Negative Stereotypes In Sports

Picture an athlete in your head. What gender are they? How old are they? How tall are they? What race are they? What sport do they play? What clothes are they wearing? How good are they at their sport? What position do they play? Did you make an assumption about this person you imagined based on these things? What kind of person are they? Would you know if the assumptions you made are really true or not? Since you imagined them, you can confirm or deny these things and tweak their qualities at your will, but what if they were a real person? Would you really be able to tell who they are as an athlete and/or as a person? Think again about the athlete you imagined—if you saw them as a real person, what would your impression of them be? What would

I have been in sports since I was very young; the one I have played the longest is basketball. Think about it: even in women’s’ leagues, most people imagine someone who is tall, built, and black. Why do you imagine these things? In actuality, it has a lot to do with what we see in the media—a majority of the athletes (in the United States, anyhow) that are displayed the most in media coverage. But, why are they covered more than others? Truthfully, there is some science involving genetics behind people of certain decent having an athletic advantage over others regardless of their training or experience. It so happens that the players most often getting this media coverage are colored, and so audiences gain an image that athletes of color perform better than other races. I have felt this stigma ever since I was young. People judge me as “the white girl” and therefore assume I won’t play as well as my colored teammates. Of course, sometimes this is true, but on the other hand, it’s nearly impossible to ring true all the time. On one of the AAU summer basketball teams I played with, I was one of the two white girls in our year. Everywhere we went, she and I were presumed to be the worst players on our team (this wasn’t true). She and I were very different players, but we both were able to prove most people wrong. I have a few