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 Do blacks have a step up? 
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I understand that nodody thinks black are more likely to be athletic because they inherit it. Maybe because they are poor they work harder. Go check out any local orphanage where children are raised the same way, then choose 20 kids randomly for a foot race, ten being white and ten being black. Who wins the race? Better yet do this several times at different orphanages and use the top five percentage. How many people believe that whites in the top five will out number the blacks? Maybe I fall into a category that is less informed about how inheritance works. Maybe the white kids stand a chance but i think not. The way a child is brought up plays a huge role in how much the excell in sports but their natural athletic talents is based soley on inheritance. I believe what seems obvious but I am very open to change my mind on any subject but I need some proof. Please enlighten me!!

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Adam Moore


Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:47 pm
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I understand what you are trying to say but there are many factors that come into play. I believe that your race does not determine you athleticism. I think that the more you work at a particular sport the better you will be. This brings in how determined you are, how involved your family might be and the resources that you have.
But when I consider the biological side of this I can understand where you are coming from. I think your body build does make a difference. A person's body type is about 60% inherited (that is not an exact %). Obesity runs in families, small bone structures, broad shoulders etc . . . Some of these attributes make it easy for certain people to excel in sports. If you are tall you might be able to play basketball better, if you have a bigger bone structure you might be better for football, and if you have broad shoulders, maybe you are a swimming. But even if you have these attributes you are not going to be great at the sport unless you practice. Maybe there are some people that are natural athletes but they still have to practice. Muscle fibers are another thing that people inherit that help you become athletes. For example, sprinters will have more of type 2 muscle fibers.
In my opinion genetic make-up, practice, and a person’s home life, work; hand and hand to create great athletes. I don't think that you will ever find anybody that plays a professional sport that wasn't raised around it and practiced making themselves better. I think that they also excel because they recognize their flaws and makeup for it by taking what genetics has given them and using it to their advantage.

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Charlene Leonard


Tue Feb 20, 2007 11:25 pm
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Ok obviously people inherit traits that provide them with tools that make them more athletic. Athleticism has nothing to do with how good you are at a sport. Ibelieve that athleticism is a trait that a child is born with.(inherited) Obviously mastering a sport requires hard work. My argument is that a black child is more likely to be born with athletic ability than a white child. People made the comment that children fron the getto try harder because they need a way out. Most children will play ball for recreation but in most instances being a part of a sports team is more difficult for low income areas. If the area has a large population the cost to participate on a sports team increases which decreases the opportunities for those children. I dont agree with the getto factor for athleticism.

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Adam Moore


Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:17 pm
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For the black man-child, however, two glimmers of hope penetrate even the grim depths of the underfooting. But in cold affirmation of the realities of his situation, these beacons illuminating would-be paths to the better life reflect the fact that, here, his human value is practically coextensive with his utility as a purely physical entity. For his only hope of escape has traditionally been believed to lie in either military enlistment or the dream of achieving a successful athletic career.

Harry Edwards, The Struggle That Must Be

Ok, I think part of the problem here is that you initially used the word "athleticism" and now you are saying that has nothing to do which how good you are at a sport. Athleticism does have to do with how good you are at a sport. An athlete is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary online as:
a person who is very good at sports or physical exercise, especially one who competes in organized events.
So when you said athleticism, perhaps you meant physical fitness, or some other word? I'm with Charlene, its a mix of many things. But, your disbelief in the "ghetto" factor is interesting to me. I mean honestly, as middle class kids we were probably read to by our parents, went to the park, maybe the library, or the zoo, but we realized at a young age that we had the opportunity to be what we wanted to be and we were told that. "I want to be a doctor, lawyer, nurse, teacher" ect. No matter whether a child is black or white, if they grow up in poverty, they probably realize quickly that they better either plan to enlist, or get really good at some sport if they want to get out of the poverty that they are in. There are those few that might bust their tail and get an academic scholarship, but those are few and far between unfortunately. So, perhaps race in some way might determine body build, and perhaps that might help a child excel at a sport. But no, a black child is not more likely to be born with ATHLETIC ability than any other child.

(sorry for how long this is)

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Lauren Cagle


Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:24 pm
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Being phyisically fit can not be inherited. That is more a way of life and how well you maintain your body. People born athletic are not born good at sports but people that are good at sports are generally athletic. Some children are born more athletic than others. If a child is born athletic and chooses not to play sports then it doesnt take away from his natural athleticism. You cant teach a baseball player how to throw 96 miles an hour; you cant teach a child to run a 4.1 forty yard dash. Some children may have the natural ability to throw 96 but never pick up a baseball. They still were born with that gift. I am not sure that everyone has the same def. of what athletism is. What i believe athletism consist of is anything that can not be taught. How high can you jump, how fast can you run, how quick are you how far or fast can you throw? These are types of inherited traits that can not be taught. They can be enhanced through sports and practice as well as technique. I am not saying a child is just born with a golden arm, and if he doesnt play baseball he will still be able to throw 96 m/h when he grows up because he/she will not. The child is born with that athletic ability, and whether the child uses it for baseballs is irrelevant. You can only teach a child how to increase his talent.

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Adam Moore


Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:28 pm
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I think your missing the point. The definition from the dictionary of athleticism is part of the point I was trying to make to you. That your use of word may need correction, because athleticism refers to being good at sports. And I beg to differ that how fast you run or throw, and how high you jump cannot be taught. They can. What is jump training for? So people can jump higher.
I guess I am just trying to say that athleticism refers to sports. And the comments you made in class the other day seemed far fetched, and slightly racist, so I had to comment on them. But we are all entitled to our own opinions and beliefs, thats the beauty of it.

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Lauren Cagle


Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:59 pm
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Then why do we need coaches? Why do we need to practice at anything if we cannot be taught how to do it?

This is a really good essay, it is not a scientifically credited essay but it helps to see both side of this argument. Some of Adam's points are proven and so are some of mine and Lauren's.

http://www.kenanmalik.com/essays/olympics.html

But are blacks naturally better athletes than whites? Not necessarily. We should be highly suspicious of any and all attempts to confuse the genetics of populations and the politics of race.

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Charlene Leonard


Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:26 pm
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I never said a person cant be coached or taught. I actually said the contrary

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Adam Moore


Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:43 pm
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I did like the article though. I found very little in it that i disagreed with. I really liked the part where they talked about black people having smaller hips. When i made that comment in class everyone seemed to disagree. It made me feel like a dumbass for saying it.

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Adam Moore


Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:17 am
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I can not argue for either side because I do not know much about the subject. However I have had many african american friends, some athletic and some not, which I also have many white friends some athletic some not. So there is not a clean cut line here. Another thought, since slavery came into play in the US there has been so much genetic mixing between blacks and whites that I believe that there are not so much "black genes" and "white genes" I think there has just been a lot of mixing of the two. Just some thoughts about it!

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Emily Hartnett


Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:05 pm
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