Many would say that those who are focused on life aims such as earning a Nobel Prize or winning an Olympic gold has scant time for the fashion of the high streets. They do not pay much attention to what is hot couture or what is this year’s summer collection. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact these people go many steps further and create a new style and niche for themselves. Some sportspersons wear gear that is seemingly, as far from the playing field as is an LBD and is peculiar to boot. This fashion style has grabbed the eyeballs of the onlookers and has invoked mixed reactions. But it has not gone unnoticed by anyone.
Some of the constraints that people participating in games and sports have to keep in mind often curbs or puts a stop to their imaginative side when it comes to gearing up for their favorite sport. The main constraint is the word of the sponsors who have the last say in what a sportsman or woman has to put on as jerseys or sports clothes. So, those competitive people that do not yet have sponsors have the freedom to wear whatever their heart desires.
Case in point is the 23 year old Dartmouth graduate, Alexi Pappas. She is a track and field person specializing in the 3000m steeplechase. People who attended the Stanford Invitational meet could talk of nothing else after the race where Pappas raced wearing homemade polka dot racing stripes as compared to the usual standard racing kits the others wore. To put greater distance between her and her competitors, she also had a picture of a flying horse pinned on her chest. She wore that because her brother had designed the horse and that was the greatest patronage she could ever want.
Apart from this turn out, she has attracted attention otherwise as well when she ran wearing a vest resembling the Spiderman costume. While it can be attributed by many pundits as a ploy for attention and a strategy for distracting opponents, it cannot also not be negated that a sportsperson also has personal choices and can choose to put his or her own stamp and signature on her profession. So, not having a sponsor is not a very bad thing if one has the imagination to make up for the lack of a big brand on one’s chest.
