Professional Documents
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Introduction
Sports is Life. The Rest is Just Details. That is the slogan that I adopted at a very young age from nothing more than a few Nike commercials telling me to Just Do It and a very poorly made Space Jam film that I still watch to this day . If you want to be good or go anywhere in life with sports, you have to make it the center of your world. So, just like 200 million other kids, I chose a sport and focused on it throughout my life. That sport was baseball. I have always been someone who tries everything for the sake of perspective. Because of this, I played almost every sport out there hoping to find that sport I could call all my own. I was too small for basketball, not big enough for football, and not talented enough for hockey, but baseball; baseball had nothing. It didnt matter how big I was or how strong I was. All that mattered was if I was good enough. When I realized this, I never looked back. While I still participated in football, I played my heart out year-round for baseball and various different teams. Suffice to say, I had some talent. When I came into my freshman year of high school, my entire perspective of the sport changed. Because I had set baseball at the center of my life with the whole Play Perfect or Dont Play at All mentality, I began to realize that the
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sport had become more like a business than for the real love of the game that is so vital to the success of professional athletes now. That moment is when I noticed my steady decline out of the Baseball Gods graces and moved towards bettering myself in areas outside of sports. I still played baseball, but the passion I had as a kid was gone. I was no longer Dylan the Baseball Freak. I was just Dylan. Looking back I realize how much the sport of baseball shaped the way I thought of myself. I looked down on others because I had more talent on the field than they did. I thought of myself as a better person because of this. Not only that, but being constantly pressured by coaches to perform at a high level showed how they were trying to push me to live their dreams through me . Now that I have learned all of these things, I see it more and more in todays sports scene. That is why I believe that the study of identity formation through societal influence, as well as the hyper-reality parents or coaches use in their children or players, are areas that are vital to understanding the overall sports realm . A secondary study that I will go into is how family plays a role in sports .
Self-Reflexivity
As an athlete myself, I have been greatly exposed to both outside influences effect on athletes self-image as well as those who live their hopes and dream through their kids. I was also a victim to these issues as well. At the
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age of nine, I knew I had a knack for baseball, but that reality did not come to me based on my own self-evaluation. It came from coaches, fellow players, and my parents telling me I was good. They told me that if I kept working hard I would make something of myself, as if this was the only way I could do so. Not only that, but I had numerous coaches who would ride me, and the other kids who had talent, harder than the rest of the team for no apparent reason. Now I am able to see that they were pushing me so that they could fulfill their dreams through me. They were trying to take all the credit for the hard work and effort that I had put in. While my parents never pushed me like this, there were plenty of other close people who rode me in such a way . The idea of being a product of ones environment is an extremely true to me . With that being said, I believe that the sports world is one in which outside influences will heavily effect the overall outlook in which one person has of themselves. If a player is told they are amazing at basketball, they will start to believe it and, in turn, continue to pursue this sport with the intentions of garnering further praise and worship for their talents . As for those who live through their kids or player, this is a very disheartening issue for all those involved. For the players, they are forced to perform a certain way just for recognition under the fear that if they underperform, they will be
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punished. This is absolutely wrong. Sports are about passion and expression and freedom, not peer-pressure, fear, and regret.
Informant Background
From a young age, David Chirikian was told he had a gift for sports . Participating in all the sports he possibly could . Football, baseball, basketball, and so on. Being exposed to so much sports life and norms, he was the perfect subject to study some first hand examples of how outside influence effects ones self image. He was also the perfect person to interview regarding how others try to live vicariously through him. Like me, David said he did notice a lot of the influential impact of outside influence, especially media and those who are considered professionals or knowledgeable. Also, he said that he was very aware of others trying to live out their dreams and ambitions through their kids or players. He said it was very common and that it was just sad. David was a football prodigy at a young age but never really felt that he wanted to make a career out of it. As he progressed in years and football age groups, his talent became more and more prevalent. When he hit high school, David, alongside his two brothers, dominated the defensive line at St . Francis
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High School in La Caada. This is where Davids success really caught the eyes of others, especially college scouts. While he was busy talking to college scouts, his brothers we left sitting on the sidelines and watch their brother get all the glory . When it came time to pick a school to go play for, including a full-ride to play football at UCLA, he chose Loyola Marymount University in Westchester, California. LMU is a school that has no football team and has not had one for over 50 years . It is also a school that did not offer him a full-ride, but it was the school his two brothers got into . Although UCLA and LMU are only about 20 to 30 minutes away from one another, David chose to follow his brothers who had stayed true to him through all of his successes.
Analysis
According to Wikipedia, hyperreality is defined as a an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced post-modern societies. This inability to connect to reality while being caught up in a fictional form of reality can cause numerous strains in relationships with those around you. The role it plays in the realm of sports is also very concerning. It is an issue that actively effects both parties involved, but more so on the athlete, or the one receiving the action.
