving the same amount of money as
Do you think professional athletes are overpaid? You might think they earn more than what they are worth for playing half a year, but athletes have many things which contribute to their salary. Some of these things include their earnings from endorsements, ticket sales, performance, merchandise, their social contributions, and TV ratings. Although there are many factors that contribute to their salary, professional athletes may be overpaid because as a society, we contribute to their success. So, in the end, part of the athlete’s salary comes from the people who support the sports in the first place. These are just some of the reasons why athletes are paid so much money.
It has been shown that athletes in high school may be more motivated by ego-orientated goal achievement (Ashnel, 2012). Adolescents often begin to form their identities by comparing themselves with others. As the individual matures (and confidence begins to stabilize) his or her motivation may be more intrinsic (Larsen and Engell. 2013). At that point, athletic performance may be more motivated by internal rewards systems (cognitive evaluation). College age athletes may also be on the cusp of professional status, in which case they may not want to blame themselves for poor performance (in order to maintain a solid internal locus of control) and therefore focus on external attributions for wins or losses.
With all the money these athletes are being paid they are selfish with it. Players are always looking for the contract with the highest number on it. Why could that be? They want all that money to spend on themselves. They always have the newest and nicest of everything. Not only do they have the newest and nicest things they have an excess amount of everything. Instead of driving a regular car, these players will have multiple cars worth then people's houses.
Sport psychology plays an important role in the motivation of athletes; it’s the study of the psychological and mental factors that are influenced by participation and performance in sports, exercise, and physical activity (Vora & Nail, 2016, P.354). Moreover, motivation is the foundation of all athletic effort and accomplishment; it is essential to many social psychological theories that aim to explain behavior, including self-determination theory. Motivation is the intrinsic determination toward goal attainment. Besides, if an athlete does not have the desire and self-determination to improve their sports performances, all of the other mental factors--confidence, intensity, focus, and emotions--are worthless. They are two different types
In thirteen years of golf, Tiger Woods has made over a billion dollars making him the highest paid athlete ever. He has been the highest paid athlete now for five years in a row. We all know that many people in the world watch him play every weekend and admire him, but is the amount of entertainment he provides really worth 128 million dollars a year? Tiger is only one of many professional athletes who are extremely overpaid. “People forget that sports is entertainment,” says Leonard Armato, a sports agent. Although professional athletes provide entertainment for millions of viewers around the world, they are overpaid because the millions of dollars that they make could be distributed more evenly throughout society and go to things of a greater cause.
In our society today it seems like sports rule the land. Everywhere we look, there is some kind of sporting event going on or being televised. Almost everyone could be considered a fan of at least one sport. Some people follow sports like a religion. With such an increased focus on sports, the athlete's performances are put under a microscope. This puts more pressure on athletes to give a winning performance. No longer do athletes play for fun, they play to win. This isn't happening just on the professional level; it is happening on all levels of sport. From little league to backyard football, the goal is to win at all cost. With this increase pressure, athletes are looking for more and more ways to better their performance. One such way, which is now gaining popularity, is Sports Psychology. Though this isn't a new field, its popularity is just beginning to take off. There is still a lot of skepticism about the validity or worth while of the practices used. The following is a review of a number of articles that outline different studies done that show how athletes can improve their performances. The articles were found using a database search of PsychInfo. Keywords such as increased performance, psychological practices, and sports were used to narrow the search.
