THE SOCIAL ROLE OF AN ATHLETE

The Social Role of an Athlete

Based on the example of Gerd Kanter,

Olympic Champion in discus throwing (Estonia)

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Introduction

What is an athlete's product? In most cases, both athletes and trainers will respond, "Our product is the

result." According to the ideology of Team75plus, this answer is incorrect. The correct answer is "An

athlete's product is how the people relate to his or her result!"

If an athletic result doesn't provoke emotions and reactions within the target group, which in the case of

professional sports is the athlete's compatriots, then the result doesn't have much weight – this is what we

believe. If emotions are provoked, an information field is generated around the athlete thanks to

widespread public interest and if this is attached to the right ideology, it can have a significant influence on

the public's value and behavioral models.

However, this is not a position that is widely and singularly accepted; for instance, professional basketball

player Charles Barkley has said, "I AM NOT a role model! I am a professional basketball player. I am paid

to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models!

(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2676_130/ai_78256896/ )

On the other hand, there's the example of the European Council's Nice declaration: "Sport is a human

activity resting on fundamental social, educational and cultural values. It is a factor making for integration,

involvement in social life, tolerance, acceptance of differences and playing by the rules."

The author of this article holds firm to the first position, which is certainly reinforced due to the fact that

the athletic heroes of a small people can have many more roles than just being a good athlete.

I will attempt to prove that top athletes have the opportunity to not only become a star, but also to create an

active relationship with the society and to be a role model, first and foremost for the youth. To prove this

thesis, we will use the example of Gerd Kanter, the Beijing Olympic gold medal winner in discus throwing.

From a country boy to an Olympic winner

Discus thrower Gerd Kanter's (born May 6, 1979) road from a beginner to an Olympic winner has been an

unconventional one. He comes from Central Estonia and until the age of 17, he didn't take part in any kind

of systematic training, he was just a regular, physically active village kid. After graduating a small high

school in Pärnu-Jaagupi, the road of this exemplary student took him to Tallinn, where he began his studies

in business management at the Tallinn University of Technology.

In 2000/2001 as already a 21-year-old, he started training professionally, because a team of people had

formed around him who believed in his abilities. Rapid development followed, even though the years

2002-2004 saw painful disappointments for him at major events (Munich, Paris, Athens). Since 2005 Gerd

has won a medal in major competitions every year, in 2007 he became the World Champion in Osaka and

in 2008 an Olympic gold medalist in Beijing. During 2006-2009 he has been at the top of world charts.

Choice of direction

At the end of 2000 at the age of 21, Gerd Kanter scored his personal record of 57.68m in discus throwing,

putting him in 145th place in the world. Taking into account the formal conditions at the time (age, result,

physical condition, economic possibilities, etc.), achieving success with conventional methods was

unrealistic. However, since the goals were to reach the top, it was unavoidable that the conventional

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direction had to be abandoned and a new direction of innovation had to be taken. What guided us in this

direction was another significant principle we all agreed on: "It's not enough to do something a little

more and a little better than others, you need to do something else!"

All members of the team were also oriented towards innovations and a short while later this team was

named "Team75plus". The team is made up of professionals from

different fields (strategic managing, communication, nutrition,

physical therapy, biomechanics) and it is an international one, since

the head coach Vesteinn Hafsteinsson is from Iceland. When need

has presented itself, representatives from other fields and countries

have also offered and given their help, especially from the Nordic

countries.

The role of the assistants in the development of an athlete was

determined according to a story recommended by Vesteinn

Hafsteinsson that we call the "Main road case", which says that

only one main road leads to a great goal. A person will often want to

take smaller adjoining roads, but it's always a trap – in order to reach

the goal, you always have to get back on the main road. The main

road is an ideology that gives a direction and assistants from

different fields recommend steps to take in order to stay on track.

The further off track you get onto the smaller roads, the longer the

journey is to get back to the main road.

