My Top Five Most Influential Athletes of today
Everyone has a Top Five athlete list. Athletes who are leaders and influential in their sports and not just for winning. I chose players who either are powerful and dominant in their playing field, are influential off the court and their actions affect their community and their country as a whole, or both. That’s why the five players I have chosen are: LeBron James, Serena Williams, Colin Kaepernick, Lionel Messi, and Michael Phelps.
My first influential athlete is Colin Kaepernick, former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, for his impact not just on the football field, but off the field and around the country. On September 12 2016, in a nationally televised Monday Night Football preseason game, Colin Kaepernick initiated kneeling during the national anthem to protest against our nation’s problem with police brutality and racial profiling. His decision to kneel forced us as a nation, to struggle with questions surrounding freedom of speech, patriotism, and protesting. Kaepernick still makes an impact on the game today despite having lost his job in the NFL, and his recent sponsorship with Nike, means his impact will continue to reverberate this football season. Whether people view him as a hero or a villain, his “stand” to protest police brutality by kneeling will forever be his legacy in the NFL and in our country.
My next influential athlete is LeBron James, forward for the Los Angeles Lakers. The 33-year old NBA superstar is not only considered the greatest basketball player of all-time, he is making his name known and voice heard off the court. Besides being a basketball player, he is an actor, a media mogul, and a cultural icon. The King has used his platform to speak out about racial injustice and other political issues. ESPN even ranked him as the “most powerful voice in his profession.” Given his ambitions to build a lasting media empire, his opening of the iPromise School, the premiere of his new show “The Shop,” and his repeated dominance in the NBA year after year, his influence will endure for years to come.
For many sports enthusiasts my age, swimming became important and exciting again because of Michael Phelps. Even though he retired as a swimmer in 2016, he is recognized as one of the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time, and he has changed the sport of swimming forever. As an Olympic swimmer, he won a total of 28 medals and holds records for the most Olympic gold medals at 23, and most Olympic gold medals in individual events totaling 13. Besides actual swimming, he has helped young athletes gain more confidence in choosing swimming as a role model for the sport. Both girls and boys have shown an increased interest in the sport due Phelps making swimming popular again, according to USA Swimming. Phelps also has a swim school where he helps students learn how to swim, and has a Special Olympics program that serves over 11,000 kids annually.
Serena Williams, with a career match record of 801-136, 72 WTA career titles, 23 Grand Slam titles, and four gold medals in the Olympics, is widely considered the GOAT of tennis, but I think she may be the female GOAT of all sports. She is a dominant figure for young female athletes in all sports, and she demonstrates an undying attitude for achieving success in women's tennis. Serena is an athlete who battled depression, unnecessary and obsessive drug testing, racism, injuries, and personal challenges (playing after pregnancy), but she continues to dominate the game one swing at a time. As a singles player, she has managed to not only break records within her own field, but win them on her own, rather than on a team with other players. Competing professionally since 1995 at the age of 14, she is now 36 and has shown no sign of stopping or slowing down. As fans of the game, we are all extremely fortunate for Serena’s continued rise in the sport of tennis.
Lastly, Lionel Messi, Argentinian soccer forward who plays for FC Barcelona, has been involved in charitable efforts aimed at vulnerable children for many years, It was a commitment that he made, in part, from the medical difficulties he faced in his own childhood. Since 2004, he has contributed his time and money to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), an organization with which FC Barcelona also has a strong association with. Apart from his work with UNICEF, Messi founded his own charitable organization, the Leo Messi Foundation, which supports access to easy health care, education, and sports equipment for children. Through his foundation, he has given out research grants, financed medical training, and invested in the development of medical facilities and projects in Argentina, Spain, and other parts of the world. On the field, he is not only known for his insane dribble moves and how gracefully he can move the ball up and down the pitch, but as one of the greatest soccer players of all-time (right beside Cristiano Ronaldo), and he has won numerous awards and holds many records. He won the La Liga Best Forward award for nine straight times dating back to 2008; he broke the Guinness World Record as top goalscorer for club and country in a calendar year with 91 goals in 2012;, and has won the European Golden Shoe award five times, including this year, as the top goalscorer in European league soccer. Last, but not least, Messi won the Onze d’Or award (awarded by the French magazine Onze Mondial) last year for the best player in Europe. Messi is truly an ambassador on the pitch, but most importantly, off the pitch.
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