Being an athlete is hard work. It takes years of dedication, commitment and facing adversity to become a professional. To many, athletes are inspirational and can make a great role model for kids. Successful athletes usually possess characteristics that are beneficial inside and outside of sports, such as hard work, determination and discipline. Athletes often represent something more than just a person who plays a sport. They represent a whole city, a whole organization and in some cases a whole generation. 

Sophomore Cole Guerrero, a junior varsity soccer and baseball player, has always looked up to former Warriors star, Klay Thompson. Guerrero and his family are members of the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon, California and before Thompson left the Warriors, he too was a member of the club.

“Every once in a while, every member [of the yacht club] would get an email about who the new members of the club were. So one day, my parents checked their email and saw that Klay Thompson had become a member. After a couple of days, my family decided to go to the club for dinner, and luckily the Chief Executive Officer of the club is a good friend of ours and he told us that Klay Thompson was there. He said Klay was down by the boats and that we could go say hi, so we did and we had a conversation with him and took a photo,” Guerrero said.

Thompson is a key icon not only for the National Basketball Association (NBA) but also for the Bay Area. Thompson spent 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors where he won four NBA championships, was a five-time all-star and was named twice to the all-NBA team. He was given the nickname“Captain Klay,” which was fitting as he enjoyed boating on the San Francisco Bay and was a tremendous teammate and leader of the Warriors.

“When my brother and I went down to the dock to say hi to him, it was a really cool experience and he was a really cool dude. Since then, I’ve thought of Klay as a role model due to his actions of being so outgoing and nice when talking with us,” Guerrero said.

Thompson has been a top shooting guard in the NBA for over a decade and is a very talented player that many take note of. When approaching Thompson, Guerrero asked for inspiration for his upcoming game.

“Klay also shared some experiences he had during some of his games and taught us some tips that we should work on for me and my brothers’ basketball game,” Guerrero said. 

Although Thompson is no longer a member of the Golden State Warriors, Guerrero, along with many other Warriors fans, still admires Thompson because he did so much for the game, the team and the community throughout his tenure in Golden State,

“Even though he’s now on the Dallas Mavericks, me and my brother will always look up to Klay,” Guerrero said.

Most athletes care just as much about the fans as they do the game. Without the fans, athletes would have nobody to play in front of, and without fan interest and involvement, there would be no sports. This is a large reason why many children and sports fans look up to athletes who represent the sport and the city they play for.

Junior and varsity baseball player Willy Steele, a lifelong A’s fan, was lucky enough to have the opportunity to step on the very same field that he grew up watching his favorite players play on.

“I’ve been an A’s fan pretty much my whole life, and to be able to be in my favorite stadium [the Oakland Coliseum] and see my favorite team and my favorite players take batting practice was special to me,” Steele said.

Steele is saddened by the Athletics moving to Las Vegas, but he will still continue to support the players and remain a fan of the A’s. 

“Currently, I look up to Esterury Ruiz and Lawrence Butler. Those are some of my favorite players on the A’s because they play with a swag that not many players have. I try to replicate what they do when I play baseball,” Steele said.

Steele was lucky enough to watch members of the A’s hit batting practice up close on the field as they warmed up for the game. He was able to watch players such as Seth Brown, Daz Cameron and Nick Allen warm up before their game against the Angels back in 2023. Steele was even able to receive a ball from a coach of the Los Angeles Angels during his visit to the Oakland Coliseum. 

“I was able to get a ball, not from a player but one of the coaches on the Angels. It was a cool experience,” Steele said.

Athletes have an important role in the lives of the youth. They inspire kids how to play sports, display their unique personalities to their fans and demonstrate a drive that many fans share and aspire to accomplish. Being an athlete not only is a goal for many kids but also something that many kids use as their personality as they try to follow in the footsteps of their role models and aspire to follow their dreams of one day playing professional sports.