In the development of the ideology, we used the so-called

Myth criticism method

Using this model requires asking questions, critically approaching different statements regardless of the

field they are from. A myth was defined as "a story that influences people's choices." In practice, this

means looking at the different aspects of sports "from the sidelines", distancing yourself from facts

believed to be self-evident. The search for myths proved to be a very testing one, while finding the answers

was considerably simpler.

Some examples of the myths that we critically analyzed are:

1. All discus throwers use doping anyway. 2. In sports that require throwing, great physical strength is most important. 3. A talented thrower has to be tall and heavy. 4. The current records are unbreakable. 5. The product of sports is the result. 6. The sports system in East Germany and the USSR was actually very good. 7. A top athlete has to be a star and constantly be in the limelight. 8. Higher education is a distraction for training and takes up too much time. 9. Taking days off during training camp periods is a waste of time and money.

10. etc.

We believe that none of the above stand up to professional criticism and that these statements are

misleading and often times even harmful. From the very act of dispelling these myths, new statements were

born that were frequently quite the opposite of common habits.

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This is the method that gave rise to guiding principles, of which the most important one is "Play fair".

The most significant ethical principle of the whole world of sports is also the foundation for activities in

our field. Any deviation from this principle results in the destruction of the vitality of the sport, it is

equivalent to "taking the back roads."

Over the course of time, the fair play and innovation principles were supplemented by others, a set of

"commandments" with a strong guiding content.

1. Management systems do not feed on money, they feed on information. This forces you to create an information scheme around your field, starting with the documentation and analysis of results to an extremely thorough statistical system. 2. There is nothing more practical than a good theory. You have to not only be up to date with the current theory in your field, but also add to it. 3. People who perceive things in a similar manner, make similar choices. The principle of creating a team, which means that people with similar value perceptions work together more effectively. 4. Sports performance is determined by intellectual competitiveness. Developing perfect competition management models requires considerable intellectual potential. 5. In sports, it is not the result that is important, but the relationship of the result with the people (nation).

Believing in this statement results in not just the athlete and his or her achievement becoming important,

but also the communication of values towards the target group.

Our own system of "rules and commandments" also developed in other significant aspects related to the

development of the athlete (in training, nutrition, research methods, sports culture, etc.).

"The unused resource" method

In choosing the direction, the so-called "unused resource" theory also held some pointers. This theory

divides activities related to sports into five categories to analyze "what has been used and what remains."

1. Physical (training years, health) 2. Mental (motivation, innovation) 3. Material (level of enrichment) 4. Image related (what kind of image has one managed to create or maintain of him/herself) 5. Social (one’s interaction with the environment)

According to this list, development should be seeked using those resources that remain. For example, if a

person has actively been training for 15 years, then training years is a resource that is running out. When

starting work with Gerd Kanter, this scheme was encouraging, because despite his 21 years of age, he was

still a young discus thrower due to the fact that he hadn't used his athletic resources almost at all. Also, his

image and system of social relations, two very important elements in an athlete's life in our opinion, were

basically completely undeveloped. What needs to be taken into account is the fact that in these areas it is

especially important to choose the right direction immediately at the start of an athlete's career, because

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while some of the resources are recoverable (education), another part of the resources are unrecoverable

(time, partly the image).

The ideology behind the social role

The positions described above gave us guidelines for creating a development ideology. This was done in

2001, when I asked Gerd Kanter to write down the 10 principles that will help him get to the top. Later on,

we called these the "10 commandments" amongst ourselves. Time and the natural course of things added to

this list and in 2009, they were all compiled in the book "Everything is possible!" as 15 guiding steps. The

first "10 commandments" are:

1. Learning is more important than training 2. If you do train, train consistently 3. If you do train – train 4. Rejoice in training 5. Do not be afraid to lose 6. Listen to your coach 7. Do many fields of sports when young 8. Eat healthy 9. Establish objectives, dream of great results 10. Do not hope for miracles, achieve your results

honestly

Eat healthy

These "commandments" contain a series of important recommendations for the young ones and when Gerd

made it to top athletic ranks and, therefore, could make himself heard, these became very valuable in

communicating with the public. A young artist by the name of Jens Anton drew pictures to go along with

the commandments and these turned out to be significant presentation materials, especially when meeting

with children.

