Introduction
Sport has a significant impact on modern society. The issue of multiculturalism, gender disparity and substance use among college athletes remains an issue yet to unravel. Though, race and ethnicity are at the forefront of social issues and sports. Other issues such as drug testing, athletic eligibility, and gender equality, all present serious issues for an intellectual debate on the future of sports.
The individual and social impact of sport
The individual and social impact of sport should not be underestimated. Sport can manipulate fitness and health in positive ways and can be an area of moral education, the development of community values, and social integration. It can also help identity construction at local, national, and international levels. However, sport can also be a source of problems. College sport can be cynical and socially exclusive fitness and exercise cultures may exacerbate problematic body ideals, and elite sport sometimes struggles with high gender, racial disparity, aggression as well as doping or substance use (Vajiala, Epuran, Stanescu, Potzaichin, & Berbecaru, 2010).
However, it should be noted that institutions also strive for unique identities that will attract prospective students from a different cultures. The friendly sporting competition among athletes from a different ethnic background, not only promotes multiculturalism and closeness among athletes it also creates race and gender disparity as well as the use of illicit substances among the athletes.
The increase in substance use, gender disparity, and multiculturalism
The increase of substance use, gender disparity, and multiculturalism (Hirko, 2009) in college sporting activities is part of a long-term process of increasing access, its ramification only gradually unfolding (Castaneda, Katsinas, & Hardy, 2008). The dimension today is more complex than several decades ago, but probably will develop further in the future.
The ethics of sport
The ethics of sport implies systematic and critical reflection upon the norms and values of sport. A system of sports ethics should not only articulate and define key norms and values, but also illuminate the tensions arising in practice and suggest proposals to deal with them.
Fairness in the sporting context
In the sporting context, fairness means at least two things (Castaneda, Katsinas, & Hardy, 2008). At the institutional level, fairness means providing all competitors with an equal opportunity to perform irrespective of gender or race. For instance, in the future, eligibility rules should be based on performance potential alone (and not race, ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic class, or other aspects irrelevant to performance). Within competitions, external conditions should be identical for all or at least as similar as possible. Rules should be universally applied without partiality of any kind. Fairness is a structural characteristic of competitions without which evaluation of performance would be difficult or even meaningless.
Conclusion
In reality, sport can be practiced in problematic ways. Strong performances can be the result of human degradation, fear, and biomedical manipulation. It is possible to win an Olympic gold through unethical conduct (Hardin, & Greer, 2009). To be of moral value and to be considered an expression of human excellence, certain criteria like guiding human action need to be applied.
In the future, sports should include social and cultural activities, which, practiced fairly, will enrich society and friendship between nations (Edwards, 2010). Sports should also offer the participants the chance for self-understanding, self-expression, and accomplishment, personal success, skill attainment and display of ability, social relations, pleasure, healthiness, and happiness. With the future inclusion of the above stated, sports will be practiced with fairness, and lack of substance use.
Reference
Castaneda, C., Katsinas, S. G., & Hardy, D. E. (2008). Meeting the challenge of gender equity in community college athletics. New Directions for Community Colleges, 142, 93-105.
Edwards, H. (2010). Social change and popular culture: Seminal developments at the interface of race, sport and society. Sport and Society, 13(1), 59-71.
Hardin, M., & Greer, J. D. (2009). The influence of gender-role socialization, media use and sports participation on perceptions of gender-appropriate sports. Journal of Sport Behavior, 32(2), 207-226.
Hirko, S. (2009). Intercollegiate athletics and modeling multiculturalism. New Directions for Higher Education, 148, 91-100.
Vajiala, G., Epuran, M., Stanescu, M., Potzaichin, I., & Berbecaru, C. (2010). Relation between motivation and temptation for using the doping substances in high performance sports. Science, Movement and Health, 10(2), 207-212.