professional athletes essay

Subscriber Only Resources

Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to The New York TImes Upfront  magazine.

Article Options

Presentation View

Reading Level

Are Pro Athletes Overpaid?

Photo Illustration by Vanessa Irena for Scholastic. Stacy Revere/Getty Images (Aaron Rodgers); Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images (Mike Trout); Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images (Stephen Curry)

Big earners: Aaron Rodgers, Mike Trout, and Stephen Curry

When basketball player Stephen Curry signed a new contract with the Golden State Warriors in 2017, jaws dropped at his salary: a whopping $201 million over five years. That’s about $40 million a year—one of the highest annual salaries in team sports. The National Basketball Association (N.B.A.), the National Football League (N.F.L.), and Major League Baseball (M.L.B.) are the three biggest sports organizations in the U.S. They reap billions of dollars every year from TV deals and merchandise and ticket sales. The top players in these leagues earn huge salaries that most Americans can only dream of. Are pro athletes overpaid? Two sportswriters weigh in.

There’s no question that professional athletes are paid too much. In 2018, the average annual salary for an M.L.B. player was $4.1 million. Mike Trout, a centerfielder for the Los Angeles Angels, gets $35.8 million a year. In the N.B.A., the average annual salary was $7.1 million. In the N.F.L., the average was “only” $2.7 million, but one  of football’s highest-paid players, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, just signed a four-year contract for $134 million.

Compare those wages with the national average salary for a firefighter: about $45,000 a year. It’s about $56,000 for a schoolteacher and nearly $74,000 for an emergency room nurse.

Does it make any sense that someone who throws a football for a living is paid more than 700 times as much as someone who helps save people’s lives, or that swinging a bat gets you nearly 650 times as much as educating kids? In my opinion, no.

Someone who tosses a ball shouldn’t earn 700 times as much as someone who saves lives.

However, it’s not the athletes’ fault that their wages are so high. The main problem is the huge amount of money involved in professional sports. Team owners and the three big leagues rake in billions of dollars a year.

Some of it comes from fans who shell out big bucks for costly game tickets and hugely overpriced snacks at stadiums and arenas, and for hoodies and hats with their favorite team’s logo. But far more comes from the multibillion-dollar deals made with cable and TV networks to broadcast games.

With leagues and team owners making such massive sums, the athletes who put their bodies on the line for their sports deserve a large share of it. But they’re still earning way too much money.

Maybe highly paid athletes (along with team owners) should have to pay a special tax that would help fund better salaries for firefighters, teachers, nurses, and other people who work for the greater public good.

—JESSE SPECTOR

Sportswriter and radio host

When fans look at professional athletes’ salaries, it’s easy to say they make far too much money for playing a game. After all, athletes earn more money than teachers, first responders, and members of the military. More than half the people in the United States make less than $62,000 a year.

But it’s important to remember that those athletes are an essential part of enormously profitable companies. The National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Basketball Association generate billions of dollars in revenue. Without the players, the leagues wouldn’t exist. Players’ salaries are simply their share of all the cash these hugely successful businesses bring in.

Plus, making it to the pros takes years of hard work. And the few athletes who get that far have relatively short careers—just 5 to 10 years to earn a living, compared with 40 or 50 years for other jobs.

Professional athletes put in years of hard work—and deserve every penny they earn.

Besides, not all athletes make millions of dollars. The lowest-paid N.F.L., M.L.B., and N.B.A. players make about $500,000. (While that’s still a lot, it’s not nearly as much as their top-level teammates earn.) And pros in less popular sports make even less than that. For example, players in the National Women’s Soccer League make only between $16,000 and $44,000 a season.

Also, think about who’d get the money if the athletes made less. Lower salaries wouldn’t necessarily lead to lower ticket and hot dog prices for fans who go to the games. The billionaire owners of the N.F.L., M.L.B., and N.B.A. teams would likely pocket the difference.

The truth is, some professional athletes make huge salaries because millions of people are happy to pay money to see those players make the amazing catches and breathtaking plays we love to watch.

So if you think pro athletes make too much money, maybe you should stop watching them.

—FRED BOWEN

Washington Post sportswriter and author

Are professional athletes paid too much? The answer may surprise you

When a ballplayer lands an eye-popping contract, some fans and critics lament it with a question that’s been asked for generations: Why are professional athletes paid so much?

But are they really overpaid?

Some of the recent gargantuan contracts lend themselves to populist criticism. The Dodgers this year gave outfielder Mookie Betts a 12-year, $365 million deal. The Angels inked slugger Mike Trout last year to a 12-year, $426 million contract. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes recently signed a 10-year contract extension potentially worth more than $500 million.

Advertisement

Even non-stars in the major leagues average millions of dollars in annual salary, and rookies and benchwarmers are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, all per collective bargaining agreements between player unions and team owners/leagues. And their salary information is readily available for public and media consumption, more so than private-sector corporate compensation for CEOs and executives. Fan irritation at what they believe to be bloated player salaries is particularly acute when players fail to live up to the hype, and when expensive payrolls fail to win — an inherent risk in sports.

Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage for nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour. That’s $290 for a 40-hour workweek and $15,080 for a year. In 2018, the average U.S. median income was $63,179, according to the most recent federal data.

Additionally, the cost for a family to attend a single live game in the NFL , MLB , NBA , and NHL has ballooned into hundreds of dollars that put them beyond reach of many. Stadiums and arenas increasingly cater to more affluent fans (and companies) with pricey suites, club seats and private gathering spaces.

These stark contrasts between the working/middle classes and modern-era Gilded Age professional sports fuel the complaint about overpaid athletes, and that grievance is particularly resonant because America right now is having a national conversation about income inequality and other disparities. And it’s a conversation underway amid a pandemic-fueled recession and staggering unemployment, with a federal government that has let additional financial help expire.

Opinion about how much athletes are paid really comes down to a person’s preference on the ideological spectrum.

If you ask an academic economist or free-market think tank wonks , many will tell you that pro sports are a meritocracy that usually rewards production at correct market rates – even if the market doesn’t quite include true free agency that is a player’s financial linchpin.

And some economists will tell you those elite athletes that get the biggest contracts are … wait for it … underpaid.

Really, says Victor Matheson, a sports economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

“Today, most of the current research suggests that players overall, at least in leagues where they have effective labor unions who have been able to negotiate CBAs with free agency, are paid relatively fairly overall, but that top players are wildly underpaid,” he said via email. “The LeBron Jameses and Steph Currys are paid way under what they bring to their teams in terms of revenue.”

James, 35, has a four-year, $153.3 million deal with the L.A. Lakers through 2022 – the 17th largest NBA contract, per Spotrac.com. Curry, 32, ranks second with a five-year, $201.1 million deal with the Golden State Warriors through 2022. Atop the NBA list is Russell Westbrook , 31, with a five-year, $206 million contract with the Houston Rockets .

Another sports economist, Southern Utah University’s David Berri, dug into some examples of how ballplayers are underpaid.

“The standard economic answer to this question is that in a market system a worker’s wage is determined by the amount of revenue the worker creates. The NBA produced about $8.7 billion in revenue in 2018-19, according to Forbes,” he said. “If half of that goes to the players and we think the players are primarily paid to produce wins, then each of the 1,230 wins the players produced that year were worth about $3.25 million.  Giannis Antetokounmpo produced more than 20 wins for the Bucks that season. Therefore, he was worth more than $60 million.

“The NBA’s labor agreement, though, caps an individual player’s salary. Consequently, Antetokounmpo was only paid about $24 million. This means — according to the way economists think about this — he was definitely underpaid.”

A similar story can be told about rookies in North American professional sports, Berri said.