Time was constantly putting these positions to the test, because they contained opinions that were

contradictory to the myths prevalent in sports. For example, our position on the importance of education in

the life of an athlete isn't unequivocal, however, in our opinion, the ability to systematically learn also

demonstrates an ability to systematically train, a tolerance of routine. It is no coincidence that coach

Vesteinn Hafsteinsson's group mostly consists of people with higher education, many of them pursuing a

Master's degree.

Being happy while training really means diverting attention from the end result to the actual process,

because we believe that rapid development is only possible through a joyful and motivated training process

of several years. Seeing loss as a concept, not as a tragedy, and emphasizing the significance of healthy

eating are also important.

The most important principle, however, is stressing the aspect of fair play. The belief that there are no

miracles in sports, only achievements resulting from a great deal of work.

When the directions became clear, we had to start planning the steps to take for successful communication.

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Communication format

Public figures are constantly put in situations, where they have to communicate with the public in all

different forms. In current times, when all information is spread at lightning speed, a random mistake can

be dangerous and damaging to the main objectives.

A multitude of different paths are taken when developing an effective communication system, but as a

point of departure we used this is simple scheme that has proven itself in practice.

1. Ideology (truth, principles) 2. Messages (communication format) 3. Channels (means of communication)

Communication ideology is also determined by the values that join people, that they can agree on, and that

they can express through messages.

The combination of values and messages is the communication format that is based on a principle from

television production. According to us, the format means a story (a narrative) that can be told within the

framework of the ideology upon which we have agreed. A few single words are attached to the most

significant positions.

In public communications, Gerd follows these recommended principles.

1. Fair play 2. Us! 3. Everything is possible! 4. Be a pro!

Each principle carries with it a story that is free in its form, but these principles are something everyone

tries to adhere to, if we were to believe the ideology. When the messages are clear, the means and channels

for passing them on are found and nowadays the range of possibilities here is very wide.

Fair play

This, the most important principle in sports, has to be emphasized at every possible opportunity, the athlete

has to be extremely critical towards all cases involving doping, has to ridicule the myth that "all athletes

use doping anyway", set an example in this sense with his or her attitude and communication.

Us!

It should never be forgotten that even though a competition is individual, you represent a larger group.

Depending on the athletic level, this can be a village, a county, a nation, a club or a specific sport – this can

be any kind of group, where it's possible to feel part of an "us". In communication it doesn't matter, you

always have to perform in a way that makes the group you're representing proud of your achievements or

behavior. Representing your nation, of course, carries the most responsibility. For a top athlete, the nation

is his main evaluator. The symbols of the group require a lot of attention (the flag, the insignia, clothing,

etc.). The same applies to the specific sport, track and field as an event should be defendable in any random

situation.

Everything is possible!

When it comes to Gerd, the power of this message is at its maximum, because he is an example himself

and proof that you should never lose hope. For the longest time, basically until he was 21, he was

considered to be devoid of any talent. But he was stubborn, he never gave up and finally arrived in top

sports, a real incarnation of the ugly duckling fairytale. Every opportunity should be used to instill belief in

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the youth about how they shouldn't turn off their path, how they should diligently keep moving toward

their goal.

Here it's also possible to emphasize the effectiveness of setting the highest goals. This is not suitable for

everyone, but in Kanter's case it was. Already as a 57-meter man, he started the "70-meter club", which

drew him criticism for quite a while, but even that goal wasn't high enough. In 2001, the so-called

"Team75plus" was born, guided by the idea that a goal can only be something that nobody has ever

achieved before.

Be a pro! This aspect of the format was the easiest for Gerd to fulfil and also talk to the public about. This one is also

emphasized by many of the "commandments" we listed above. In sports he is an exemplary professional

and, therefore, also trustworthy for others.

