One Medal

Whenever the Summer Olympics are on there is always great talk and debate about team GB’s medal Haul, whether they didn’t do as well as people expected or if they do better than people expected. Its always front-page news. So why is this not the case for the Winter Olympics?

Yes it is great to see Amy Williams getting all the attention which is what she deserves but at the same time there should be front-page coverage and debate about our lack of medals. If we had come home from the summer Olympics with just one medal there would be an outcry but instead we seem to just be happy we got a medal at the Winter Olympics.

If this isn’t an alarm bell that more money needs to be spent on winter sports I don’t know what is. All I can hope is that over the next four years more money is spent on winter sports and that we see the fruits of it at the next Winter Olympics. If there is already a lot of money being thrown at it then someone needs to sit down and look at what we are doing wrong and how that money could be used more wisely.

Great Britain maybe a small island but it’s a proud island and we didn’t come back with much pride from the Winter Olympics.

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

Winter Olympics

I am going to go out on a limb here and say I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer Olympics. I have enjoyed watching the Ice Skating and Snowboarding events and can’t wait for the Bobsleigh.

One thing which I find impressive is when countries who aren’t famed for their snow, ice or winter conditions do well at the winter sports like, China, Germany etc. the Winter Olympics also give the chance for smaller countries who may not do well at the summer Olympics to excel like the Scandinavian countries.

In British schools as part of PE youngsters get taught track and field events in the summer but in the winter its team sports like Rugby / Football / Hockey and Netball that get taught, I can’t think of many schools that would offer skiing or ice skating. Now I know this is because we don’t have the conditions and these sports can be very expensive to deliver but I think more needs to be done to encourage young people in to winter sports. This can be done through the use of ice-rinks, dry ski-slopes etc. I personally would have loved to have had the chance at school to do Snowboarding.

I hope the Winter Olympics can capture the imagination in this country and encourage more young people to give winter sports a try. I also hope that sporting bodies, education bodies and the government can put more money in to the development of winter sports in the UK, now that I care about how many medals we win any Olympics it would just be great to see young people getting the chance to participate in winter sports and excelling in them.

The Winter Olympics is the subject of our weekly topic, and you can share your views on the games by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=804

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

Making a Splash

Tom Daley the young cheeky chap from Plymouth has made headlines this week by winning Gold at the World Diving Championship. Tom was tipped for great things before the Olympics last year and when he failed to deliver a medal many people saw this as a let down. Don’t get me wrong there was still a strong contingent backing Daley but some people started to questions his ability after all the hype that had surrounded him but hopefully now he had put some of those criticisms to rest.

Now To may not have a cult like following like some young pop stars or have the paparazzi chasing him wherever he goes but he is a poster child for UK sporting stars. If it had been someone say in there twenties that had won the gold at The World Diving Championships I don’t think they would have got the coverage that Tom has this week and if Tom hadn’t competed in it I don’ think many of us in the UK would have known that it was taking place.

Earlier this year Tom was making headlines for non-sporting reasons when a story of the bullying he was receiving at school made the national press. He was subsequently moved schools because of it but this brought up a whole range of opinions from the general public. Some saying he shouldn’t get special treatment and that it was part of life from some asking why in today’s society do we have to pick on someone just because they are successful. If this had been any Olympic star accept Tom Daley this wouldn’t have made press or if it had been any child on your own street that this was happening to it wouldn’t have made press.

If the pressure that was on him to bring home the Gold in 2012 before wasn’t enough now after winning Gold at the World Diving Championship people will now be expecting him to do it at the Olympics. The fact that the Olympics are three years away and people are already bigging him up shows the pressure that is on. Anything could happen in those three years, Tom could get injured, a new face may come on the seen, Tom may stop diving, who knows. All I know is that I don’t think we have seen the last of the press interest in his life which I think is only going to get worse the closer we get to the Olympics.

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

Can you put an age limit on talent?

After my blog last week on the Olympics I want to follow it up with a blog which has a slight link to the Olympics. This weeks blog is about finding out at what age are young people ready to realise their full potential and talent in their area of expertise. We have youngsters in the Olympics at the age of fourteen, sixteen year old football stars and young actors & actresses on our screens but do we need to put more age boundaries in place to control at what age young people can compete and partake in certain things?

