My whole life I've played sports. I've played volleyball, flag football, and soccer. For some reason, being an athlete is not as easy as people believe it is. Athletes are represented as role models for others. Many athletes provide characteristics regarding performance, character, and the way they are admired by fans. In today's society, people believe that being an athlete is just training for their sport and contributing to the tournaments, games, championships, etc. However, being an athlete involves participating in the entertainment business. What people do not understand is that being an athlete is not as easy as people think. It requires a lot of dedication and love for what you play. Having to keep your body in a specific way, having to eat certain meals at certain times, training times, lack of sleep, lack of time; it all builds up. Being a professional athlete comes with a lot of rules.
        Today's world thinks that just because they're an athlete, they can not make a difference in the world. However, athletes have an incredible amount of power to influence the world positively. For example, the famous football player, Colin Kaepernick who refuses to stand for the pledge in protest for the social injustice against people of color.
       I personally believe that the characteristics being represented are stereotypical. I also think that if you were never involved in sports as a child, you would not understand the conditions and sacrifices that athletes go through.