Most sports stars have been working for their achievements in sports since childhood. Many of them were born into sports families and dynasties. But there are few athletes who became professionals in a sport in adulthood.
Features of Professional Sport
Sports in general and professional ones seem to be the same because both of them are about practicing physical activity in order to achieve particular goals.
Professional sports are more about money and investments than ordinary sports. Athletes receive payment for their performance, and the most successful one can bring more investment for the whole team or league. Marketing is also common in professional sports. For example, IMA Financial Group has become the first jersey patch partner of the Colorado Avalanche Hockey Team. Now the team will wear the name of the group on their sweaters during the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 seasons.
Sports Betting in Colorado has become popular among professional sports lovers about 5 years ago. There are plenty of professional sports to bet on. Nowadays, bettors can choose not only which sports they will bet on today but also through what bookmakers they will bet.
Another thing that differentiates professional sports from ordinary ones is a huge fandom around athletes, leagues, and sports itself. For example, Michael Jordan is one of the most productive and famous players in the world of basketball in general and of the NBA in particular. The NBA gathers millions of people near TV or in sports bars to watch their favorite games, make odds on the best player of the game, and look at how a professional team is playing.
There is a huge amount of mass media around professional sports. Every match or game should be broadcast all around the world and be available online. Every famous coach and athlete should be interviewed before games. The commentary of the games and matches should be play-by-play without delays.
The economic impact of professional sports is also remarkable. They provide society with working places like maintaining and leading stadiums, work in bars and restaurants, and produce and sell merchandise. Moreover, professional sports help cities gain profits themselves.
There is a wide range of data on the Net about how to become a professional athlete and how to make your hobby like playing soccer after boring office work into your real job. There are as many stories of success or failure as there are in the world.
Let’s discover 3 stories of athletes who became popular and increased sports skills in the elderly, whose path was difficult and unpredictable.
Vince Papale
Papale’s story is so amazing that it turned into a movie called “Invincible”, where Mark Wahlberg played him.
Vince Papale was going to college like any other teen. After graduation, he became a teacher. In his free time, he played football for the Aston Green Knights and the Philadelphia Bell.
During his play in the Philadelphia Bell, Papale appeared to be under the attention of the Philadelphia Eagles.
He played 41 games as a member of special teams and a wide receiver.
Junior dos Santos
Dos Santos and his two siblings lived with their mother after his father left them in the mid-1990s. At the age of 10 he started to work to help family.
Then he practiced capoeira in his teenage years. Only at the age of 21, Dos Santos started doing jiu-jitsu.
He won a few tournaments in Salvador after only 6 months of training. A famous boxing coach Luiz Carlos Dórea recognised a talent in Dos Santos and started to train him in 2008. Since then a boxing career Dos Santos has began
In 2008, Dos Santos debuted for the UFC and right in the first round he beat one of the best athletes at the time, Fabricio Werdum.
Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson with his height of 6 feet 10 inches was never thought of becoming a baseball player. He simply studied in college and lived the life of an ordinary man.
At the age of 25, he was drafted by the Montreal Expos and his career in the MLB started.
In 2001, he became a World Series champion with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Closing Words
Such people and their stories show us that it’s never too late to change something in your life and surely it’s never too late to do sports.
