The Superbowl

This weekend will see the Pittsburg Steelers taking on the Arizona Cardinals in what is one of the most watched sporting events in the world. For all of those not familiar with the Superbowl it is the final of the NFL competition to find out who is the best team in American Football.

The reason I want to talk about it is because in the UK we don’t really put on sporting events anywhere near the magnitude and razzmatazz of the Superbowl. At our FA Cup final the biggest domestic cup match in football as we know it we will normally have someone singing the national anthem and possibly a fly over from The Red Arrows and this is seen as big.

The Superbowl on the other hand is a weeklong event. In the build up to the match there will be press days where the media can grill the players, there will be lots of events for the fans where they can try their hand at playing some American Football an there will be entertainment shows up on with live music in the run up to the event. Across the country it will be what everyone is talking about and what all the press organisations are reporting on. This is before we have even got to the match itself. When the match is on they will have fireworks, pre-game entertainment, music and more. Before the match starts all the players are introduced and welcomed on to the pitch, at half time the pitch will be turned in to a stage where a major international star will perform the half time show and then at the end of the game there is a ceremony for the winning team.

I think the UK need to take leaf out of the American’s book and really hype the big finals like The Superbowl. The bigger and more exciting you can make the game the more young people you can inspire to take up the sport. Cup Finals should all be about capturing the imagination of the audience and making memorable events where the country comes together to watch.

The organisations behind these sports need to use them to get young people in to sport. In the run up to the event they should be running events that encourage young people to get involved all across the country and not just in the host city. Sporting bodies should be capitalizing on the attention these events get and using it to get as many young people involved in sport as possible.

I will be staying up late in the UK to watch it and even if you aren’t a fan of American Football why not give it a quick view to see what I am talking about I have many friends who aren’t fans of American Football but will tune in to the Superbowl. The NFL do a great job of promoting the sport over here in the UK and I think is a blueprint for what the English FA should be doing to promote our sport abroad.


Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Knowledge of the job market

With the global credit crunch hitting harder and with more closures and redundancies being reported everyday young peoples knowledge of the job market is becoming increasingly important.

For the college student deciding on what course to study at University they now have to start thinking about what industries are making money and which are not cutting back on jobs. Now by the time they have graduated the job market may be a different place so they always have to be aware of what is happening and what they think will happen over the next three years.

For the education leaver who is going in to the work place there is less choice around. With low skill and base level job numbers shrinking it is becoming harder to get a foot on the bottom ladder of a company and work your way up. If you are just looking to get some money or some experience again these jobs are hard to come by as now companies only want to spend money on people they think will contribute to the company and not someone they have to invest a lot of time in.

For the University Graduate there are less graduate positions available so they have to find a way of making themselves stand out from the crowd. They have to have more knowledge than the other graduates looking for those jobs and do more research to get themselves to the top of the pile, it really is survival of the fittest.

For those currently in work it is time to be thinking of ways in which you can make yourself irreplaceable in your company. It is also a time for being prepared in case the credit crunch hits the company you are working for, know what your options are and what you can do if you are made redundant.

My advice to surviving this period is to try and really master a skill whatever that may be. Companies are always going to need skilled staff to keep their company going. So whatever skill that may be you need to start really working on it and make sure you can do that skill better than anybody else.

To give us your thoughts on the credit crunch and job market why not join in our topic of the week which can be found by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=644

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Appreciation

Actress Kate Winslet has been grabbing the headlines this week for her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes after winning two awards. Her gushing acceptance speech in which she forgot the name of fellow nominee Angelina Jolie has been seen the world over and it got me thinking about my topic for the blog this week – Appreciation.

To achieve great things in life we need a strong support group around us whether that be family, friends or colleagues. These people can help you in many ways from doing small jobs for you to save you time to focus n your goal to helping you improve in certain areas of your life or your talent.

The most important thing family, friends and colleagues give is their emotional support. When you are feeling down they pick you up and when you are doing well it is their encouragement which spurs you on and makes it all worthwhile. These people are there to offer support and advice when you need it the most and to offer it from a point of view which is one of wanting you to succeed. It is their love and belief in you and knowing that you have their love and belief which helps you handle going in to interviews, auditions or trials when they can’t physically be in the room with you, when you are alone or when it all rests on your shoulders.

When you are trying to achieve your dream some of your support network may put their life on hold for you or at least rearrange all their plans so they can help you. This is why it is so important that you show them everyday that you appreciate them. You may not be able to thank them on TV with millions of people watching but you need to find ways in which to know they are appreciated. Some people may not help you if they don’t feel appreciated but most will help you without the need of being appreciated however this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t show them that you appreciate them. Showing you appreciate someone can really make their day and help inspire them in their own life.

So go out and make someone’s day go and show them that you appreciate them.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Starting the Year off Right

So you are now back at School, College, University or work and already one week of the year has passed us by. Gone are the parties and the fun of the Christmas / New Year period and if your like most you wont have a clue what you are going to do in 2009. You have probably already made new years resolutions with many people already breaking them and you may have put a few pounds on over Christmas but now is not the time to look back now is the time to start the year off right.

A lot of what you do in January can dictate how the rest of your year is going to go. Now is the time we need to get our attitude right for the year, get focused and get that determination going. We need to start setting ourselves goals and go about achieving those goals, forget about what you did or didn’t achieve last year just focus on what you can achieve this year and how you can achieve what it is that you want to achieve. If we can’t get that determination and that focus going now its going to be harder for the rest of the year and if you do manage to find it later on you will have already wasted so much time.

Now is the time to get your diary out and plan your year. Start putting in all the things you have planned and if you don’t have enough things planned start planning things. To succeed in 2009 you are going to have manage your time and make the most out of every minute you have.

As we start the year it is time to cast off all those things about us which are stopping us from achieving and making those changes in our lives and in our attitude that will help us become more successful. This is the year to make the changes in your own life that make a big impact.

What are your plans for the year? We want to know what goals you have set yourself and you can let us know by joining in our topic of the week which can found by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=631

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com