“The labor market for these players is often quite restricted. This means a player like Luka Doncic was only paid $6.5 million his rookie season despite producing more than eight wins. Again, that means he was also underpaid,” he said.

It’s even worse in a non-major league such as the WNBA, he said, where players get only about 30 percent of revenue under its new labor deal.

Berri contrasted American major leagues to Europe, where the absence of labor market restrictions such as salary caps means players get up to 70 percent of league revenue.

Matheson takes the “they’re overpaid” criticism to its logical conclusion, which isn’t particularly populist.

“Suppose you just think that grown men shouldn’t make so much money just for playing a game,” he said. “Fair enough, but where do you think the billions in NBA or NFL, or MLB revenue should go instead? Do they think (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones or (Patriots owner) Robert Kraft need a big raise?”

Jones and Kraft are emblematic of professional sports’ financial ecosystem: They’re almost all billionaires whose fortunes were created in other fields, such as finance and energy and tech, and those who have owned their team for a while have seen enormous growth in franchise value. Most teams are worth a billion dollars or more (although NHL and MLB clubs lag behind the other leagues).

Owners are significantly wealthier than the best-paid players, but it’s players that generate the value for the entire enterprise.

“People are not coming to see the owners,” said Sam Pizzigati, co-editor at Inequality.org and an associate fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank launched in the 1960s. He’s written about sports economics.

The question of pro athletes’ labor value and if they are overpaid really is one that requires context, he said.

“It’s all compared to what? Overpaid compared to owners? No. Compared to average people doing essential work? Yes. Compared to the titans of the business world? No. It’s all a matter of context,” he said.

The top-paid major leaguers earn a fraction of what private sector senior executives are paid, even if both are targeted by critics of wealth inequality.

Pizzigati said the world’s top 15 hedge fund managers last year were paid a combined $12 billion, and the top 10 CEOs at publicly-traded companies each took in more than $70 million in compensation last year.

For example, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk last year had total compensation of $595 million entirely in the form of stock options, per a Bloomberg report . Next on the list is Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook at $133 million in 2019, mostly in the form of stock awards.

While athletes are paid cash, the private sector typically compensates top executives with a mixture of salary, bonuses, stock awards and options, dividends and perks.

While ballplayers are relative paupers compared to Wall Street tycoons, their salaries are vastly beyond what regular citizens earn, Pizzigati said, and there are vast gulfs between baseball’s elite and the guys lower on the roster.

“When we look at baseball pay, what we see is the same phenomenon throughout society today – deep inequality. Most ballplayers aren’t making anything near (the top salaries). That’s the way it is in the economy as a whole. We’re a top-heavy society and that’s not good for society or good for sports,” Pizzigati said. “The world of sports reflects the inequality of our society as a whole. That undermines our well-being as citizens, consumers and sports fans.”

While the nation struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended American life, the ideological question of labor compensation is complex and thorny, but the roots of why players get paid so much are fairly simple.

Players long had few rights for their entire career once they signed a contract, so they used the courts, arbitrators, and collective bargaining talks from the 1970s through the 1990s to earn the right to become free agents and have teams bid for their services.

“Free agency created basically somewhat constrained free labor markets,” said Andrew Zimbalist, professor of economics at Smith College and author of several sports finance books.

The ability to become a free agent means a player is able to freely offer his or her services to the highest bidder – if they have proven their skills worth it.

Owners have been willing to outspend each other on free agents for the best talent, further driving up salaries (and in the case of the USFL in the mid-1980s, dooming the league).

At the same time, the TV contracts for the major leagues grew from millions of dollars in the 1960s to billions starting in the 1990s, and a wave of new stadiums and arenas – with billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to build them – flooded leagues with additional money.

Labor deals typically call for players and owners to split, at varying ratios, the cash flowing into their leagues. For example, NFL players get 47 percent of their revenue; the NBA line hovers near 50 percent.

So while some fans may bemoan the immense contracts, it’s ultimately fans that generate the money to create those deals – they’re willing to put their cash behind their team loyalties and to see elite talent perform. And some people even pay to watch the Cleveland Browns.

The four major leagues (Major League Soccer doesn’t quite match the other leagues in revenue and salaries, but it’s getting there) each enjoy billions in revenue, led by the NFL with an estimated $16 billion last year (and a goal of hitting $25 billion by 2027).

Since the season is underway, let’s concentrate on Major League Baseball’s revenue and compensation. Last year, MLB reportedly collected nearly $11 billion from all of its income sources. Some of that was from fans buying tickets and game-day purchases. A lot of it was from TV deals. Some came from licensing and marketing deals, some from digital operations, and a bunch from corporate advertising deals. Teams also collect regional sports network fees.

Baseball’s current national TV deals with Fox Sports, ESPN and Turner are worth a combined $12.4 billion over eight years, or about $1.5 billion annually, per Forbes. That’s going to increase starting next year when a fresh deal with Turner Sports is expected to boost its current $325 million yearly broadcast rights fee payment to $470 million.

What that means is more money is available for owners to pay players, and players can demand more money from owners. Or they can have another labor impasse that halts play – the current labor deal expires Dec. 1, 2021.

Baseball pays players under a variety of scenarios, often complex to the casual fan. At the core of the compensation system under the labor deal is a graduated set of minimum salaries based on service time in the majors, and after six years in the majors they are eligible to become full free agents – and that’s where the big contracts happen. Prior to free agency, players also become eligible for salary arbitration that allows them to negotiate better pay.

MLB, which fully guarantees player contracts, has no formal salary cap. So, player salaries are ultimately limited only by an owner’s tolerance for spending. Baseball does have its Competitive Balance Tax, better known as the luxury tax, intended to curtail repeated heavy spending on salaries in the name of parity, but it’s proven to be a largely ineffective tool to rein in payroll growth.

The other major sports leagues have variations of salary caps that more rigidly limit player salaries – an artificial limit on true free agency but also a tool to manage and protect finances in the name of parity.

Even with free agency, the presence of those salary caps, luxury taxes and even revenue sharing reduce or divert money that otherwise could have been spent on players, chipping away at their true market value, economists say.

“All of those things retard player value,” Zimbalist said.

Baseball’s version of the free-agency system can be traced to St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood’s failed antitrust lawsuit against MLB in 1973 and a 1975 arbitration decision that led to a 1976 deal between players and owners that birthed modern free agency. MLB’s 1975 average salary of $44,676 increased by 1980 to $143,756 – a 222 percent increase.

“Prior to free agency, players were vastly underpaid. The common economics term is ‘marginal revenue product’ which is how much additional revenue a particular player brings to his or her team through their actions on the field,” Matheson said. “A famous study by Gerald Scully in the early 1970s, essentially the first ‘Moneyball’-type paper ever written, found that top players were being paid only 10 percent of their marginal revenue product.”

MLB’s average salary first topped $1 million annually in 1995. Today, its minimum salary is $563,500. While the pandemic will temporarily depress the average MLB salary this year, in recent years it has been around $4 million.

This season, the average MLB payroll for the 28-man rosters during the pandemic-shortened 60-game season is $58.6 million, per salary tracking site Spotrac.com. Atop the list are the Yankees at $110 million while at the bottom are the Orioles at $23.8 million.

Last year, for the full 162-game season, the average MLB payroll was $138.5 million. Four teams had payrolls over $200 million, topped by the Red Sox at $229 million, per Spotrac.

The compensation for professional athletes differs from traditional pay because, Matheson said, fans have limited choices compared to other industries – a phenomenon known as “superstar economics.”

