Integrity in Professional Athletes

Professional athletes are public figures and as such their personal lives become public information in many cases. There are many athletes who display a high degree of integrity in their actions while others do not. Professional athletes are role models and as such their decisions and actions influence a number of people who look up to them. When an athlete displays poor behaviour on the profession and the team to which they belong they should be held to account. However, there are those who display a high degree of integrity and professionalism but do not seem to get the recognition beyond their immediate community/region.

Many professional athletes are an asset to their communities and deserve to be recognized for their contributions beyond their community. Today it seems that those who have problems get more of the attention while others who contribute positively to their community do not. Those professional athletes who behave badly should be penalized financially. There have been times where professional athletes have been called on the carpet for their actions, such as suspension from playing and their pay being forfeited.

All professional athlete contracts should have a clause establishing rules for acceptable behaviour and the penalties for displaying poor behaviour! If such rules exist they should be more publicized. Everyone makes mistakes and people should be allowed some consideration to some extent, but nothing happens by accident. Somewhere a choice was made that had a poor result.  However if the actions and/or behaviour is continually repeated for which they have been held accountable, then I think their contract should be terminated. It is better to have athletes who respect their profession than those who constantly bring embarrassment. Embarrassment applies to their profession, their team and their community. 

Professional sports will gain respect from the public if they promote integrity and enforce the penalties that are in place for violation.

Integrity in our society seems to be lacking today and professional sports can be a leader in making a statement that integrity is important.