We celebrate the amazing feats of Australian sportspeople as well as any country in the world. But being good at sport does not always equate to being a good person.
As many of us wake up to the news of Nick Kyrgios reaching the semi finals of Wimbledon there is a growing sense of unease among many of us. We are celebrating a petulant man child compounded by the news of an alleged assault and upcoming court case.
There are so many examples of his on court tantrums, bad sportsmanship and crass behavior. Many people are saying it's great for tennis, tennis needs personalities, it has become to staid. In Nick's own words at a recent Wimbledon press conference he said, "all publicity is good publicity, isn't it?" But is it? Or are we all condoning really awful actions because someone is highly skilled. If this happened in your workplace I doubt they would be nominated for employee of the month.
After winning his quarter final match, and being asked about the assault allegations he downplayed any affects it had on his match.
"[It] didn't really affect me at all, to be honest with you," Kyrgios said.
This comment is simple but multi-faceted. On the one hand it demonstrates the focus on the task at hand and on the other the ability to dismiss potentially harmful, albeit alleged behaviour and assault allegations.
If we want to be better as a society and not just virtue signal, we need to live what we preach and demonstrate the values we want to see. We can't celebrate people because of their skills and put aside who they are as a person. It's the height of hypocrisy.
As a man, as a parent, as a partner I cannot celebrate someone that I wouldn't want around my family, and I won't.Good luck Nick, not so much in sport, but in growing up as a person. I truly wish that for you. You don't represent me nor your country. You represent yourself and not in a great light.
By Paul Frederickson
Twitter: @paul_football
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