All around the world, the greatest athletes are being discovered. In a search of the best of the best, these athletes are changing the sport and upping the game for any incoming competitors. It's an amazing phenomenon, and there are truly some incredible athletes being discovered. However, it's getting to a point where athletes are being pushed through mental hurdles, as well as insane physical ones, in order to keep the image that the media has created of them alive.
This hype and pressure has been destroying the athletes that are involved. Over recent times, athletes have crumbled under the pressure, fallen to mental illnesses, and even lost a love for the sport that was their entire world just a year ago. Why is the pressure being deemed as necessary?
I understand giving an athlete credit and praising them for a job well done, but there are more constructive ways in doing so. An athlete should not have to feel the pressure to perform at an insane level to please their fans or the media. Elite athletes are absolutely incredible, but they are human, and have slip ups, as well as emotions.
A big question we must ask ourselves is, is it really worth making an athlete crack to pressure just for the media attention? Absolutely not. Athletes will have to handle their mental health beyond their sports career, and they should not be pushed into a corner where they feel like they cannot move past certain downfalls within their sport (a lot of which are not truly downfalls, due to the level of their competition).
It crushes me to see an athlete noticeably lose their love for their sport or get down on themselves because of a performance that they did not feel they lived up to. I understand that there is a huge mental aspect to sports; I got down on myself when I messed up a play, or made the wrong move, or let my team down. In that moment, there was pressure for me to do the right thing. But when all was said and done, that pressure did not follow and haunt me for the rest of my life. Elite athletes have to hear critics practically talk down on them when they have an "unsatisfactory" performance, and they have to hear about it for weeks, months, and sometimes even years on end.
They are not able to forgive themselves, and forget. They are stuck replaying it in their heads, feeling as though they let not only themselves down, but every single spectator as well. That is an immense amount of pressure, and nobody should have to deal with that simply from doing what they love.
