Rise Of Professionalism In Sports example essay topic

Sports, in the context of our present day society, cover a vast range of activities, such as athletics, bowling, basketball, soccer, etc. Any game or competition that is designed to test physical skill is considered a sport; hence the list of sports can go on endlessly. In the past, all these were only very simple games, but they have evolved tremendously over the years and now, have become very professional sports, with many high-tech equipment to boost the sportsman's performance. Take bowling for example; it dates all the way back to 5200 BC in Egypt, where kids literally take a ball-like object to throw at marble bars, resembling pins. It then slowly spread ed to other countries, where the game was gradually modified to today's ten-pin bowling. Unlike the ancient times, there are bowling alleys now, equipped with wooden or synthetic lanes with varied oiling patterns.

With the advancement of technology, various equipments such as wrist-guards, bowling shoes and personal bowling balls have been invented to aid bowlers in their game. Apart from all these, there are even various techniques and skills required to achieve excellence. Therefore, these sports have indeed proved themselves to have changed significantly over the years. Nowadays, sports have rise beyond national to international level of competition. Events, like the Olympics, SEA games, World Cup, etc. are held for countries to compete against each other in sports. Countries take special effort and capital to groom their own sportsmen to compete worldwide, but other countries prefer to recruit foreign talents instead.

As for our country, our government did not care much in our involvement in the sporting arena in the past. Academic results were the most important. However, in recent years, we have produced star players, like Remy Ong, who did our country proud by winning many international tournaments. Hence, our government decided to support the rise of professionalism in sports in Singapore by emphasizing more on it than before. Evidence of this would be the recruitment of foreign talent such as table-tennis champ, Li Jia wei from China, etc. and also the setting up of the Singapore Sports School in Woodlands. The sports school is the first of its kind in our country, allowing gifted sportsmen to train and study there.

However, the government still did not neglect the academic side of the school as it only admits students from the Express stream. The rise of professionalism in sports has its pros and cons as money is involved, but I personally feel that the cons weigh heavier than the pros. Firstly, in every sport, gambling is seldom absent. People gamble on sportsmen and even the sportsmen gamble among themselves.

For the sportsmen, they feel that without money involved, there is no challenge to the game. As for the spectators, they gamble not because they like the sport or the sportsmen, but purely to win money. Where, then, is the true meaning of sports? Instead of a competition of physical abilities, the sports arena has become another gambling den.

In places like America, people often turn violent when they lose their bets, injuring and causing harm to others. In extreme cases, some may even hire people to attack the sportsmen from the opposing team. This is the dark side of the rise of professionalism. The recruitment of foreign talent has always been a very controversial issue.

Needless to say, they are a great help to the country which recruited them, having a higher chance of victory than locals, but where is the sense of loyalty towards their own country? These foreign talents help whichever country that benefits them most, hence have lost their sense of loyalty and their sense of sportsmanship. They are playing purely for benefits and not in the name of the game. Similarly, in sporting teams, the players can leave their own team anytime to join another, which can offer him greater benefits.

This is indeed a sad result of the rise of professionalism in sports. Another issue would be the prize money involved in the game. Undoubtedly, these excellent sportsmen should be rewarded for their efforts and also with the involvement of prize money, it will pressure the sportsmen to achieve better results, pushing his limit to the highest peak. However, over-emphasis on this issue can result in detriment as well. With prize money involved, it may destroy international relations during worldwide sporting events, as every country can't afford to lose all their investment, which can lead to conflict among countries. The prize money may also have a negative effect on the sportsmen as they will try to get the money by even resorting to underhand means such as cheating or taking drugs, which defeats the purpose of the game.

The idea of sports is to compete with one's own true physical ability, however now that people are resorting to cheating and taking drugs, what's the point of playing the game then? Now that drugs are progressing rapidly, all the drug inspections on sportsmen are rendered useless. An example would be athletes injecting hemoglobin into their bloodstream to increase their oxygen capacity. This can never be detected by drug inspections like urinal test. Also, the sportsmen can also use the prize money to invest in new drugs, not necessarily in equipment.

Therefore, in conclusion, sports have clearly evolved tremendously over the years from simple games in the olden times to the present professional sports. They have also rose to the international level of competition where worldwide sporting events are held. The rise of professionalism in sports involves money, which has its advantages, but unfortunately, its cons weigh much heavier than its pros. Hence, this issue should not be applauded as it will result in detriment in the sporting arena in future, where everyone plays not in the name of the game, but for benefits and money.