We use the term "sports culture" to describe this, the sum of an athletic way of life, training, nutrition,

muscle care etc,’. The whole information system around the sport is a source of interest, from

biomechanics to statistical analyses. Of course, it's not only Gerd that manages all this, but first and

foremost the people around him, however, Gerd is a good communicator to represent the whole group.

A prerequisite condition for these formats is that they have to correspond to an athlete's nature, represent

who they "really are". Otherwise weak points will most certainly be revealed and the whole scheme of

social communication becomes a farce. This is why these formats are individual and "custom made". An

athlete has to want to adhere to the rules, has to believe in them and if he does, he becomes important for

the public.

Gerd Kanter is a person oriented towards maximum achievement, so his inclinations are naturally always

related to his goals, however, the aspects mentioned above are close to him and in these areas he is

credible.

The opportunities in communicating with the public

The following is a list of possibilities that public communication offers and we use. Here it is important to

emphasize that no matter what the means of communication is, in the end what's important is the athlete

himself – his nature, behavior, communication style, participation at different events, language abilities,

awareness of environmental demands, etc.

The possibilities are multiplying – for example, during the 11 years our team has been active, there have

been great changes in communication technologies, which unavoidably has affected all of our activities and

enabled us to use new communication means.

1. Media communication – communication that stems from public interest, in all different forms from the news to analyses.

2. Participation in the work of various organizations – an athlete can be chosen to be a member of an organization or adhere to one based on personal beliefs.

3. Participation in civic action – an athlete's voice is heard and it gives him great value as a role model, therefore, he gets many offers to participate at various events, to be the patron of a competition or an event, etc.

4. Conferences – presentations or participation at conferences about a specific field or more general topics.

5. Website – a method widely used nowadays, a means of introducing oneself that can have any kind of content and orientation.

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6. Printed materials – books, written by the athlete as well as about the athlete. This includes books by the team members, scientific articles, etc.

7. Materials for distribution – posters, autograph cards, souvenirs, etc. 8. Meetings with young athletes and fans – an important part of the creation and maintenance of

an athlete's public image. 9. Sponsor events – an unavoidable part ensuring the athlete's activities. 10. New media – Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. 11. Training seminars – professional presentations on subjects about the field for a wide variety of

publics. This also includes the team members. 12. 10 Olympic starts – a phenomenon unique to Estonia. A series of competitions for 10-14-year-

olds, organized for 39 years already by the Public Television and the Estonian Athletic Association.

It's easy to see how these opportunities can be divided into three groups:

Self-organized (communication with the public is self-initiated)

Spontaneous (communication originates as the initiative of the other party)

A combination of the two (communication starts as an offer or invitation, but can also be organized yourself on the same topic)

The athlete's focus on the main objective (being successful in sports) will put time restraints on his

participation in different actions, but with good planning these problems can also be successfully resolved.

The list above is, of course, not definitive, because different countries and cultures present completely

different possibilities. However, regardless of the country or the culture, we can still say from our

experience that the most effective communication springs from actions that you have organized

yourself.

Communication in practice

The following is an overview of our communications practices. This list is also far from being complete

and mostly contains examples of either the most effective opportunities to bring the chosen ideology to life

or those that could possibly have didactic value.

1. Media communication – Over the years, Gerd has had to give hundreds of interviews for local, as well as

the international press. A good education and a good level of English are of great help here . In media

communication, there are many different and important target groups, for example, the local or the

international media, television or the written press, amateurs or professionals, etc. This includes press

conferences, organized by yourself or others.

Here it's not productive to just rely on media interest, because there are things you can do yourself. Skype,

as we all know, was created in Estonia and that is why the Skype development center is located in Tallinn.

Taking this fact into account, we started using Skype already in 2007 for forwarding information. We also

used it for conferences if the athletes and coaches were, for example, in California, but the journalists were

in Tallinn. Skype has also been used hundreds of times for sending video and photo materials, which have

on numerous occasions been used by different television channels in their news shows.

