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.
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| 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".
Thank you for your contributions!
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