For NBA veteran Dwyane Wade, who was so insecure about his body as a child that he refused to swim without his shirt on, posing for the issue was a huge leap outside his comfort zone. Wade is one of 19 athletes in the ESPN the Magazine Body Issue, which hits newsstands on July 8.
"It's bigger than me showing my body off," Wade says. "That's not as important to me as telling a story of overcoming a fear. It hopefully gives someone confidence to really be their authentic self." But for NFL nose tackle Vince Wilfork, posing came easy: "I know I don't have the six-packs and the eight-packs and all that ... but I'm perfectly fine with what I am." Wilfork adds, "If people can look at me, look at a guy that's 325-plus doing an issue like this, I'm pretty sure that they might have a little confidence after seeing that it's OK to be who you are." Wade and Wilfork are joined by, among others, Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers, SUPER BOWL MVP Von Miller of the Denver Broncos, Chicago Cubs Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Jake Arrieta, three-time WNBA All-Star and 2015 MVP Elena Delle Donne, Olympians Nathan Adrian and April Ross, and U.S. women's national soccer team forward Christen Press.Image courtesy of ESPN press
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