2. The atlete's participation in organizations – Gerd Kanter is a member of the Estonian Olympic

Committee and, when possible, takes part in the work of organizations that follow principles similar to

those of the team.

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3. Participation in actions – The demands on an athlete are often also limited by the time available, but there

are things that a socially minded citizen can't not participate in. Gerd Kanter was one of four role models

who took part in Estonia's largest social media campaign "2009 Year of Innovation" that was aimed at

gearing the Estonian public towards innovation.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs312KQcLCo&feature=related ). At the invitation of the President of

the Republic Mr. T.H. Ilves, he has also repeatedly participated in the campaign "Back to School" that

takes opinion leaders to schools around Estonia. Of course, he also takes part in various activities of the

Estonian Olympic Committee and the Estonian Athletic Association, usually before major competitions.

Lot of attention got IOC action “The best of us”, where Gerd was one of competitors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPLWm-Pj16k

4. Conferences – A very good place for spreading the ideology to different target groups. The themes that

Gerd Kanter has presented at conferences either alone or with a teammate are very diverse.

a. Motivation speeches, for young people, as a rule.

b. About the myth criticism method (for example, at the meeting of the European Olympic Committee's

Technical Council in Cyprus, 2008).

c. Discus throwing seminars (international conferences in

Tallinn in 2008-2009, a series of conferences abroad).

d. Assisting other team members, especially coach Vesteinn

Hafsteinsson with conference presentations on the different

aspects of an athlete's development.

5. Website (http://www.team75plus.com) – As a rule,

alternative communication means are born from a situation

where mainstream media doesn't relay enough information

that is important for the athlete. First and foremost there is a

lack of media space in this professional field, which leads to Discus Conference Tallinn 2008

actively seeking new solutions. From the start, our website

was built differently from an average home page. It is not Kanter's home page, but the objective was

rather to provide information for those interested in throwing events. This is why the website is set up

as it is (news, statistics, videos, photos, feedback, webshop, etc.).

Depending on the season and the events that are going on, the site has 1000-8000 visitors daily, so far

from 111 countries. Several thousand gigabytes of competition and training videos have been downloaded.

The site has developed an international network of people who now actively participate by sending

information, photos and videos.

The site gets the most visitors during the live transmission of competition results on the website, which

works in a rather simple way. At the competition site, someone sends in all the results after the attempts

either by phone, text message or Skype, and a few seconds later they are already up on the website. From

2007 to 2010, all of Gerd Kanter's competitions were covered without exception, often with the help of

local organizers or the coaches. The practice of putting live and direct information up on the team's website

has also been adopted by the so-called "big media" on their respective websites. The modern possibilities

for similar communications are demonstrated by one case, when the results of a Tenerife competition were

sent to Puerto Rico, where Hans Üürike, the website manager, was currently staying and where they were

instantly put up on the site!

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6. Meetings – These demand time and energy, however, meetings are inevitable and almost compulsory for

an athlete who is socially active. Unfortunately, depending on the training and competition schedule, only a

small part of the invitations can be honored and that is why the principles behind choosing are very

important. Gerd prioritizes the youth, especially young athletes and schools, especially small rural schools.

7. Printed materials – Since it's not possible to meet with everyone, the idea to

write a book for all those people was born and in 2009, it was published in

Estonian as well as in English. The book "Everything is Possible" contains 15

tips (values) that Gerd believes are important in achieving success in sports.

The book also contains descriptions of his childhood idols, those who have

influenced Gerd in becoming an athlete. The Estonian language edition has

almost sold out of the 6000 printed copies, with not just children and parents

buying the book, but also often times the coaches of different sports. Some

sports associations have bought the book and given it as a gift to all of their

coaches!

