This year marks another year for the Olympics. This is a great year for those athletes who are not involved with the major sports in US culture. The athletes who play water polo, track and field, archery, gymnastics, and swimming (just to name a few) are the ones who get to gain exposure. But, is this fair that every four years they get this chance?
I am interning at USA Water Polo and it is a very busy time for the sport; obviously because it is Olympic year. Otherwise, they would not be as busy. I was training for the previous Olympics and was less than .5 seconds to punching my ticket with the Philippines to represent my heritage for the Olympics. Also, I would be able to achieve a dream I had when I was a kid.
These lesser exposed sports get to display their talents to the world this summer. But, is it fair for these athletes to get to display their talents in four year increments? How can we change the overexposure of the major sports in the US and shift some focus on the sports that athletes train for to display their talents every 4 years?
As stated, Olympic year is a very exciting time for smaller sports, but for the major sports, it is a summer where they are not able to rest. On one hand, you have athletes who decline to represent their country just to get a rest in their offseason; and on the other hand, you have athletes who train hard for four years and who would jump at the chance to display their talent and represent their country. I do not know if it is just me, but something needs to change and somehow we need to bridge this gap.
Jeffrey Paneda
Kins 577
I agree that many of the sports that are not on the same level of interests as basketball, baseball, soccer, etc. are at a disadvantage when it comes to marketing and exposure. I am currently with USA Volleyball and the frantic rush to prepare for the upcoming Summer Olympics is quite aparent. We too are a small fish in a big pond when it comes to the Olympics, and possibly even more so since our office's focus is exclusively on Beach Volleyball. Regardless, the Olympics do act to shed some of the spotlight on our sliver of the sports world, but little media attention is ever garnered outside of this global event. Everyone will be cheering for Misty May and Kerri Walsh to bring home another gold, but few people know of the international tournaments they dominated to get there, or the countless regional professional and amateur events going on in this country every day. One idea to help combat the issue you brought up concerning athletes not wanting to compete for their countries would possibly be to pay them for their involuntary participation. This of course leads to many of the issues we discussed in our debates over paying college athletes. Ultimately some form of change needs to be brought about, but if history is any indicator, that change may be quite some time away.
ReplyDelete-Ken Nakase KIN 577