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For some kids it was a real problem. They didnt know how to handle it. I guess I am the lucky one who was able to shake that off said David on the topic of his coaches working and punishing him more than the other players . There are many types of parents and many different ways in which parents live through their kids. For example, there are a group of parents know as Stage Moms who push their daughters to perform in pageants as well as fathers who push their sons to the extreme to mold them into a sports stars for their own personal gain. This has been given the term Toxic Parenting. Cochran (2012) stated in her article, as children mature, they thrive on the separateness between the parent and them. While they still require full time parental guidance, they also need a somewhat hands-off approach in many areas of life. She later went on to say a parent, who lives vicariously through a child, will steamroll over a child's wishes, likes and dislikes with the explanation that s/he knows best what will do junior a world of good . This concept of knowing whats best has actually been proven to be extremely unproductive and has extremely negative effects on the child . After my interview with David, I could tell that he was one exception to this concept . Athletes are especially vulnerable to this problem of attaching self-esteem to one's performances because you are judged by how well you perform (Cohn, 2006). This is the theory in which, I believe, most of the self image is
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formed. Performance based self-identity is the primary tactic used by parents living vicariously through their children. My dad just told me to do what I wanted to do and do it 100% said David. This could be the reason why David was able to break through. When I was a kid, I was in every sport and tried everything....then as I grew up I realized football is something I could do... said David later on. He spoke to me about how he didnt notice his talents until his coaches told him the he was built for the sport. Once they fostered that initial curiosity in him, he took it from there. He would later go on to tell me that those coaches were really the reason he continued playing football. He said that he didnt know it at the time but they created the football player in him. If your life is sport, you are at greater risk for self-esteem problems because you have "all your eggs in one basket" and cannot separate the different roles in you life (Cohn, 2006). This is another way in which athletes struggle with the outside influences effecting their self image. They can feel as if there is nothing for them other than their sport. This can prove to be very hazardous to both the mental and physical health of the athletes because of their dependence on the outcome of a game, a game in which the outcome and performance can be somewhat unpredictable. David told me that he was a realistic kid and from a very young age, he knew that he was not going to pursue any sort of career in football. It is either football player or bust, said David, who knew he always
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wanted to be a doctor. From the research I have found, it is clear that there are two sorts of young athletes; the ones who are realistic about their sports aspirations, like David and myself, and those who dream of making something of themselves through sport. To clarify, both types of young athletes are fine. There is no inherent bad in either type of athlete. The trouble comes from the ways in which each type is practiced. This means that if an athlete is overly pressured or forced to perform at a certain level, it can be dangerous. At the same time, if an athlete is too laid back in their approach, no success will be found. Another interesting factor in relation to Davids life, as well as his sport career, was the fact that he was one of three brothers who all played football. To complicate the scenario even more, he was a triplet. If that was not complicated enough, him and his two brothers all played right alongside each other on the defensive line. David was the middle child out of the three but was always the center of everyones attention in relation to football. It was awesome to play alongside my brothers. Not many people got to say that they did that. It was even better when one of us did something crazy awesome because when they succeeded, it felt as if we did too, said Orlando, the youngest of the three. I then proceeded to ask the two brothers on how it felt to see their brother get all the attention. It kind of sucked to be honest. I thought I was every bit as good as him but its no big deal. I mean of course I was happy for him. I was so proud, but at the same time I wished people paid some attention to me and
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Lando too, Giorgio replied. It was obvious from my separate interview with Davids brothers that jealousy can play a big role in family, and specifically siblings, in sports. When siblings are involved in sports, especially the same sports, they compete for praise and attention from parents often to be recognized as the better athlete. Some siblings are jealous of each other and hold grudges while others show support and give encouragement (Edger, 2011). The example Edger uses was the Manning brothers, Eli and Peyton, both of which are star NFL quarterbacks. While the two are incredibly supportive of each other, they are also very competitive with each other and can become jealous of each others success. We were never pissed that David got all the attention. We just would have liked some attention as well, Orlando replied after Giorgios statement. Family, and especially Davids brothers, played a big factor into his decision to come to LMU. Instead of taking offers from big name football programs such as UCLA, David turned them all down to go to a school with no football program and no full-ride scholarship waiting for him. I have always known I have wanted to be a doctor and not a football player, said David. You can either go to college an have a normal college life and meet new people and have fun and enjoy the college life or you can work your butt off as an athlete and not go anywhere. He would later tell me how he wanted to
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stick with his brothers because nothing, especially not a game like football, was more important to him than staying close with his brothers.
Conclusion
Outside influences and parental pressure can negatively effect the mental and physical growth of young athletes. David was obviously a well grounded, supported young athlete who was able to overcome both outside influences and coach pressures to become the man he is today. He is currently a Junior studying Biology with his two brothers, who are also Biology majors, and loving every second of every day. I made my decision and never looked back and never regretted it.
Bibliography Cochran, S. (2012). The bitter cost of living vicariously through your children. Family Online Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/christian-parenting/living-throughkid.html Cohn, P. (2006). Self-esteem in the athlete, Retrieved from http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni38a6.htm
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Edger, J. (2011, April 12). Sibling rivalry in sports. Sports Psychology Today, Retrieved from http://www.sportpsychologytoday.com/youth-sportspsychology/sibling-rivalry-in-sports/