“We only have so much time to invest watching sports, so we only want to watch the best,” he said. “So we concentrate our sports watching on just a few teams and players (and technology allows us to do this). In an industry like education or clothes or restaurants where there is no obvious best, we spread out our spending among hundreds of thousands of food and fashion and education providers. Very few restaurateurs become ‘NBA rich.’”

Discretionary income has grown over the decades, allowing fans to spend more on sports, he said.

“As the country and the world have gotten richer, we have more money to spend on things in general and on entertainment specifically. U.S. GDP/capita has grown from about $4,000 per person in 1900 to $65,000 per person in 2019. That leaves 16 times as much income for each of us to spend on sports. On top of that, once our basic needs are met, we spend disproportionally on discretionary activities like entertainment,” Matheson said.

Additionally, taxpayers have indirectly financed the riches enjoyed by players and owners. In the past 30 years, about $30 billion in public money has been spent on major league stadiums and arenas that produce more revenue than the old basic concrete hulks of the past, Matheson said.

“That money serves to increase league revenues, a part of which makes it directly into players’ pockets,” he said.

The ballplayer salaries, big or small, are subject to high tax rates, and they pay fees to agents and unions, which can halve the contract number in the headline versus the actual take-home pay. But it’s still more than most people earn. And most people who play sports don’t turn pro, and few of those that do become stars commanding the enormous free-agent contracts – which tend to come toward the players’ later 20s or early 30s. Their earnings window is brief compared to traditional careers, and injury is an ever-present risk.

“It’s not a difficult life, but it’s not always a bed of roses like fans think,” Zimbalist said. “The vast majority of players who circulate in college sports or minor leagues never make it to the pros, or just for a short period of time.”

Berri said there is a less discussed problem with American pro sports in that its riches incentivize kids and parents to concentrate on skill-building toward a goal that’s unlikely – becoming a pro athlete – and leaves them without salable skills in the non-sports market.

“Because we rely on the market to signal to people what skills they need, we probably live in a world where we are wasting some potential human capital,” he said. “It is not entirely clear how to solve this problem. We could tax sports at a much higher rate to lower the wages earned by athletes and the revenues earned by owners. Doesn’t seem, though, that there is much political will to make that happen.

“As it is, we are left with the current system. From the perspective of the market, many North American professional athletes (male and female) are underpaid. From the perspective of society, though, we probably have more people trying to be professional athletes than is socially optimal.”

Will player salaries continue their upward trajectory? The economic recession and fan choice of doing other things likely will slow pay growth for a few years, Zimbalist said. TV deals may not be blockbusters in the future, and fans and corporate sponsors may be less willing to spend on sports if the recession worsens and continues for years.

“The proliferation of video entertainment options is going to blunt the growth of sports media revenue,” he said.

(Photo of Mike Trout: Angels baseball / USA Today)

Get all-access to exclusive stories.

Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us.

Home — Essay Samples — Business — Performance — Why Are Professional Athletes Overpaid

Why Are Professional Athletes Overpaid

• Categories: Performance

About this sample

Words: 488 |

Published: Mar 25, 2024

Words: 488 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof Ernest (PhD)

Verified writer

• Expert in: Business

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 441 words

2 pages / 820 words

4 pages / 2024 words

2 pages / 865 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Performance

As another year draws to a close, it is a valuable opportunity to engage in a self-performance review to assess my progress, accomplishments, and areas for growth over the past year. This self-evaluation serves as a moment of [...]

Being a peak performer is a goal that many individuals strive to achieve, whether it be in academics, sports, or their professional careers. However, reaching the peak of one’s performance is no easy feat and requires [...]

The music concert I attended last week was a truly unforgettable experience. The anticipation in the air as I walked into the dimly lit concert hall was palpable. The stage was set with a grand piano, a drum set, and several [...]

Employee performance reviews are a crucial component of the modern workplace, providing an opportunity for both employees and employers to assess progress, set goals, and align expectations. Among the various elements of a [...]

In the following essay, I will be talking about how coaches, teachers and instructors can create two different climates, the mastery climate and the competitive climate and how this can impact sports performance. A mastery [...]

The Importance of Talent Management and Why You Should Invest in It Talent management is not just a simple Human Resources key terms that you come across. Talent management is the organization’s commitment to hire, manage, [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

• General Reading
• Academic Reading
• IELTS Writing Task 2
• IELTS Writing Task 1

Essay#73 | Are Professional Athletes Good Role Models?

With some question types in IELTS Writing Task 2, you need to discuss more than one type of evidence, argument or point of view before reaching your conclusion. This is called  the evidence-led approach .

The term  role model  generally means  a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people .

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people think that professional athletes make good role models for young people, while others believe they don’t.

Discuss both these points of views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model answer.

People everywhere like watching sports. Many top athletes are admired throughout their countries, and some even have fans all around the world. Young people especially, view many athletes as role models and want to emulate the way these stars dress, act, and live their lives. While some athletes aren’t deserving of their “role model” status, others act like role models and responsible community citizens.

Top athletes get the attention of young people. Most children and teenagers like to follow professional sports. For many of them, star athletes represent heroes, and children want to be like their heroes. This means they will want to play sports, which is good for their health. Playing sports also teaches valuable life lessons such as teamwork, discipline, goal setting, and the realities of dealing with success and failure. Professional athletes demonstrate the importance of working hard to achieve a goal or practicing regularly to become good at something. This is a good example for children to follow.

However, professional athletes are not always good role models. For one thing, when young athletes reach a level of fame, it comes with media attention, large financial benefits, and social attention. This can lead children to believe that money and fame are an important part of sports. Children might focus more on these aspects than on the fun of the game or on the challenge of learning how to play well. Then there are those athletes who behave badly. For example, some cheat to win their games or take drugs to improve their performance. This kind of behaviour sends the wrong message to children.

Athletes are people who are held at a lofty place in society owing to their popularity and wealth. These attributes are what make people want to look up to them and model various facets of their lives along those of the athletes. We can thus be led to conclude that professional athletes can be very good role models for children, as long as they focus on the positive aspects of playing sports.

(339 Words)

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)

You May Like this

Table#8 | Worldwide Market Share of the Notebook Computer

The table below shows the worldwide market share of the notebook computer market for manufacturers in the years 2006 and 2007.

Table#7 | Teacher Training Qualifications

The table below shows the number of students living in the UK gaining English language teacher training qualifications in 2007/8 and 2008/9, and the proportion of male qualifiers.

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Meet top uk universities from the comfort of your home, here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

• Study Abroad Test Prep /

IELTS Essay Topic: Some people believe that professional athletes serve as positive role models for young people.

• Updated on  
• Oct 26, 2023

Q- Some people believe that professional athletes serve as positive role models for young people, while others argue that their behaviour both on and off the field, can have negative influences. Discuss both sides and give your opinion. 

Ans. The impact of athletes on the generation has always sparked contentious debates. Some argue that these athletes serve as role models while others believe that their actions can have adverse effects on young people. In my view, the positive side comes out as more prevalent. Their physical fitness and healthy lifestyle inspire young people to adopt similar habits, contributing to better health outcomes.

On one hand, professional athletes are often regarded as role models for individuals. They embody the values of work, dedication, and resilience which are crucial for achieving success in any field. As a result, youth derive inspiration and follow the examples set by them. Additionally, many athletes actively participate in activities emphasising the significance of giving back to society. Professional athletes, like Serena Williams and Cristiano Ronaldo, are role models embodying values of hard work and dedication. Their fitness routines inspire healthy lifestyles in youth, and their societal contributions highlight the importance of giving back.

