Final Thoughts

     My sports communications class has been interesting. As someone who really never follow sports, I've come to learn that there is a lot more to sports than cheering and good times, there's a lot wrong with the sports world. 

    I always knew racism in sports was a thing, but I never knew it existed in sports overseas. The chapter update paper we wrote opened my eyes to this phenomenon. At one point, Dani Alves had a Banana thrown at him to dehumanize him. Another example is when Raheem Sterling received racial abuse from a fan during a match. According to kickitout.com, the website of a charity organization whose goal is to cut down on racism in soccer, says they've had 1007 reports of racism in soccer. That number is insane to me.

Dani Alvas eating banana (mirror.co.uk)



Another thing I learned about sports is the emergence of mental health awareness. I remember hearing about Michael Phelps depression stories when I was younger and more recently Simon Biles battle with mental health. Besides that, I never heard about the topic until very recently. I think that's a good thing though, I think it's great that athletes are beginning to open up about mental health. One story I never heard of until this class was that of   Naiomi Osaka. She at one point refused to be involved with post-game interviews.  According to an article from NPR.org titled Niaomi Osaka Reveals Mental Health Struggles - And Other Athletes Rally Around Her "When the four-time Grand Slam champion said she wouldn't take part in required press conferences due to concerns over her mental health". 




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