The materials in the book, along with the photos and videos

are very useful presentation materials. The success of the first book also inspired

other team members and in the coming years, the development of sports culture

will get special attention. In collaboration with the team, the publishing house

Menu published a book on stretching exercises by Seppo Pehkonen and Markku

Leppänen. The notable statistician Priit Tänava statistical analysis are now

available as an e-book. (http://issuu.com/team75plus/docs/discus-statistics)

Three more books are in preparation stages. The team's physical therapist Indrek

Tustit is writing about warm-up exercises, Vesteinn Hafsteinsson about planning

and periodizing for coaches, and professor Mihkel Zilmer is writing a handbook for

athletes on nutrition.

8. Materials for distribution – This includes autograph cards,

various souvenirs, posters, etc. Gerd has also used many of these,

the most popular being a poster that was made after the Olympic

win and is mostly handed out in schools to encourage kids to strive

towards high achievements.

Anyone can step over a low fence. But you think big! Gerd Kanter, from the book "15 Steps to Victory"

9. Sponsor events – In a small country, top level sports can not be done without the help of sponsors, so this

is why sponsor relations are an important part of the athlete's activities.

10. New Media – Gerd Kanter is not active on Facebook, however others with their networks are. Most of all

the website manager Hans Üürike and his circle of friends, who help gather interesting information for the

discus thrower from around the world, by sending in results, videos and ideas.

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11. Training seminars – Gerd himself attends these less, but other members of the team are very active in this

area. Without exception, all of them are at a high level in their field and often invited to share their

experience. Especially notable in this is the role of coach Vesteinn Hafsteinsson, who is a great authority

among coaches and whose website (http://globalthrowing.com/) is gaining more and more followers. He

also actively participates at various local and international events.

Based on experience it can be said that the interest of institutions, companies and active groups in Estonia

has sharply risen in these topics:

Perfect competition management models

The psychology of competition

Teambuilding

Value communication

The practice of sports culture (avoiding injuries, nutrition, training plans, etc.)

12. 10 Olympic starts – This is a phenomenon unique to Estonia, a system of promoting athletics among

youth that has been organized for 39 years by the Estonian Athletics Association and the Public Television.

Over the course of the year, the television broadcasts 6 youth competitions, where 10-14-year-olds from

different schools participate. The summertime finals are held as combined events, where the boys compete

in a nonathlon and the girls in a heptathlon. In 39 years, at least a 60000 thousand kids have participated,

the competition series has its own system, rules, system of statistics, etc. As a motivator for young athletes

and coaches, the competition series is unique, producing progeny for not only track and field, but also for

the whole sports system of our small nation. What's more, many of the onetime young competitors are now

in positions where they influence the political, economic and cultural leadership of the country. It's these

positive youth experiences that have lead to an unusual situation, where in a country of 1,3 million

inhabitants, there are 7 modern track and field indoors stadiums and where 15 medals were brought home

from six Olympic Games between 2000 and 2010!

Many top athletes in Estonia consider it an honor to participate in the broadcast and inspire the children.,

among them all Estonian famous discus throwers Aleksander Tammert, Märt Israel and Margus Hunt

Often times they will also offer practical advice. Over the years, Gerd Kanter has taken part in several

activities of the competition series. For example, in the March 2010 broadcast, physical therapist Indrek

Tustit and Gerd Kanter showed the kids warm-up exercises.

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Conclusions

"What's important is not what is said, but what is heard!" is an elementary communication rule. Have

the positions mentioned above reached their target groups through the chosen formats and channels is an

important question. In order to find out the answer, the market research company Norstat Estonia LLC

conducted in spring 2010 a study, where 200 children between the ages of 12 and 16, from the city and

the rural areas were questioned. This has been an important target group for Gerd Kanter's communication,

but this group is especially hard to reach, because at that age the kids' interests are very diverse.

They don't follow much the sports in the news, they don't frequent competitions and information often

reaches them in the form of myths, through third parties or through new media channels. Parents and

school undoubtedly also have a large role, because present role models for the children in an emphasized

way and they're the ones who choose these personalities from the "market" who correspond with their

values. Our question was: is Gerd Kanter one of them?