Nonetheless, it is imperative to acknowledge the adverse influence that professional athletes can exert on society. At times, the behavior of athletes can have detrimental effects on the minds of their fans. Scandals associated with drug use, violence, or other forms of misconduct can inadvertently convey the wrong message to individuals. Furthermore, the hyper-competitive nature of sports can sometimes give rise to on-field behavior that young fans may be inclined to emulate. Instances of misconduct, such as Lance Armstrong’s well-documented drug use, serve as poignant examples of how athletes’ actions can negatively impact individuals.

In conclusion, professional athletes can serve as both positive and negative role models for young people. It is essential to focus on their positive traits while also acknowledging their flaws. Therefore, parents and educators must help the youth understand that even though making mistakes is inevitable, the important lesson lies in learning from them and avoiding their athletic heroes while also understanding the importance of personal responsibility and ethical conduct.

Paraphrased Statement: The impact of athletes, on the generation has always sparked contentious debates. Some argue that these athletes serve as role models while others believe that their actions can have effects on young people.

Thesis Statement:  In my view, the positive side comes out as more prevalent. Their physical fitness and healthy lifestyle inspire young people to adopt similar habits, contributing to better health outcomes.

Body Paragraph 1-Topic Sentences: On one hand, professional athletes are often regarded as role models for individuals. They embody the values of work, dedication, and resilience which are crucial for achieving success in any field. As a result, youth derive inspiration and follow the examples set by them. 

Body Paragraph 1- Supporting Reasons and Explanations: Additionally, many athletes actively participate in activities emphasizing the significance of giving back to society. Professional athletes, like Serena Williams and Cristiano Ronaldo, are role models embodying values of hard work and dedication. Their fitness routines inspire healthy lifestyles in youth, and their societal contributions highlight the importance of giving back.

Body Paragraph 2- Topic sentence: Nonetheless, it is imperative to acknowledge the adverse influence that professional athletes can exert on society. At times, the behavior of athletes can have detrimental effects on the minds of their fans.

Body paragraph 2- Supporting Reasons and Explanations: Scandals associated with drug use, violence, or other forms of misconduct can inadvertently convey the wrong message to individuals. Furthermore, the hyper-competitive nature of sports can sometimes give rise to on-field behavior that young fans may be inclined to emulate. Instances of misconduct, such as Lance Armstrong’s well-documented drug use, serve as poignant examples of how athletes’ actions can negatively impact individuals.

Conclusion: In conclusion, professional athletes can serve as both positive and negative role models for young people. It is essential to focus on their positive traits while also acknowledging their flaws. This balanced perspective will enable young people to admire their athletic heroes while also understanding the importance of personal responsibility and ethical conduct.

Vocabulary in Use

The impact of athletes, on the generation has always sparked contentious debates. Some argue that these athletes serve as role models while others believe that their actions can have effects on young people. In my view, the positive side comes out as more prevalent. Their physical fitness and healthy lifestyle inspire young people to adopt similar habits, contributing to better health outcomes.

On one hand, They embody the values of work, dedication, and resilience which are crucial for achieving success in any field. As a result, youth derive inspiration and follow the examples set by them. Additionally, many athletes actively participate in activities emphasizing the significance of giving back to society. Professional athletes, like Serena Williams and Cristiano Ronaldo, are role models embodying values of hard work and dedication. Their fitness routines inspire healthy lifestyles in youth, and their societal contributions highlight the importance of giving back.

In conclusion, professional athletes can serve as both positive and negative role models for young people. It is essential to focus on their positive traits while also acknowledging their flaws. Therefore, parents and educators must help the youth understand that even though making mistakes is inevitable, the important lesson lies in learning from them and avoiding their repetition. This balanced perspective will enable young people to admire their athletic heroes while also understanding the importance of personal responsibility and ethical conduct .

Linkers and Connectors Used

The linkers and connectors used in the essay are:

• The impact of athletes, on the generation
• Has always sparked contentious debates
• Some argue… while others believe
• This essay will explore both perspectives before presenting my stance
• On one hand
• Additionally
• However 
• In my view, although
• Even, for their role models
• In conclusion

Are you preparing for IELTS? Check out this video to improve your writing skills for the IELTS exam given below👇.

Related Articles

• IELTS Writing Task 1
• IELTS Essay Topics

Download the Leverage IELTS App today.

Need help preparing for IELTS? Check out the best  IELTS preparation courses  in the market offered in a live training environment by trusted educators in a live training environment. If you want to help  studying abroad , call 1800-572-000.

Purti Chawla

Purti is a CELTA, British Council, and IDP-certified language trainer. Having worked as a Study Abroad Test Prep Expert for the past 7 years, she has guided thousands of students towards their desirable scores in IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT and other language proficiency tests to study abroad. She is adept in molding learning strategies according to the needs of the learners and has built multiple courses at Leverage IELTS with result-oriented strategies. Proficient in test prep courses such as IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, and Duolingo, she loves to explore different classroom teaching methods, keeps continuously improving her own skills, and stays abreast with the latest teaching methodologies. She is a master trainer at Leverage Edu and aims to help thousands more through her expertise.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Contact no. *

Connect With Us

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. take the first step today..

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

January 2024

September 2024

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Have something on your mind?

Make your study abroad dream a reality in January 2022 with

India's Biggest Virtual University Fair

Essex Direct Admission Day

Why attend .

Don't Miss Out

IELTS Mentor "IELTS Preparation & Sample Answer"

• Skip to content
• Jump to main navigation and login

Nav view search

• IELTS Sample

IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.

Ielts writing task 2 sample 301 - professional athletes make good role models for young people, ielts writing task 2/ ielts essay:, some people think that professional athletes make good role models for young people, while others believe they don’t..

• IELTS Essay

IELTS Materials

• IELTS Bar Graph
• IELTS Line Graph
• IELTS Table Chart
• IELTS Flow Chart
• IELTS Pie Chart
• IELTS Letter Writing
• Academic Reading

Useful Links

• IELTS Secrets
• Band Score Calculator
• Exam Specific Tips
• Useful Websites
• IELTS Preparation Tips
• Academic Reading Tips
• Academic Writing Tips
• GT Writing Tips
• Listening Tips
• Speaking Tips
• IELTS Grammar Review
• IELTS Vocabulary
• IELTS Cue Cards
• IELTS Life Skills
• Letter Types

• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Copyright Notice
• HTML Sitemap

How to Become a Successful Athlete? Exploratory Essay

How to become a good athlete: essay introduction.

Athletics is a process that involves running faster, jumping higher or longer distances, or throwing some provided materials further than someone else. In addition, bicycle paddling, car racers and participation in football are also examples of athletic processes. It has been known for long and it is still known that athletes are among the successful persons in the world.

Despite the much success associated with athletic activities, many risks are made by the athletic competitors in partaking their trainings and competitions. Let it be clarified, however, that devoid of the proper training and directions, the well known successful athletes are none but a group of ordinary persons in the society.

How Does Someone Become a Successful Athlete?

Participating in athletic activities is an essential element in life; this is because during athletics process body movements are made, hence contributing immensely to the normal health of an individual. In addition, during athletic process, individuals lose weight leading to reduction of health associated problems such as obesity and vessel blockages.

Athletic activities also pays more well compared to other kinds of chores in the world. However, for an individual to be a successful athlete, he or she has to incorporate some steps in life. These steps include choosing of the right diets, thinking critically, having good listening and communication skills, input of much effort in athletic activities, undertaking trainings, avoiding risks, and having familiarity to athletic tools.

Choosing a Diet

First, a successful athlete has the responsibility of picking on the right diets that will enhance body fitness for a competition. This is because athletic process is all about contraction and relaxation of muscles, and incorrect foods results to difficulties in muscle building of an individual. In addition to successful athletes taking the right diets, they should also learn to hydrate themselves in the period of summer.

