What makes a sporting hero

Our kids are growing up, at least in the US, in an immediate gratification society. They see it; they want it. They want it now; and often they get it. While parents are partly to blame here, myself included, I am not tackling the parent-problem. Rather, I see this transferred to the hero-worship. I see him; I want to be him.

Why not now?! It takes years and years of hard work, a whole lot of talent, good decisions and maybe a bit of good luck along the way. The work and sacrifice and dedication and tough decision-making when they look at their heroes.

They just see the talent and the success and they want it. Just like I did. They do. I am not talking about the substance abusers out there. I am talking about the ones who have made it, maybe all the way to the top of their game. One might say they are the ones worth idolizing. But after all their training and preparation and diligence and perseverance, they are worn out. His US Masters victory in was his first in 14 troubled years — the longest gap between wins in tournament history — and just one more PGA win would give the year-old the record.

Covid put the Tokyo Olympic Games on hold and for many competitors, staying sharp will be the biggest challenge.

We should also appreciate those who return time and time again to measure up. Five people have appeared at Olympic Games spread across 40 years of their careers: three sailors, one equestrian and a fencer. Few solo athletes have dominated in the modern era so completely, or for so long, as Serena Williams. She has won 23 grand slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and won the Australian Open while nine weeks pregnant — a feat that not even Roger Federer could pull off.

At the time of writing, Ronaldo has goals in 1, appearances for clubs and country, while Messi has goals from Ronaldo has 56 career hat-tricks, Messi Who cares? We like our sporting heroes to be brilliant, but not too cocky about it. Sometimes their modesty dooms them to near oblivion, like Beryl Burton. Born in Yorkshire in , Burton is one of the most astonishing athletes Britain has produced. What makes a hero can be something quite specific to an individual.

I believe that it is not just sporting prowess, and maybe not sporting ability at all. It is their sporting ability that puts them in the limelight, but it is what they do once there that can make them stand out as a hero. There are many other attributes, other than skill, that should be considered for labeling someone as a sporting hero.

A hero should be aware that they are a role-models and act accordingly. So the set-up of the story is clear. If only Beth can get out of her own way, she can rule the chess world. The good news is that every hero receives help, even Beth.

Her mentor is a janitor at the orphanage named Mr. Later Beth receives help from former competitors whom she has defeated: Townes, Harry, Benny, and the twins Matt and Mike. Returning to the orphanage to attend Mr. This discovery reduces her to tears — her first show of emotion.

All good hero stories end with the hero returning home. After defeating Borgov in Moscow, she mingles among a throng of Mr. Shaibel-like old men playing chess in a Russian park.

Eliot once said, home is now completely different. The hero now sees home with a new set of eyes. By playing chess with one of the Russian Mr. Shaibels, Beth is now giving back what was once given to her. Once transformed, the hero helps transform others. And as Joseph Campbell said, the hero is now in union with all the world.

Beth Harmon was a pawn who became a Queen. By Meghan Dillon. On that card, he wrote that he would play college basketball, become a head coach, win a game in Madison Square Garden and, finally, cut down the nets after winning a National Championship.

At age thirty-six, Jim Valvano could take that crumpled index card out of his pocket and cross off everything on the list. He had done it all. However, when delving deeper into the various taxonomies and exploring the definition of heroism, I have been able to identify that it is the classic come-from-behind story: someone who once walked among us, as an ordinary person, accomplishing what was deemed impossible.

In , these three scholars published a Situation-Based Taxonomy of Heroes. Jimmy V is a true underdog in the way his team won a championships it had no business winning, and in the way he fought cancer with bravery, dignity, and class. Jimmy was born in Corona, Queens, New York to a middle class family. He would go on to marry his high school sweetheart, and be a loving father to three daughters. Despite his successful coaching career that would require him to be away from his family, his Italian upbringing provided the strong foundation from which Jimmy V could live out his aspirations.

One of the many reasons I see Jimmy V as a hero is that, along the way to accomplishing his dream of winning a national championship, he took on a personal ideology of living that would allow him, a seemingly ordinary man, accomplish things that we see as extraordinary. This ideology would help him to innumerable victories. Despite all of the incredible things he accomplished while healthy, it was all the things Jimmy V did while sick that solidified his heroism, in my eyes.

During the final 10 months of his life, Jimmy V utilized his coaching platform, sharing personal anecdotes and vibrant insight into his life as a patient in hopes of spreading awareness of the disease that has taken so many. He was not afraid to show the world the truth about cancer: crying in interviews and struggling to walk.

He knew he would lose his final battle in his life after winning so many, but his spirit, charisma, and genuine heart are things that will live on forever. The best stories in sports are those that transcend the playing field or court. They are the stories of those who climb the latter of success, attaining achievement and, often times, in the most famed stories, coping with the agony of loss.

The NC State Wolfpack has one of the most storied runs of all time. That run is nothing without my hero, Jim Valvano, who could be seen as falling shy of a hero because he lost his battle with cancer. She composed this essay as part of her course requirement.