Stereotypes and pressures are forced upon everyone.  This is especially shown to be true in sports.  Stereotypes and unfairly high expectations that are placed on athletes of all age levels impacts all athletes negatively.  These expectations and labels put unnecessary worries and ideas into the heads of the athletes and ultimately can lead to their downfall.  

One stereotype that is placed on athletes of all types is the expectation for them to perform at a certain level at all times.  According to statistics found on sportingcharts.com, “The league-wide batting average has generally ranged between .250 and .275, and players with batting averages above .300 are considered to be very good batters.”  This idea that the players will only be considered good batters if they bat above .300 in baseball puts pressure on athletes to play to that expected level, which at times ends up shattering their confidence because batting .300 in baseball is not an easy task at all.  When high expectations are placed on someone, it can cause that person to be too hard on themselves.  This is not only shown to be true in baseball, as it is found in other sports as well.

Another example of these unfair expectations being placed on athletes is in basketball.  Whether you are in middle school, high school, college, or the professional leagues, there are a wide range of pressures placed on you as a basketball player.  In the article, “Effective Field Goal Percentage Basketball,” the author states that “the average eFG% is 48.5% for college men’s teams.”  The article also reads that the average for women’s teams is roughly 38%.  This percentage applies to the number of shots made by a player takes in a season.  A good player is normally expected to make around one out of every two shots that they take, so the basketball player faces a great deal of pressure.  If a player is on a cold streak, meaning that they have failed to shoot a good enough percentage, or if they have missed multiple shots in a row, it can kill the confidence of the athlete, and the people around the player can lose faith in that person.  When a player fails to perform to this expected potential, many times, they can be traded if it is professional sports, or they can lose their job on other levels including professional.  Therefore, even more pressure being placed on the athlete.  Sometimes, these stereotypes can influence the athletes to make poor, destructive decisions.

As previously stated, there is a wide range of stereotypes that can negatively impact the athlete mentally and emotionally.  These stereotypes are mostly involving the expected playing level of the athlete for them to be considered a “good” player.  These high expectations can make the players take on destructive habits in order to live up to the stereotypes.  For example, many players will take on the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs in order to raise their playing level.  Ryan Braun, a professional baseball player for the Milwaukee Brewers, was entering a contract year in 2013.  He had been player at what is stereotypically deemed an “unusually high” level for a few years in a row, and the fans and society were loving it.  Braun won the MVP, or most valuable player award and was given a massive contract extension.  In both his eyes and the public’s eyes, he was living up to and exceeding the high expectations being placed on him both as a player and a person.  It was later found out that Braun was involved in a performance enhancing drug scandal.  Braun had been using these steroids for a good amount of time before 2013, and everyone soon realized why he was playing so much better than the average player would.  He apologized upon being caught, “It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately” (“Ryan Braun's Statement Apologizing for Doping”).  Braun hurt his legacy and his relationship with the people around him simply by falling victim to stereotypes.  He turned to the steroids to speed up his healing process for an injury, so that he could satisfy his fans and his organization.  In the end, he made a bad decision because of the stereotypes being placed on him.

Another stereotype confronting athletes is the expectation for them to win.  Everyone is expected to break records and make exciting plays, but in the end the most winning athlete always gets the most attention.  This negatively impacted Lance Armstrong, who is one of the best cyclists of all time.  Armstrong came clean and admitted to using steroids in an interview with the world-famous Oprah Winfrey in 2013.  This is shown to be true in the article, Lance Armstrong Admits to Using Performance Enhancing Drugs, when it reads “In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the second part of which airs Friday, Armstrong said he was never afraid of getting caught and attributed his actions to a ‘ruthless desire to win’” (Calamur ).  Armstrong had no concern with the consequences of using illegal substances throughout his career.  He even sued people that attempted to accuse him of using these drugs, even though they were right all along.  Because of the expectations placed on him as a cyclist by society and himself, Armstrong made poor moral decisions in order to make sure that he achieved maximum physical stature in order to reach these goals.  In order to do this, though, he used illegal substances, which ended up destroying his name and his brand, Livestrong.  Armstrong lost respect from all of his peers, and knows that he now is going to have to spend much of the rest of his life apologizing to the people around him.  His desire to win, which is caused by the expectations placed on him by the people around him, ultimately negatively impacted him in many ways.  

One common stereotype that is placed on college and, at times, high school athletes is that they do not have to put in nearly as much work as non-athletes do in school. In an article from Brown University, “Athletes Struggle against 'Dumb Jock' Stereotype,” the authors state “The most common misconception is that athletes ‘get easy breaks’ in the admissions process for selective schools like Brown, said Leslie Springmeyer ’12, tri-captain of the field hockey team last season. But she said these accusations are unfounded. ‘There should be more respect for us – we’re doing all the academic work on top of an extra commitment’” (McDonnell and Macfarlane).  This stereotype can do serious damage to the moral of an athlete.  How would you feel if you were assumed to be less of a person than you actually were, for no good reason at all?  Being told that you take the easy way out for things, when in reality you put in just as much, if not more, work and time into what you are working towards is not going to make the student athlete feel good about themselves.  In reality, many of the student athletes, especially at Brown, are valedictorians of their class and have very good test scores.  While it may be applicable in some cases, it is not fair to use the “dumb jock” label on all student athletes, which is what took place in this case.

