Choose your models
As young, aspiring athletes, kids naturally look up to older players as role models for who they want to become someday.
Some of those players are high school athletes, some play in college, and some play in the professional leagues.
A couple of great role models that I can think of right off the top of my head are University of Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Logan Wilson. If you didn’t know, Allen is the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and Wilson is a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Both of these young men honed their talent and skills to advance to the pros, and did so with class and humility. They continue to carry themselves with dignity and make me proud to claim them as our own (even though Josh isn’t actually from Wyoming).
Not all of the players who gain national attention are such great role models, however.
In the last couple of years, Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese have surged to the forefront of professional women’s basketball as each made a name for themselves as collegiate players.
Both have advanced to the professional league, and both continue to garner national attention.
Their journeys have been a little different, however.
Clark has taken a literal beating since going pro. She is manhandled on the regular by opposing players and, at times, has not handled the abuse with the most grace. She racked up six technical fouls in her first season as a pro, and if she had been hit with a seventh, she would have been punished with a game’s suspension.
While I can understand her frustration, she has to know that young girls’ eyes everywhere are on her and watching and emulating everything she does.
Reese, on the other hand, is another story. Her attitude and the disrespect she shows to opponents, officials and even coaches is disappointing to say the least. In her first year of the pros, she was actually ejected from a game for her behavior.
Recently, Reese has joined a brand new 3-on-3 professional league called Unrivaled, which was co-founded by Women’s National Basketball Association stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. The goal of this new league is to give players an option other than going overseas to play in the off-season of the WNBA.
Reese plays for the Rose Basketball Club in the Unrivaled league, and last Saturday she made history by being the first player to be ejected from a game.
In the second quarter, Reese was defending a Laces Basketball Club player, clapping at her and taunting her. She then hard-fouled her, knocking her to the ground, and earning a personal foul. She then turned her back on the player, and the official who made the call, waving her hand at them in dismissal over and over.
That behavior was rewarded with a technical foul being called against her. She didn’t stop there.
She then argued emphatically with the official to the point that she got a second technical, resulting in her ejection from the game.
For the remainder of the contest, Reese could be seen laughing and being disrespectful from the stands.
That is not the kind of role model young girls need. Being strong and standing up for oneself are definitely positive traits that should be emulated, but those traits can be easily displayed in ways that are respectful and empowering, not degrading and disparaging.