There is an argument that athletes should only focus to their play techniques and it is not related on how they behave socially outside the field. I personally disagree with this notion, and I will elaborate more on this essay.
Firstly, professional sportsmen have a huge leverage to their fans. As many people, particularly teenagers, serve the athletes as idols, they tend to follow their behaviour in general. The younger fans are likely to copy what their idols do and make it as a trend, even though it is not the right thing. For example, Budi, an Indonesian famous football player, was often spotted by paparazzi drinking alcohol in public, while it is not common to do such a thing in the country. Owing to this phenomenon, the fans, teenagers in particular, will follow their idols’ behaviour and it will be such a trend among them. Therefore, sport players need to be behave carefully to avoid become a bad influence for minor groups.
Secondly, the good behaviour leads to maintaining the athletes’ performance. As they take care of their wellbeing, they can perform well in the field. Whereas, if the athletes ignore (a) healthy lifestyle, their quality performance may be decrease. For instance, studies show that 30% of professional football players are smokers and they are (more) likely to getting injured during the play than the non-smokers footballers. Moreover, the researches explain that smoking reduces their endurances. Hence, sport players need to pay attention to their way of life in order to maintain (the) best practices professionally in the long term.
In conclusion, I strongly believe that the professional sportmen have (a) responsibility to keep their behaviour in terms of being a good influence to their fans and applying a healthy way of life to maintain their performance.