Firstly, it is vital to note that anxiety, motivation, and concentration tremendously influence people's self-confidence and their performance at the long-run (Damon & Raedeke, P 188). Higher self-confidence reduces anxiety. The vice versa is also true. This is based on the fact that optimally confident sports people experience fewer doubts on self. Their worries reduce and give room for concentration in their activities. Additionally, motivated athletes are in a better position to strive towards achieving their goal. Motivation enables sports people to combat negativity and low self-esteem as they focus more on their goals other than obstacles. Therefore, it is fundamental to note that coaches and sports people must collaborate in finding any mechanisms that could stimulate and uphold self-esteem since it is, directly and indirectly, impactful to their
The game is becoming more and more revolved around the psychological aspects and mental preparation leading up to a competition in a sport or other activity. This new revolution is described here, “As the game becomes more sophisticated, coaches who fail to properly utilize psychological tools place their players, and themselves, at a disadvantage in performance and satisfaction” (High Performance Coaching Program Study Guide, 2015). This proving, without proper utilization of the psychological procedures provided to coaches and athletes, it is only hurting themselves and they may never reach their full potential otherwise. Sports psychologists do not always have to work with professional and amateur athletes competing in a sport, they may also work with adults and teenagers who are struggling in their everyday lives. The psychologist may utilize exercise and sports to enhance these people’s lives and well-being throughout their entire lifespans (Cherry, 2015). In conclusion, the examples displayed here continue to show the amazing rewards a slacking athlete or adult may encounter if they wisely utilize the effective tools around them provided by Sports
Sports psychology plays an important role in the motivation of athletes; it’s the study of the psychological and mental factors that are influenced by participation and performance in sports, exercise, and physical activity (Vora & Nail). Moreover, motivation is the foundation all athletic effort and accomplishment; it is essential to many social psychological theories that aim to explain behavior, including self-determination theory. Besides, if an athlete does not have the desire and self-determination to improve their sports performances, all of the other mental factors, confidence, intensity, focus, and emotions, are worthless. They are two different types of motivation. The first one is the extrinsic motivation, which happens when athletes
What professions deserve to be paid top dollar? Everyone thinks of a doctor or a lawyer or a high up businessman. Nobody considers teachers, firemen, policemen, soldiers, or rescue team workers. The people who risk their lives each and every day for the safety and knowledge of our society are the people who sometimes struggle to even make a living. Is this fair? Then on the other hand you have the actors and actresses and all the professional athletes that simply wake up every morning to train and entertain the world. These people make millions and millions of dollars day in and day out, for doing nothing but entertaining.
What comes to mind if someone mentions entertainer or an athlete? People think of their lavish lifestyle, and their salaries are excessive. Many say that athletes and entertainers live in a care free world by all the money they make and that their job isn’t that hard to do. Although some people say that people who contribute to the society don’t make money like entertainers and athletes do, because of all the extravagant amount of money they make, the consumers would have to pay more. I feel that entertainers and athletes should be making their high salaries because they put in hard work to get to that point, freely donate to charities, and society aids their high wages.
Through time, I discovered the meaning of sports. The coaches knocked it into my head over and over again, and then some more, that teamwork was crucial to the psychology of the game. “You have to cheer on your teammates.” “You have to be a modest winner and a graceful loser.” “You have to pass the ball.” Eventually, I realized that sports are certainly not only focused on teamwork. There is a great deal of individual work that needs to be addressed and applied: believing in oneself. This alone is the matter of most importance while playing team sports. If one player doesn’t think he can perform to the best of his abilities, then the team will suffer and the overall consequences can be great.
When the average American envisions a professional athlete, they imagine that athlete to be in a massive mansion, with a garage full of expensive and exotic cars, relaxing in designer clothes and spending the day pondering what they could spend their money on. Their lives are great and even after they retire they remain in the country’s spotlight and stay wealthy beyond all belief. Why do professional athletes lead such a good life if they do not fulfill any necessary functions within society? Professional athletes make too much money in comparison to hard working professionals who are employed with jobs that are more essential and important for the general population’s survival and effectiveness. These professional athletes are making huge amounts of money that they do not deserve and something needs to be changed to remove this.
Anywhere you look today you can see Mark McGwire hitting a home run, or Kobe Bryant dunking over someone. Every time someone watches television or reads a newspaper these, and many other, athletes can be found. Professional sports are all around us; they're a part of our culture. But, in the last few decades some changes have started to take place. As the popularity of professional athletics has increased, so has the cost to render them and their players' salaries. Many of the contracts signed today are for millions of dollars. This is unreasonably exorbitant for doing something gaiety. These days sports are centered around money and not focused on the love for the game and entertaining the fans.