Body hydration aids in reducing of body weight by not only preventing accumulation of cholesterol, but also tissue clotting in the body tissues. Intake water also plays a crucial role in enhancing the body tissues remain in fitness for any activity including participating in athletics. In addition, during the summer period, a lot of water is lost from the body due to sun heating that cause profuse sweating, therefore; it is vital for athletes to take a lot of water to reduce cases of dehydration.

Critical Thinking

Secondly, athletic activity involves extensive use of the brain for one to be successful. Therefore, successful athletes have the role of thinking critically in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches they make towards the problems they encounter in their daily athletic activities.

In so doing, they will not only learn from their own performance, but also from other individuals and make improvements where needed. In addition, thinking critically enables an athlete to participate effectively in a competition by making right decisions in partaking a competition, for example avoiding use of drugs.

Good Listening and Communication Skills

Thirdly, athletic activity is all about listening and communicating. For one to be a successful athlete, he or she has to be active in listening to other people in order to gain an understanding of what athletic process entails. For instance, during marathon process, individuals have to communicate effectively with each other in order to convey information on what should be done to improve chances of winning.

Listening skill also plays a crucial role when individuals are about to undertake a competition. This is because in a competition many sorts of sounds are used to convey messages, for instance it is the role of the marathon athletes to pay attention to the sounds made for the start of a race.

Effort in Sports

Fourthly, due to the challenge portrayed by athletics process, that is becoming a common element all over the world involving millions of people; it is the responsibility of athletes to put much effort in order to become successful.

Although the duration of athletic process tends to be so long and too much involving, one has to be persistent and strong in undertaking practices in order to be successful. The athletic competition also is prone to challenges that have to be overcome by an athlete, for example, in athletic competition, there are always losers and winners, and a successful athlete has the responsibility of taking both results positively.

Physical Training

Fifthly, success in athletics is directly proportional to the rate of training; this is because the body in the process of training becomes adapted to the challenges involved in the strenuous athletic activity.

For instance, successful athletes in the process of training learn on how to manage their body movements to enhance speed movements. Therefore, it is the role of a successful athlete to undertake enough training in order to acquire body fitness before undergoing a competition.

Risk Awareness

Sixthly, due to some of the activities involved in the athletic process being violent and subjecting individuals to hazardous physical injuries each time athletic process is partaken; it is the responsibility of the athlete to take amicable steps.

For instance, it is the role of an athlete to understand the risks involved in the athletic process and the best measures to take in avoiding them from happening in order to participate fully in a competition. Good examples are athletes involved in either hockey or bicycle peddling; such individuals have to use facial shields to prevent themselves from fatal accidents that may halt them from participating in a competition.

Material Awareness

Finally, some of athletic activities involve the use of materials. Therefore, it is advisable for the athletes to equip themselves with enough knowledge of athletic materials needed to enhance success. For example, successful pedal exercisers need to have access to exercise bicycles to acquaint themselves with enough knowledge on how to partake paddling competition.

On the other hand, car racers are not exceptional, just as bicycle peddlers they also have to acquaint themselves with procedures required in athletics as well as the vehicles that they will use in the athletic competitions. In athletic competitions involving the use of materials, material familiarity is so essential and, it is not exceptional for an individual’s success.

What Makes a Good Athlete: Essay Conclusion

In conclusion, successful athletes have to ensure that they have maintained healthy body fitness for the athletic competition through taking the right diets and trainings periodically. It is also advisable for individuals with aims of becoming successful athletes to learn on how to listen, and think critically while undergoing trainings, for this will aid the in taking in instructions during the competitions. Individual material awareness also plays a crucial role in enacting the success of an athlete.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, February 18). How to Become a Successful Athlete? Exploratory Essay. https://ivypanda.com/essays/athletics-process/

"How to Become a Successful Athlete? Exploratory Essay." IvyPanda , 18 Feb. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/athletics-process/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'How to Become a Successful Athlete? Exploratory Essay'. 18 February.

IvyPanda . 2023. "How to Become a Successful Athlete? Exploratory Essay." February 18, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/athletics-process/.

1. IvyPanda . "How to Become a Successful Athlete? Exploratory Essay." February 18, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/athletics-process/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "How to Become a Successful Athlete? Exploratory Essay." February 18, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/athletics-process/.

• Exploratory Research Assignment: Sportsmanship
• Exploratory Research in Organizational Leadership
• Exploratory, Descriptive, and Causal Research Designs - Compare & Contrast
• International Assignment and Trainings in Global Firms
• Visual Display of Data: Exploratory Data Analysis
• Leadership Preferences in Japan: an Exploratory Study
• College Athletics: Should College Athletes Be Paid?
• Risk Management in Athletics
• Methods of Conducting Exploratory Marketing Research
• Principal Components and Exploratory Factor Analysis
• College Athletics for Mental and Physical Health
• College Athletics: Failing to Achieve Its Full Potential
• The Effects of Sports on Life
• National Sports Day Events at CNA-Q: Turn Out Rates
• Hosting an International Sporting Event: The Economic Implications

• Share full article

Professional women’s hockey has arrived, and the games have been intense...

At least in Canada. The New York team, however, struggles to fill the seats.

For the players it’s a moment of great opportunity. But first, they have to start winning.

Supported by

New York’s Newest Hockey Team Has Everything but a Name and Home Ice

The fledgling Professional Women’s Hockey League is booming — except in New York, where the team is in last place. But the players haven’t given up.

By David Waldstein

Photographs by Mimi d’Autremont

Cheers thundered across a packed arena in Ottawa as fans stood and shouted support for the home team and vitriol at the visitors. “New York sucks!” they chanted. Young girls in peewee jerseys, bearded bros in Ottawa red and women holding signs with slogans like “Girls Supporting Girls” all lent voice to the mounting excitement.

For this was February in Canada, where hockey has been depicted on 5-dollar bills and all levels of the sport are revered with an almost maniacal fervor.

When Ottawa scored to break a tie with only a few minutes to play, 8,000 fans erupted, signaling their emotional investment in the brand-new Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Women’s pro hockey has a fractured history, with various leagues on four continents dividing up the talent and fans. But now, for the first time, virtually all the best players are in one place, showcasing a skillful and rugged style that has fans riveted.

“Playing here is incredible,” Jaime Bourbonnais, a New York defender, said after the game. “Ottawa is very lucky to have the fans that they do. It feels like the fans are right on top of you.”

It has been a promising start for the fledgling league. In February, 19,285 supporters filled Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena to see their team play Montreal, establishing a new attendance record for women’s hockey. A month later, almost 14,000 showed up in Detroit — which does not even have a team — to watch Boston play Ottawa. That set a women’s professional record for the United States.

“It has gone beyond our wildest dreams,” said Stan Kasten, the veteran sports executive and a senior adviser to the league’s single owner, Mark Walter. Mr. Kasten said that when Montreal recently moved a game to a 21,000-seat downtown arena, tickets sold out in 20 minutes.

The league is on its way, with one notable exception: New York.

Despite a roster replete with talented, scrappy and likable players, New York has not matched the early buzz, for a variety of reasons. Home games are scattered over three arenas in three states, and the practice facility is 35 miles outside Manhattan. New York owns the worst record in the league and faces persistent questions over whether the city is even a “hockey town.”

Abigail Levy, a gifted New York goalie, grew up in suburban Rockland County, N.Y., but left home to play hockey at a prep school in Minnesota, and later at Boston College.

“The best girl players in the area go to other places to play,” she said. “It just isn’t as big in the New York area.”

But any new sports league seeking credibility and marketability wants a foothold in New York, with its ready-made media machine. That also means competing with numerous other entertainment options.

