Role Models vs Every Day People

Yes, athletes are everyday people with their problems, however because they are in the public eye they become role models.  There are many children who look up to these athletes, they want to be like them, they admire them, they even become motivated by the athlete.

I saw this happen with my own daughter.  She was a swimmer, a pretty good one at that, and of course she was impressed by Michael Phelps.  I remember the day when she came out of swim practice all excited saying, "Mommy, Michael Phelps took one of my chips!"  You see, she and Michael swam for the same swim team and her group got in the pool as Michael's group was getting out of the pool.  That all changed on the day that Michael Phelps was arrested for a DUI http://articles.latimes.com/2004/nov/09/sports/sp-newswire9.  This had a dramatic effect on my daughter.  She lost all respect for Michael on that day.  To this day she is still bitter about it.

Yes I realize that people make mistakes http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,768762,00.html, but when you are in the public eye you really need to be thinking of your actions and how they will be seen by your public.  In this case it was a 13 year old.  Fortunately my daughter knew that this was wrong and just lost respect and did not say oh if he can do it I can too.  I lot of impressionable young children might be influenced into thinking well if they can do it so can I. 

Because they are viewed by many,  athletes have to rise to a higher standard to be that positive role model.

I WANT TO BE DISCOVERED!

How do we find talent? 
There is a lot of talented people in this world.  A lot of that talent is just waiting to be discovered.  But will those individuals ever be discovered?

I think that since we now have so many mediums now for people to show their talents there are many more talented people discovered then there was back in the day, before technology took over.  I, also, think that this is good.  You have more exposure to many more people.

American Idol opened up a whole new way for talented singers to perform and gives the public a chance to have a say in the type of talent that they like.  It also lets the producers know what the American public likes and dislikes. Kelly Clarkson was American Idol's first winner and has come along way.  Would she have ever been discovered the old fashioned way, who knows, but American Idol was how she made it. http://www.americanidol.com/archive/contestants/season1/   Because of this show many talents have gone on to make a name for themselves.  It was not just being at the right place at the right time, or the producer thought you were good enough.

The Youtubes videos.  So if you are just messing around and your friend puts a video on Youtube and someone thinks it's good, Wow.  I wonder if that what happend with Justin Bieber when Usher discovered him.  

So don't be afraid to get out there and show your stuff.  You may be the next big name.