in the sportlight--at the centre of attention

thank you shark! I learned more from you, but I think:

spotlight---for example, I don't want to be in the spotlight.  one doesn't have to be a movie star to be in the spotlight because this is a rhetorical device ---being exagerating in writing?  

in the spotlight is same as in the limelight,it means in the centr of attention

and in the limelight Fig. at the center of attention. (Limelight refers to an obsolete type of spotlight, and the word occurs only in this phrase.) John will do almost anything to get himself into the limelight. I love being in the spotlight. All elected officials spend a lot of time in the limelight.