As the league was forming, the players’ union weighed in on all matters, including where the teams might take hold. “We thought of maybe going to the Midwest, where it’s smaller and hockey stands out more,” said Abby Roque, a New York forward and the daughter of a coach and an N.H.L. scout, who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. “But the league said you can’t start a sports league and not have a team in New York City.”

Where they landed is not exactly Broadway. The team practices in Stamford, Conn., where most of the players live, and its home games are divided among Bridgeport, Conn., Newark and Elmont on Long Island. But no matter where the home games are, the stands have mostly been empty. New York has the worst attendance in the league, with an average of 2,325 spectators per home game.

If ticket sales continue to lag, there is no guarantee the league will keep the team in New York. So with every loss, the pressure mounts.

“I feel that every day,” said Micah Zandee-Hart, the team’s captain and a stalwart defender who grew up in British Columbia. “Being the captain of New York is something I take really seriously. It’s an honor, but it’s also a huge responsibility.”

During the furious closing seconds of the game in Ottawa, Ms. Zandee-Hart made a brilliant pass to Jessie Eldridge, but her shot was blocked. Ottawa withstood the onslaught and won. Before the Ottawa players left the ice, they formed a circle and waved their sticks to the adoring crowd. Virtually no one left until all the players had.

A week later, New York, in the midst of an agonizing losing streak, played a home game in Bridgeport. There were only 728 fans. They lost again.

“It’s frustrating in New York that our building is half empty all the time,” said Madison Packer, New York’s veteran forward. “But the talent on the ice has never been as good as it is now.”

The ‘Hockey Halfway House’

A dozen wine glasses clinked over an elongated dinner table at the Stamford house where Ms. Packer lives with her wife, Anya Packer, and their two toddlers. Coming off three straight losses, Ms. Packer decided it was the perfect time for a home-cooked team-bonding meal. About half the players were there, chatting amiably about hockey and their playing adventures in places like Sweden, China and Russia.

The Packers’ spacious colonial home is the team’s cultural hub, known as the Hockey Halfway House because there are usually a couple of teammates boarding there. Players earn more in the P.W.H.L. than they did in previous North American leagues, but the average salary is $55,000.

Emma Woods, a forward with one of the hardest shots in the league, lives with the Packers now, along with Chloé Aurard, a forward from France.

Madison Packer grew up in a Detroit suburb, playing with the sons and daughters of Red Wings players. She was a captain for the Metropolitan Riveters (who played at a rink in a mall in East Rutherford, N.J.) before that league folded last year.

She was a star at the University of Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to a national championship in 2011 against Boston University — and her future wife. They did not meet until long after that game, but today, on a shelf in their home, stand the champion and consolation trophies from the same championship game, one for each of them.

Anya played three seasons for the Connecticut Whale in the former league, later became general manager of the Riveters and is now a technology sales executive. Madison also works remotely as an executive recruiter. One of the few players in the league with children, she has a hectic schedule from morning until late at night, when she does her non-hockey work.

The day of the team dinner, for instance, she helped ready the kids for school before heading to a team weight-training session. From there it was to the rink in Stamford for practice, and then she rushed off to Greenwich Country Day School to hand out awards for the girls’ hockey team she coaches. She scooped up her children at school, drove back home through rush-hour traffic on the Merritt Parkway and helped prepare the steak dinner for her teammates.

After they ate, Ms. Packer dunked herself into a therapeutic cold tub while the other players settled into the living room to see Ottawa play Minnesota on TV. When the six cities were chosen for the first season of P.W.H.L., the league did not assign nicknames or logos. Organizers felt there was not enough time and did not want to saddle teams with poor choices. So for the first year, the uniforms are identical except for color schemes.

Watching the game, the teammates kibitzed about opponents they knew, pointing out on-ice tendencies and lamenting a season-ending wrist injury to Ottawa forward Kristin Della Rovere. The women “oooh”ed at a hard check, and that led to a discussion about the increased physical play in the new league — a style more associated with men’s hockey — that many believe has helped amplify the popularity of the P.W.H.L.

“It suits my game,” said Taylor Baker, a tough defender from Toronto, who brooks no harassment of her goalie. “I played against boys through high school, so I know how to hit and how to protect myself, too.”

The evening was relaxed, but New York still lost its next game and a week later tumbled into last place. Confidence was plummeting. Only two of the six teams will fail to earn a playoff spot when the postseason begins in May, and New York was growing desperate for a change of fortune and mojo.

Up in Smoke

As with losing teams everywhere, tension began to produce cracks. Pascal Daoust, New York’s general manager, punched a metal cabinet in his executive box during a loss to Minnesota. It made a dent in the door and word of it spread to the locker room, but the losing continued. After two more losses, he addressed the team following a practice, saying that if anyone was not fully invested, he would help them pack and drive them to the airport.

He said that while the players were all great friends and good people, they were not always being great teammates. Then he expressed belief in them, noting that even when he had chances to trade players away, he kept them all.

“No one remembers Cinderella on her knees cleaning up,” he said the next day, “only the happy ending. We still have time to turn this season into a Cinderella story.”

But the next night they lost again to Ottawa in Bridgeport, and frustration peaked. Shoving matches between New York and Ottawa players flared on the ice, and Alex Carpenter, New York’s superstar forward, who leads the league in assists, kicked the bench door after Ottawa scored in the final minute. Afterward, Ms. Packer fumed in a hallway, saying that the players could not complain about low attendance if they continued to lose.

“The finger-pointing, the blaming, what we are doing right now is just the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and over again,” she said. “Coaches should coach and players should play and players shouldn’t have coaching abilities. In any professional league I’ve ever been a part of, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The stinging criticism came several days after Ms. Packer had summoned everyone back to her house in the midst of the losing streak. That night, a bonfire crackled in the backyard. Seeking a way out of the gloom, the players scribbled on slips of paper things that had been nagging at them, things they wanted to let go of. They tossed it all into the flames and rising smoke. It did not work.

After the latest loss, Ms. Packer revealed what she wrote on her note that night: She had harbored second thoughts about joining the league. She is 32, with two adorable children, a loving wife and a good job outside of hockey. Who needs the aggravations? But she tossed her doubts into the fire and vowed to play on.

Out of ‘the Void’

After seven straight losses, New York took to the ice with one last chance to win before a monthlong hiatus for the Women’s World Championship. They skated with noticeable resolve, and almost 3,000 fans — New York’s second-highest home attendance of the season — added extra bounce to the proceedings. But like everything this year, it was not easy.

Jade Downie-Landrie scored two goals and New York buzzed to a 3-1 lead, but had to withstand Boston’s furious challenge in the final, frantic minute. Ms. Zandee-Hart dove on the ice to disrupt a Boston chance with only seconds to play, and when the horn blared, the losing streak was finally over. They were still in last place, but New York players streamed off the bench in jubilation.

Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared from the P.A. system, washing over them as they celebrated and saluted the fans. The joy continued in the locker room, where Howie Draper, the coach, issued a congratulatory speech he had waited a month to give.

“Every team, every athlete at some point goes through the void,” he told the players. “I think we went into the void, and it seemed like it was forever. But you worked your way out of it.”

The victory ensured the players would not spend the month brooding, and they were given a few days off before practices resumed ahead of an April 20 home game, the team’s first at the New Jersey Devils’ arena in Newark, a building that could eventually become their permanent home.

“We are evaluating every venue in every city for next year,” Mr. Kasten, the league adviser, said in a text message.

But that is not foremost on Ms. Zandee-Hart’s mind. During the break, the New York captain went to Maine with her partner, still clinging to the hope that New York can overcome the odds to make the playoffs, and listen to that sweet music again — in whatever state they play it.