Results

95% of those questioned know that he is an athlete, 88% know he's an Olympic champion. His personal

record of 73.38 in discus throwing was given as a multiple choice answer and 50% of the children

responded correctly, whereas 52% of those were boys and 48% girls.

From a list of 25 adjectives that would most describe Gerd and where each respondent had to choose 5 ,

strong was chosen 74% of the time, determined 50%, polite 34%, smart 30%, honest 27%. It was

interesting to see that with the word "determined", there was a big difference between the boys and the

girls (40% vs. 59%). The negative adjectives (arrogant, stupid, unsure, uncouth) remained below 5%, with

the percentage of girls choosing these around 0% for most characteristics.

The question about what kind of an impression he has left, what does he DO, was answered:

1. Smokes 2%

2. Uses doping 2%

3. Uses alcohol 9%

4. Trains 10 times a week 72%

5. Speaks English fluently 42%

6. Studies at the university 19%

Is Gerd Kanter a national hero? That question got a positive answer from 90% of the children, with 51%

responding certainly and 39% to a certain extent. Is he an example to your age group? 46% responded

certainly and 41% to a certain extent.

In all questions, the positive answers among the respondents increased due to a greater interest in sports,

whereas those who considered themselves to be very interested in sports made up as much as about half of

the respondents.

Based on these results we can conclude that

1. The system values-ideology-format-channels works and the message is getting to even a very hard to

reach target group.

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2. Besides just entertainment, top athletes can also relay messages with a social and didactic content.

3. Athletes have the best possibilities with spreading messages related to healthy living and setting goals.

4. Being active yourself is inevitable, because relying on just the media it is very had to reach different target

groups.

5. Including the use of new media and new communication possibilities is inevitable, but actively using them

does lead to new, promising possibilities.

6. The experience of the team has shown that being active in communications nowadays does not require a lot

of financial means, but first and foremost professional knowledge, agreements on values and enthusiasm.

Problems

1. A certain part of the media may consider the social aspect of sports to be boring and the messages the

athlete is conveying incompatible with the strategies of the publication. Both angles (the individualistic

star, the social "hero") are possible and exist in practice, sometimes also in parallel. However, this dualist

role is not sustainable over an extended period, one or the other has to be chosen. There is a clear conflict

between the societal demand for a hero and the media's hunger for stars and this conflict is becoming

greater. Without an entourage and the structural support related to the athlete, it is very hard for him to

resist pressure from the media.

2. Just because a message has reached its target doesn't immediately mean it has an effect. The influence of

the athlete on behavior still has to be explored and it can greatly vary depending on the role of sports in the

nation, culture and traditions.

3. Athletics is under heavy pressure, game events seem more attractive to young people, especially the

training that is involved. Track and field training requires a lot of volume, a tolerance of routine, an

orientation towards maximum results and that's why it has gotten the reputation of being "a very difficult

sport".

4. In Europe the field events have been undervalued for years (in the media as well), compared to the running

events. The continuance of this tendency will in ten years lead to an even greater loss of competitivity in

European athletics.

Recommendations

Team75plus can recommend the things that have been a success in our experience or that we have

theoretically analyzed.

1. A brand (format) analysis for athletics. In competition with game events, athletics is often times in a

passive position, however, at the same time it is still a sport that is the most natural and elementary for

children and it also clearly has the largest system of talent searches in the world. Precisely deciding on the

narrative of athletics and spreading this among active persons is a strategic resource. It is based on the idea

that "You have to write your own story. If you don't, someone will write it for you, but you may not

like it!" 2. Creating a system of exchange for ideas. The popularity of athletics can be increased with targeted

activities if athletes and coaches are encouraged to participate more actively in the communication process

and not just to rely on the media and sports associations. It would be good to have a system that would

gather together all of the "best practices" experience from different countries and help spread this

information (internet, conferences, printed materials). In Estonia this category would certainly include the

"TV 10 Olympic Starts" experience.

3. Conceptualizing the possibility of Eurpean athletic stars gathering for a joint action with the aim of

encouraging the youth to lead a healthy and athletic lifestyle.