We all carry responsibility for our behavior but I wonder if this isn't a good opportunity to consider what happens when sports personalities exit the spotlight and move on to a new life after competing.
Kyle Snyder and other sports personalities live under the pressure of social expectations. One day, no matter how much you have excelled, another will rise to claim the lofty heights you once held. We watched Jack Nicklaus walk down that mountain with incredible grace and find business success in golf. Gary Player did as well. Tiger Woods has not handled fame or its aftermath with anything resembling that grace, as we see again in his drunk driving accident last week. Kirk Barton takes the absence of grace to an extreme, from what I read.
Reading about Snyder's embarrassment, makes me wonder how hard it must be to live up to heroic expectations of fans when playing days end and the cheers fade away. It must be so hard to live with the constant aches and pains that accumulate during decades of sports trauma and never fully heal...and to live with the pain medications, which bring only temporary relief and the likelihood of addiction and behavioral change.
As a child athlete (thanks Maize Rd Elementary/City of Columbus Recreation Dept), I participated in Junior Olympic trials. In between trial heats, I sat beside Jesse Owens in Ohio Stadium, after I saw him sitting alone and was drawn to him. I did not know he was until Jesse Owens was greeted by someone else. When he picked me up, my father told me that he couldn't have been Jesse Owens and told me to avoid any stranger who would let me sit with him. Back then, I did not understand why.
The second year, I sat with him again and Owens stayed long enough to greet my father. I remember a lot from those days half a century ago. He was kind, patient, and positive. I still cup my hands and land on my heels when running, as he showed me. But what I remember most clearly is the sadness that I saw in his eyes behind that generous and almost regal nature.
I wonder if fans really understand the burden that athletes can carry when they leave the field forever. The bright lights of national and international recognition fade away and often do not leave them with material wealth. Even those who have earned a lot of money often experience financial challenges, made worse by the constant demands of family, friends, and "charities" asking for a taste.
Anyone who lives in or near the spotlight, with its awards and honors, must one day prepare for a much quieter life that follows. For the anonymity of daily life that comes when eyes no longer light up in recognition. The pain of this transition may be especially high when an athlete's entire sense of self-worth derives from athletic skills.
One of the things that has most impressed me about Ryan Day is the incorporation of financial and psychological life skills, that prepare athletes for life, into the education of student athletes in that program. I hope that the other sports now incorporate similar programs so that sports stars will be equipped to open the right doors when the end of a sports career nears.
