Professionalism is the competence or skill expected of a professional. A professional is a person who engages in a specific activity as the main paid occupation. An athlete is or should be proficient in sports and other forms of physical activity. So, at the end of the day, professional athletes get paid to play and are expected to do so, at least, more consistently than … non-professional athletes. However, most “professional” athletes do not play consistently and are held accountable accordingly.
Being a professional athlete is or should be the highest level of athleticism possible, but that is not the case, because professional athletes are always rated as “what have you done for me lately?” theory, per say, or the last time they had a chance to do something, what did they do? Therefore, they are constantly being evaluated and everything they do, fail or succeed is accounted for. Which would explain why there are professional and professional stars who are not “stars”. And, of course, the stars are the most consistent athletes in their particular field and obviously take their work more seriously than the average professional athlete.
However, I have played on many different non-professional teams from many different sports, I never had the opportunity to play on a professional team, but there was always an implicit expectation of everyone on the team, and if a player could not measure up to That expectation, then the change was very necessary, because nobody wants to lose, neither professional nor non-professional, recreational or of any other level of play. Sometimes, no … a lot of times, I watch professional sports and I don’t understand how these professional teams tolerate when these paid professional athletes don’t play up to their expectations. When we watch sports on television, we expect to see how it should be played in the best way, as an example of perfection.
If a seller doesn’t close the sale, they don’t get paid. Most doctors and lawyers only get one chance to spoil a patient or a case, then their career is at least seriously tainted, which affects their income. A mechanic who cannot repair a puncture is not going to make any money. None of those professions are compensated as much as professional athletes, but they are held to much higher standards. Yet somehow a professional athlete can put down a game-winning touchdown pass and not only keep his job, but also keep his income while laughing and joking about how he disappointed his team and his fans. How is that? Anyone can do that. A professional baseball player who hasn’t hit a hit in his last 15 games can still keep his job and his income is not affected at all. How is that? No one can act. Anyone can NOT be up to the task. So why are they still on the team and why are they still getting paid? I do not understand. If I were the trainer / owner I would be very upset and a change would definitely be needed.
Most professional athletes take the opportunity they have been given for granted. For every professional athlete there are far more undiscovered non-professional athletes who could do the same job just as well, if not better. Professional sports tolerate too many failures. There are professional teams that have never won a championship, but employ the same members of their staff for several years. Why do you continue to allow this to happen? Professional athletes get paid a lot of money for doing basically nothing, enjoying their lives, playing in the backyard, and the least they can do is take their “job” seriously and perform when it’s their turn and lead by example. what is expected of them, or being responsible for not being up to the task.