Although top sports athletes are often poor role models, they gain the admiration of millions of youngsters. This is overall a negative trend for the young generation and society despite one single benefit it may bring about.
I think this trend could be profitable only if the young disregard the negative and focus on the positive aspects of sports stars’ lives. Ronaldo, a world-class central forward, for example, is infamous for his extreme individualism, but is still a role model of diligence and determination for all the efforts he has exerted in football training. Many adolescents who are Ronaldo’s fans have overlooked his undesirable personal traits and trained themselves hard to achieve extraordinary results in their lives. In this way, the young may still benefit from sports stars’ valuable life lessons.
However, I contend that this is generally an adverse trend because with the majority of youngsters, it may lead to unpleasant consequences. This is because the young could be immature and they may imitate all the actions of the stars, irrespective of whether these actions are beneficial or not. What these young people may copy may range from a materialistic lifestyle, an individualistic way of living to more problematic behaviours such as sexism, racism and discrimination. These outcomes are negative not only for the juveniles themselves but for society as a whole in the future.
All the existing data provides a concrete foundation that even though youngsters may learn some useful life experiences from top athletes who do not set good examples, the proclivity of admiring and imitating these stars may result in a wide range of adverse effects and thus is a negative issue in today’s society.