It happens all the time, we pick up the paper and read about another athlete dead from alcohol abuse. How could this happen? What could cause someone who had everything to live for suddenly drown themselves in alcohol to the point of death? The answer doesn’t come from how much money they made, or how far they were in their athletic careers, the answer comes from what they were going through in their personal lives and the lack of loved ones who were there to support them and help them with their addictions. More importantly, the blame comes from the organizations that employed these athletes from lacking programs designed to deal with athletes who suffer from addiction, including an addiction to alcohol.
The Pressure To Succeed
When you’re an athlete, you have an enormous pressure to succeed and that’s why many become athletes dead from alcohol abuse. People think that being a professional athlete is the dream life. You make all kinds of money with a huge fan base who call your name and hang posters of you on the walls in their bedrooms. However, being a professional athlete means you’re held to a certain standard. You have to win and you have to sustain a good record if you hope to hold your fan base and your position on the team. If you’re not in a team sport, you are held to an even greater pressure to succeed as you can’t blame anyone but yourself. This pressure is hard for anyone to take and some athletes alleviate this pressure by turning to alcohol. This pacifier becomes an easy alternative to feeling stressed out. Soon, they’re drinking all the time and it can eventually kill them. That’s the basic background behind any athlete dead from alcohol abuse. They couldn’t take the pressure so they drank themselves to death.
These athletes often hide their alcohol abuse from their teammates, their friends, family and even their fans. However, there are often signs that someone is drinking too much. They’ll show up late or disheveled for practices. Their performance will go down. They’ll have mood swings and may even turn violent. These are all clues that someone has an addiction and it’s up to those close to them to make sure they don’t end up just another athlete dead from alcohol abuse. The friends and family members, especially, should be in tune with the fact that something’s wrong. They should be insistent that the athlete check into a program to defeat their addiction before they turn into another dead athlete from alcohol addiction.
The Organization
The employers of that athlete should make sure that all of their athletes stay clean. It’s in the best interest of the organization and it’s what the fans ask for. The team has an obligation to perform as they have been trained to do. When an athlete is using drugs or alcohol, the team suffers, the organization suffers and the team will no longer pay to come see those players play. Ultimately, it’s up to the organization to prevent these athletes dead from alcohol abuse and more needs to done to make sure they are compliant with these programs to help with alcohol addiction.
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