“Hearing ‘New York, New York,’ when we won, that was such a great feeling,” she recalled. “It rejuvenated the energy we had been slowly losing. We are still in this thing. We can make it work. We have to make it work.”

An earlier version of this article misidentified the record set by the attendance at a women’s hockey game in Detroit between Boston and Ottawa. The 14,000 fans in attendance set a record for U.S. women’s professional hockey, not a record for all women’s hockey in the United States.  

How we handle corrections

David Waldstein writes about the greater New York region with an emphasis on sports. More about David Waldstein

Inside the World of Sports

Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping professional, collegiate and amateur athletics..

What We Saw at Augusta: Golf enthusiasts regard a trip to the Masters as the stuff of dreams. Here are photos from this year’s tournament .

A Dizzying 3 Weeks: At times, Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s biggest star, seemed in danger of being tainted by a gambling scandal , before his longtime interpreter was charged with fraud.

A Soccer Team With Free Matches: When Paris F.C. made its tickets free, it began an experiment into the connection between fans and teams , and posed a question about the value of big crowds to televised sports.

Minor League Baseball’s Real Estate: The fight over a new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds  highlights a wider challenge for cheaper alternatives to big-league live sports.

New York’s Favorite Soccer Team: Some people splurge on vacations, fancy shoes and motorcycles. A group of dozens of friends, neighbors and co-workers decided to try something better (or maybe worse): They bought a middling soccer team in Denmark .

Here Comes Padel: The sport is played with a racket on a court with a net, but watch out for those bouncing shots from the back wall. Reporters take a look at the padel scene in New York City .

Advertisement

I'm excited about Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, but what about the pioneers of women's hoops?

Many new fans are discovering women's basketball, but i grew up around women who should have went pro, by d. watkins.

Seeing images of college sensations turning WNBA stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark fill my timelines and appear on all the media sites I subscribe to was heartwarming. 

For the first time in my long life as a basketball fan, we are witnessing a major paradigm shift in women's sports – where the best women are treated with the love and respect they deserve from fans that hail from all walks of life. Now, there is still a huge pay disparity, that has been connected to TV contracts and ticket sales being lower for professional women basketball players in America, but with this type of attention from the media and the scores of new fans – I doubt that the days of women being paid hundreds of thousands, for what men get paid hundreds of millions, will last long. As we celebrate the surge in popularity of women's basketball, I can't help but think about those super-talented women who came up on the courts in the parks where I used to play. 

When I was coming up you had to be tough as nails to play basketball in Baltimore City. Many of the best games were on concrete, and you better not call a foul or you’ll ran off the court. Of course, you may chip a tooth or bust your head or break a bone, but at the end of the day those are small prices to pay to shine amongst the best, and we had some women who used to be the brightest. 

This was the early '90s, but keep in mind that the WNBA wasn't founded until 1996. . . . Most of the female players were never big stars in America.

Tanya, with big lazy eyes and sharp left hand, could cross anybody. Her step-back jump shot was lethal, and her only weakness was that she couldn't get off unless she were in a trash-talking competition. "When she starts running her mouth, you better not say anything back because she won't miss!" is what was shared amongst the dudes who battled her on the blacktop daily. You could say that Tanya’s mental game was just as good as her physical game and if you didn't pay close attention she would beat you with both. Lanky Lisa from Up Top was a fierce competitor, too, and I imagine she would have worked on her game more if she thought a future in basketball for women in America was a thing. 

This was the early '90s, but keep in mind that the WNBA wasn't founded until 1996. Other professional women's basketball leagues were in different countries, but most of the female players were never big stars in America. Talented women like Tanya and Lisa didn't want to move to another country to play ball, so they figured it was just something to do, a way to earn a college scholarship and maybe major in something that paid a decent wage. Tanya went to college, but came home after her first year, and gave her life to the streets. Lisa stopped playing basketball before she finished high school, modeled for a while and then started a family. Younger than both, Neka wanted to be the first woman in the NBA. 

The NBA was a pipe dream for all of us except Neka. 

I only thought I was good enough to make it to the NBA because I hung with Neka. Now, obviously, I thought wrong because I never made it anywhere close to the NBA. However, Neka was so good, played so much and played so hard that you just felt like she was going to make it. You felt like she was going to will herself into a historic situation and take control of a role that had never been done by any woman before her.

"Let's get it, bro!" Neka said at 8 a.m. or 4:30 p.m. before the sun started dipping into the clouds and at 8 p.m. when the lights popped on Elmwood Park. 

Let's get it, bro, meant, "D! Wake your jughead self up, and let's hit the court!" 

At 12 years old, we'd pick apart the adults in our neighborhood, destroy them in games of 2 on 2 after completing our workouts and then work out again.

Hitting the court with Neka wasn't just playing basketball; it was jogging around the park, running suicides on a blacktop – a challenging exercise where you race up and down the court, stopping to touch each line before going back, starting over, and advancing to the next line. Neka also wanted t o do shooting, passing and tough layup drills, so she drove to the basket and asked me to push her out of the air when she neared the rim. 

"If I'm gonna make it to the NBA, I must be better." 

"You better than every girl knows and most dudes." 

"Better than everyone," she’d shoot back. 

At 12 years old, we'd pick apart the adults in our neighborhood, destroy them in games of 2 on 2 after completing our workouts and then work out again. Neka was more skilled than me, had a better jump shot and was more aware on the court. Physically, we were the same height, except I was stronger and faster. When we did those layup drills where she asked me to bump or push her out of the air, I remember practicing the highest level of restraint, and still, even my light touches disrupted her shot. And she would do the same to me. I would hardly feel it. We both worked out so much, that a lot of competition in the neighborhood didn't stand a chance, and any attempts at bullying her because she was a woman or me for playing against a woman rarely worked. 

Rarely because there was one time where she was getting the best of a dude in a game to 21, and he started feeling her up in an inappropriate way. 

“Get ya hands off me!” Neka yelled. A few guys from the game and a bunch dudes from the bench rushed the court and beat him down hard enough that I imagine he would never want to improperly touch a woman again. 

By 14, my skills had increased, as hers did, too, except my physical ability continued to grow to the point where I could dunk. My dunking caused unnecessary friction, but still, together, we ran the courts — from our home turf of Ellwood to The Cage over West. And most of the dudes, especially the ones we defeated, had the same compliment about Neka's game: "She's good for a girl." 

When guys said, "She's good for a girl," it was meant as a compliment. To fully understand, let's use the lens of patriarchy. In understanding the rules of patriarchy, a comment like, "She's good for a girl," is the ultimate gift that you could offer a woman. To be compared to a man should mean the world . . . or so many men who subscribe to that culture think. Neka didn't care about being compared to men or women in general; she just wanted to be great, better than anyone else on the court. And she would achieve that goal again and again. 

Neka continued to work on her game, and as she reached college, I imagine that her dream of being the first woman in the pros grew further away. I was humbled, too, as I continued to travel to different courts and encountered more challenging competition. Making the NBA is impossible even if you are a man over 6 feet, practice every day and have started in high school and maybe even college. Millions of hoopers in the world with only about 300 or so odd spots. I should mention that Neka never grew past 5 foot 4. 

We were now in the late '90s, and the WNBA had been off to a great start with stars like Dawn Staley, Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie. But they were at the top of the food chain, at the head of countless other professional WNBA athletes who could not earn enough off of endorsements and didn't make enough money off their basketball fame to solely live off hoops. Many talented women like Neka did not see a future and pursue basketball even after a professional league for women was created.

But this new wave of athletes is changing everything. 

