Regarded by many as the “King of Egypt”, 32-year-old Mohamed Salah is a player for Liverpool F.C., a premier league football club. Known as soccer for us in the States, Salah has been having a spectacular season as his contract for Liverpool is almost up. Salah has proven to be one of the star forwards of the league this year, working to propel Liverpool to the number-one club in the league. So far he’s played 20 matches this season, with 18 goals and 13 assists. These impressive stats give Salah an average of 0.9 goals a game. This is drastically better than last season where Salah played 32 matches with 18 goals and 10 assists, giving him an average of 0.56 goals a game. This puts in perspective the amazing season the King of Egypt is experiencing. Whether or not Salah will renew his contract with Liverpool or sign with a new club is still under discussion.
Since his initial induction into the premier league, Salah’s home nation of Egypt has highly regarded him. Undoubtedly, the outcry of support from his home nation has pushed Salah to where he is today. Outside of his outstanding performance in the premier league, Salah is the Egyptian national team captain. Although this past Olympics the Egyptian was prohibited from playing due to club rules, heading the national team demonstrates Salah’s national pride in his country and his country’s pride. Even without Salah, the Egyptian team placed 4th in the Paris Olympics, showing the powerhouse of a team Salah stands as the head of.
Salah’s example has shown the immense impact outside pride can have on the performance of athletes. It’s hard to imagine how different his performance would be today had a whole country not stood behind him. This taps into the greater question of how positive and negative feedback impacts performance and longevity. While this question is quite broad for a single article, Salah provides a strong argument for the benefits of positive feedback. By celebrating his career and using positive rhetoric such as the “King of Egypt”, Salah has only improved since joining the league in 2017.
Senior and soccer player Eli Clonch was asked his opinions on how Salah’s support translated to his performances. He responded, “I think having that big of a name and knowing he’s carrying an entire city on his shoulders when he’s playing definitely inspires him to give his all.” Clonch was then corrected that Egypt is a country, and not a city, although there are cities within Egypt. Junior Cooper Holden responded to the same question, “ Yeah, there’s a lot of people that look up to him and a lot of fans that want to be like him, so it motivates him to do better.” We then asked if outside motivation inspires greatness. “Watching players who play my position inspires me to learn their skills and techniques, wanting to apply them to my own game”, Clonch said. Overall Mohammed Salah is having a record-breaking season, pushed by his team and country as he is designated the King of Egypt.