Week Three- Post One

I believe that athletes have a culture of their own, even though as individuals we have many aspects contributing to our culture. Characteristics contributing to the athletic culture are such things as competitiveness, disciplined, good time management, and motivated to meet a goal or target which was set and hopefully many more. Thus, together athletes share these common attributes which to some extent separate them from the 'normal' college student or individual. Factors making the culture of one athlete different to another are the individuals backgrounds; for example, religion, nationalities, and gender. These three factors change the individual’s culture; these three attributes have trends and norms of their own leading to different rules and behaviors. An example for nationality in England, during a game of football it is correct to play the ball out of play when there is a player down injured. This is a matter of manners and respect, although this is correct to do in England, it may not be the correct thing to do in other countries. Gender, I think males are far more aggressive than females and therefore a lot more competitive than women. Religion, this impacts the following of rules, again going back to football, are you respecting the rules of the game? Or are you going against to the umpires decisions. Do you chat back and argue? Or do you accept the actions of the referee. A non-Christian may be disrespectful to the referee, using inappropriate language. This is very un-Christian like. In my soccer team we have common cultures such as gender and being athletes, but as it stands we have 5 different nationalities. A combination of Christians and Catholics, some players are stronger in their beliefs than others which I feel is obvious when it comes to decision making. Here at Lee our team prays before every game, in a group we stand together holding hands and a prayer is led by the captain of the team. Back home in England this would have been laughed at, the culture of religion I feel is not taken seriously enough in England. Some areas have more beliefs and respect but I feel it is minimal in England in comparison to America. I say America, but I have only visited what is known at the bible belt of America. I am sure there are areas in America where religion isn’t as strong as it is here in Cleveland, Tennessee. Culture of an Athlete is interesting and can be very wide spread; I think it is interesting to see how athletes from different nations, with different religions and different genders influence how individuals play. Even though as a culture athletes share common goals.