The top women in sports still are not getting the same contracts as men; however, they are making a ton of money off of endorsements and the many other revenue streams available to public figures. When I look at marketing sensations like Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, I think about how my great friend Neka could be doing that if only she had been born at a different time. 

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to financially take care of the pioneers? Sadly, many of the women who paved the way for the current generation will never financially reap the benefits but deserve all of their flowers for laying the current foundation. 

about this topic

• Recent Olympic rulings show dehumanization of Black women in sports
• Jill Biden owes the LSU women a full apology
• Church at the Super Bowl: Football, Jesus and fascism

D. Watkins is an Editor at Large for Salon. He is also a writer on the HBO limited series "We Own This City" and a professor at the University of Baltimore. Watkins is the author of the award-winning, New York Times best-selling memoirs “ The Beast Side: Living  (and Dying) While Black in America ”, " The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir ," " Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised: A Memoir of Survival and Hope " as well as " We Speak For Ourselves: How Woke Culture Prohibits Progress ." His new books, " Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments ," and " The Wire: A Complete Visual History " are out now.

Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Related articles.

I was a Divison III college athlete. Years later, I now see how it ruined my body and my college experience.

• As a high school jock, I couldn't imagine not playing sports in college.
• But at my Division III college, I was forced to focus too much on my sports. 
• After injuring myself for life, I regret being a college athlete. 

I love sports . If you give me a ball and an open field, I'll play for hours. Give me wings and a TV with a game, that's all I need.

My love for sports started when I was young, and I developed my passion as a high school jock . I decided to continue that passion in college when I enrolled in a Division III school. There, I played both soccer and track and field.

But I didn't love my time playing sports in college . In fact, I wish I hadn't played in college at all.

Collegiate athletics was less competitive than I thought

On my first day of soccer preseason my freshman year , I was nervous my new team would eat me for lunch. But once we scrimmaged, I discovered I was among the best players. I hadn't expected it.

I thought playing in college meant playing at a higher level of competition than I ever had, but some players on my team would have ridden the bench at my high school .

I chalked up the level of play to Division III, but I at least thought if the play wasn't as competitive as I had hoped, the team would be more committed since we were actively choosing to continue our athletic careers. But there was never any intensity in our drills or fire in our practices.

Related stories

On my team, soccer felt more like an unwanted activity than a conscious commitment. We couldn't even keep people from quitting throughout the season.

I put too much pressure on myself and ruined my college experience

As captain of the soccer and track and field teams — which finished poorly in the conference standings — I felt I had to do something to improve us.

And I tried, but the truth is I tried too hard and gave too much to my teams. That means I didn't study abroad in college because I played sports every semester. I didn't make deep friendships with people in my classes because I had a schedule that didn't allow it. I didn't even party the way I should have. I sacrificed my last chance just to be a kid trying new things and meeting new people because I was too worried about giving my best to a college athletic department that wasn't giving its best to me. I wish I understood that leading my peers wasn't my responsibility.

I spent half my nights in college lying wide awake, replaying practice repeatedly in my head. My worries were never about soccer or track. Instead, I agonized over intense personal dynamics that I was too young and inexperienced to navigate.

Naively, I thought all of this would lead to a better job. But in the corporate world, no one cared about my leadership experience of captaining two college teams. Once I became a manager at a Fortune 500 company, I was dogged by the turbulence and failure I had experienced as a college athlete and struggled to find the confidence to lead a team in the real world.

The physical cost also wasn't worth it

Because I felt a responsibility to improve our teams, I physically pushed myself too hard. During my freshman soccer season , I played every minute of every game and took nearly all our free kicks.

I had pain, but I played through it. I ended up with an overuse injury that nearly ended my athletic career, cost me my sophomore year of soccer and track, and caused me to take toxic amounts of ibuprofen.

After graduation, I never got to compete in the triathlons I always imagined I would because my injury still flares up. I've had to pick hiking over marathons. I've chosen running with my kids over playing in adult soccer leagues. I've found a way to have an active life , but not a pain-free one, and I never will.

I wish I didn't do college sports

As a mom, I don't know exactly what I would tell my daughters if either one of them said they wanted to play in college. I probably would tell them about my experiences and allow them to make an educated choice.

I know there is more than one way to keep playing, and it doesn't have to be at the collegiate level. Local adult leagues, even semi-pro could have been a better option for me, and someday may be a better option for my children.

Either way, playing in college is an experience, but mine cost more than it should.

Watch: PepsiCo used the UEFA Champions League tournament to simultaneously celebrate both female and male athletes

• Main content

Nike's new Team USA Olympic track uniform for women slammed as sexist by athletes: 'A costume born of patriarchal forces'

N ike on Thursday shared a sneak peek of its track and field uniforms for the 2024 Paris Olympics which have been the talk of social media — but maybe not for the reasons Nike wants.

For Team USA’s male team members, it was a compression tank top and mid-thigh shorts — a standard look that has pretty much been around since 1896 . But it was one of the options for the women on Team USA that sparked backlash from social media users, as well as former and current Olympic athletes.

The women’s bodysuit is cut notably high on the hip. The New York Times described it as “like a sporty version of a 1980s workout leotard.”

Sha'Carri Richardson, who had qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, modeled the unitard with a pair of compression shorts during the Nike Air Innovation Summit in Paris. Athletes will be able to opt for the compression shorts Richardson wore during the preview or a tank top and bikini bottoms, which Olympian Anna Cockrell also modeled at the Paris event. Reportedly, there are even more looks, but they will not be revealed until the U.S. Olympic Committee media summit in New York on April 15.

But Citius Mag, an outlet dedicated to track and field news, shared a “first look” photo of Team USA’s uniforms on mannequins on social media, igniting the debate about women athletes’ uniforms.

In a comment on Citius Mag’s Instagram post , Olympic hurdler Queen Harrison Claye joked that the European Wax Center should sponsor the team this season due to the high cut. Colleen Quigley, who ran in the 2016 Summer Olympics, said, “I mean I still wanna make the team but…”

Katelyn Hutchison, a three-time NCAA All-American track and field athlete at the University of Kentucky, wrote, “April fools was 10 days ago.”

Jaleen Roberts, a two-time Paralympic silver medalist, commented, “This mannequin is standing still and everything’s showing… imagine MID FLIGHT.”

Lauren Fleshman, a former professional track and field athlete, addressed the uniform controversy on Instagram: “This is a costume born of patriarchal forces that are no longer welcome or needed to get eyes on women’s sports.”

After retiring in 2016, Fleshman has been open about her feelings regarding female athletes and how they’re treated. In a 2023 essay for Time magazine she wrote, “If women and girls were placed in sporting environments built around the norms of female puberty and female improvement trajectories, if their bodies were respected and encouraged to develop in their own time, outcomes for women would be entirely different.”

Katie Moon, a pole vaulter who participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, posted photos of her wearing the unitard in response to an X user who said women track and field athletes couldn’t do anything in the uniform.

“If this can help put women’s minds at ease a bit…I tried on the same style today and didn’t feel worried about…things…popping out,” Moon wrote. “I think it’s just the mannequin. This felt like the last kit just a slightly higher cut. I know every body is different tho.”

As of reporting, Nike has not made a statement in reaction to the backlash.

The new Team USA unitard contributes to a larger conversation that’s been happening about women’s sports. The women’s NCAA championship basketball game on April 7 was the first time a women’s team pulled a larger audience than the men’s. But women athletes are still fighting for proper uniforms — whether it’s protesting sexist uniform rules or highlighting the conversation around period anxiety — there’s a growing movement of women athletes setting boundaries when it comes to attire and how much of their bodies they show.