Athletes’ reputations are also damaged by the stereotypes placed on them as a result of previous steroid users and their stories.  For example, Chris Davis and Jose Bautista, both professional baseball players, have been heavily drug tested for performance enhancing 

drugs simple because of their improved level of play.  In an article on sports stereotypes the author states that “The same thing happened to Jose Bautista when he went through his own power surge after he hit 28 years old. Even though Bautista has admitted to taking 16 tests over the last two seasons, people still accuse him of cheating one way or another” (Martinez).  The problem with assuming players are cheating because of their high skill levels is that it makes the players feel attacked.  How would you feel if you improved at something through legitimate practice and development, but nobody gave you credit because they thought that you were cheating?  

Furthermore, women face a great number of stereotypes that negatively impact how they view themselves, and how the sports that they play are viewed by society. For example, they do not get the same exposure to the general public as men do.  According to Ashley LeGresley’s article, “Gender Equality in Sports: Female Athletes Inferior to Male Athletes?,” despite making up forty percent of all sports, women’s sporting events only make up roughly eight percent of sports media that is covered.  She proceeds on to show that these numbers were even lower on ESPN’s SportCenter when she states, “Arguably one of the most popular sports news stations, ESPN’s SportsCenter , in 2004 only devoted 2% of its’ show to women’s sports.  A 30-day analysis of SportsCenter turned up 807 stories regarding sports, 778 of which were regarding male sports, while 16 were about female sports and 13 were about both female and male sports. These numbers, truly show how female sports are depicted in the sports world, as not important” (LeGresley).  Due to this lack of media coverage, female athletes are considered to be unworthy of attention and praise in the eyes of society, so their sports are not nearly as popular as men’s sports are.  This leads to a lack of profit for the female athletes as well, as they are paid much less than men due to their lack of popularity.  

Racial stereotypes also play a massive role in discouraging athletes.  Because of your skin color, the role that you play in sports has been assumed or questioned by society since sports first became competetive.  Before you even play your first game, the position or workload that you take on in sports can be determined by your race.  One stereotype that exists in football is that normally, the quarterback of the football team is white.  Because of this stereotype, African American quarterbacks were discouraged from even trying to participate at this position, simply because they were black.  Author Casey Gane-McCalla wrote that “Former NFL M.V.P. Steve McNair played for a small Black college because every major college recruited him to play defensive back rather than quarterback, his natural position. Many African-Americans are discouraged from playing quarterback and asked to play other positions in high school, college and the professional ranks” (“Athletic Blacks vs Smart Whites: Why Sports Stereotypes Are Wrong”).  Even the best of the best can be discouraged from even trying, despite their unusually high skill level.  It is unfortunate, but the color of your skin has and will negatively impact your future as an athlete, depending on the sport you play and the role you are determined to take on.  Other athletes of other races are also negatively impacted due to racial stereotypes in sports.  

You might think that stereotypes only affect the athletes that participate on the big stages, such as in college or the professional leagues.  However, high school athletes and even younger children also face many stereotypes while participating in sports.  I was a three-sport athlete in high school, and a five-sport athlete throughout my life.  I played basketball, soccer, baseball, football, and tennis over the years.  In all of these sports, you are stereotypically expected to have a certain physical stature.  In soccer, you are expected to have the stamina of a deer, in basketball you are expected to be at least six feet tall, and in football you are expected to be able to knock the wind out of someone with a single hit.  I was never the tallest boy, but I had a deep love for basketball.  Going into freshman year, I was only five feet tall and weighed a mere one hundred and ten pounds.  Everyone just assumed that I was not going to make the team because of my small size.  I went into the tryout with a negative attitude as a result, and my confidence was destroyed.  I wanted to quit.  I had no desire to continue to push forward and prove everyone wrong because in my head, there was nothing to prove.  The stereotypical physical stature of a basketball player was not found in me, and it ended up changing the way I played.  I grew afraid to shoot the basketball, and was so worried about making a mistake, that I never let myself just go out and there and have fun.  This does not only apply to younger athletes either, as an undervalued physical body can be questioned at any level.  

Another example of how stereotypes affect athletes of all ages, but more specifically high school athletes, is the popularity stereotype.  In many different movies and television shows, the most popular teenager in the show is an athlete.  Normally, not only are they amazing at the sport that they play, but all of the boys or girls are all over them the entire time.  Or, for example, the star player always dates the head cheerleader for the team.  This stereotype translates into the real world as well.  A lot of times, if you do not play a sport, you are not seen as a “cool” teenager.  For example, one show that I decided to watch last year was, “Friday Night Lights.”  The show is about a group of teenagers at a high school located in Dillon, Texas, and their all-state football team.  Two of the main characters on the show are Jason Street and Smash Williams.  Street is the highly-recruited, all star quarterback for the team, and Williams is the running back for the team.  Street dates the head cheerleader of the school, Lila.  The 

two seem to run the school together.  Williams, on the other hand, does not have a girlfriend, but is very cocky and got around with the ladies to say the least.  The stereotype that is found not only in this show, but also in real life, is that the skill level and participation level of the athlete can determine the popularity and attention level that the athlete receives.  

The stereotypes and unfair expectations that are placed on athletes can negatively impact them as players and people and ultimately lead to their downfall.  This could mean they lose confidence in themselves, lose their jobs, or even lose the respect of their peers and the others in society.  It also could mean that they turn to illegal substances or cheating as a result of the pressures they face.  It is unfortunate that society fails to realize that athletes are more than just special talents that provide entertainment for the people around them.  These athletes are people too.  Because of the bigger stage that these special people are on though, they face even more pressures and stereotypes that normal people do not experience.
