Unit 7 Final Assignment Paper and Powerpoint

Running head: SPORTS ADMINISTRATION ISSUE

The Value of Educating Superstar Professional Athletes about PEDs’ Effects

Generally, being a superstar professional athlete comes with many opportunities. Apart from the huge salaries and media attention they receive, most of these athletes also act as brand ambassadors for many organizations and receive enormous compensations and favors. To many youths, superstar athletes are role models who need to be emulated at all costs. We live in a society that is significantly attracted to sports and views it as a form of escapism. Thus, our society perceives athletes as role models for everyone in the community. However, since no one is perfect, these superstar athletes can serve as good and bad role models (Riley, 2017). Additionally, being a superstar athlete also comes with the pressure to win at all costs. Thus, the athletes' heightened use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) has become an endemic ethical problem in our societies. Thus, the appropriate sports education may help solve the problem.

Several athletes have, in the recent past, been caught or admitted using PEDs. Andre Agassi, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Maria Sharapova, Ben Johnson, Ekaterina Bobrova, etc. are just some of the superstar professional athletes who have been implicated in the PEDs usage scandal (Jussim, 2020; CBC News, 2016). The PEDs are prohibited drugs or substances that enhance any form of human performance by boosting their muscle strength and power and aiding in its quick recovery. Although such effects are beneficial at face value, their usage has elicited several ethical and professional sports issues. PEDs may unfairly help an athlete win in a competition over competitors who have not used them. Such an occurrence is against the sport's values of fair play, professionalism, and sportsmanship. Additionally, several health issues exist related to PEDs' usage (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2019). Finally, if caught, an athlete’s career may just end like that.

Despite all the aforementioned consequences, the athletes’ use of PEDs is continually on the rise. Consequently, having the athletes undergo a sports values education and training may be a valuable solution for the problem. Sports managers, administrators, educationists, etc. can play a critical role in information these superstar professional athletes that PEDs are a threat to their health and careers and society's wellbeing. Contemporaneously, it is commonplace that an athletic superstar who has meteorically risen into the apex of the sports, with fans marveling at their agility, quickness, and strength, have in the next instant been brought to a screeching halt due to PEDs' usage. Generally, the PEDs' usage accusations would be followed by investigations, probations, suspensions, and under the worst-case scenario, suspensions, and expulsions from the sports (Northwestern University, 2015).

For many athletes, the usage of PEDs despite its risks is a calculated risk, i.e., these athletes are just gamblers. They have to evaluate not only its benefits and downsides but also the risk of being caught. However, the winner bias and the need for extra cash and fame drive most athletes to decide to use PEDs. Thus, good values and PEDs education should be holistic in that it should cover the drugs' effects on athletes, sports, and society. Without education, many athletes would be consumed with the potent and addictive drive to be victorious over a defeated opponent and the glory that comes with it, rather than following the overriding sports notions of fair play and sportsmanship. The education helps professional athletes understand that their fervent pursuit for victory would ultimately and significantly compromise their ability to make the appropriate decision (Whitman, 2007). Additionally, they should be made to understand that the drugs threaten the millions of children fans who view them as role models and the societal ideals of valorous pursuit of victory, hard work, and integrity. Without the appropriate values of education, it will be difficult to prevent the vice.

References CBC News. (2016, March 8). Maria Sharapova The Latest Athlete To Be Caught Doping. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from CBC News: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/sharapova-list-drug-athletes-1.3480918 Jussim, M. (2020). The 15 Biggest Steroid, PED, and Doping Scandals in Sports History. Retrieved October 22, 2020, from Men's Journal: https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/15-biggest-steroid-ped-and-doping-scandals-sports-history/ Mayo Clinic Staff. (2019, May 18). Performance-enhancing drugs: Know the risks. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/performance-enhancing-drugs/art-20046134 Northwestern University. (2015, July 14). Exploring Topics in Sports: Why Do Athletes Risk Using Performance Enhancing Drugs? Retrieved October 22, 2020, from Northwestern University: https://sps.northwestern.edu/stories/news-stories/why-do-athletes-risk-using-PEDs.php Riley, K. (2017, August 11). Professional Athletes Serve As Role Models, Both Good And Bad. Retrieved October 22, 2020, from The State Press: https://www.statepress.com/article/2017/11/spopinion-professional-athletes-serve-as-role-models-both-good-and-bad Whitman, J. H. (2007, November 12). Winning At All Costs: Using Law & Economics To Determine The Proper Role Of Government In Regulating The Use Of Performance-Enhancing Drugs In Professional Sports. University of Illinois Law Review, 2008.