This argument was highlighted by Team GB’s youngest Olympian Tom Daley. In the year running up to the Olympics people were talking him up as a possible Gold Medal winner but when he made his debut in the synchronized dive he and his partner finished in eighth and last place. Tom has an individual dive event still to go at the time of writing this blog but if he isn’t successful in that then there is going to be much pressure on his young shoulders. After being talked up like he was he has had added pressure to perform and if he started believing the hype he will be very disappointed when he gets back home. This fourteen year old will also have to deal with any taunts from his jealous peers at school who may make fun of his achievements.

In sports if you are going to let young people compete you have to create an age requirement which is based upon giving them the best chance to compete physically with their competition. This has to be dependent on the sport in question as some sports are more or less physically demanding than others. This age bracket doesn’t mean everyone should compete when they get to that age or that they should compete it should just be there as a minimum.

Next you have to look at if the young person is emotionally strong enough and mature enough to deal with reaching that level with their talent. There is a difference to entering a sporting event for individuals than representing your county on the biggest stage like the Olympics. So you may be ready to perform at a national or international event which doesn’t have much press coverage and where you are only competing for yourself but that doesn’t mean you are ready for the Olympics. Your talent may be good enough but your ability to handle the situation may not be good enough.

This is the same in the arts as a young person maybe emotionally ready and mature enough to handle performing at a small local venue but not ready for a huge arena with lots of press coverage and thousands of fans. Young people may be to handle and understand their ability but may not be able to deal with the adoration of fans properly without it going to their head or changing the way they feel or act.

If you look at the English Premiership football league it puts this discussion under the microscope as some teams are ready to put their youngsters in the starting line up at sixteen where some will keep them on the bench and use them sparingly to build up their experience. Again there isn’t a one size fits all approach and each young people with talent needs to be handled individually as it may be that bringing someone on to early or late in their career could have a big negative effect on their long term success.

So in summing up yes I do feel that for some things there needs to be an age bracket but on the whole it needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. Although Tom Daley may not have been as successful as he hoped it could be this experience at this age which really sets him up for a long and successful career and without it his career may not have gone on to such future heights so this needs to be taken in to consideration as well. I think people need to stop expecting so much from young people with talent but instead give them the support they need to grow and develop.

We here at Talented Young People would love to know your thoughts on this. At what age should young people be allowed to compete at the Olympics? Can you put an age limit on talent? Join in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=534


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

The Olympics

After much press and politics surrounding the Olympics it finally kicked off last Friday with another brilliant and interesting opening ceremony. In this blog I am going to be talking about my thoughts on the Olympics as a whole and not about the rights or wrongs of holding this years event in Beijing.

I have always been a fan of the Olympics because it is one of the very few sporting events left which is not about celebrities. Yes some people go on to fame after success in the Olympics but for the main they are hardworking everyday people who have dedicated themselves to their sport and sacrificed a lot to be there. These are people that the countries can really get behind and identify with.

The other reason I like the Olympics is because it brings sports that don’t get much media attention in to the spotlight, sports you wouldn’t normally see on a sports channel or featured on the back page of a newspaper like Canoeing or Badminton. On the flipside however I’m not a fan of them having sports like football and tennis in which feature professional athletes who get huge sums of money every year. To me the Olympics should be about putting the spotlight on those athletes that don’t get the chance to make much money or get much notoriety.

The Olympics also provides us with a great chance to get behind our home countries and brings the country together as the Olympics spills in to everyday conversation. If your country is doing well it also gives you the feel good factor which makes the country a nicer place to live in.

Above all the Olympics is inspirational. It exposes young people to new and different sports. If your country does well at a sport it encourages lots of people to take it up. For any young sportsmen and women there is nothing more inspiring than watching the Olympics with the opening parades, the support and podium ceremonies.

I hope this Olympics encourages more and more young people to get in to sport.

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

Sports Funding

It’s a big year for sport this year with the Olympics this summer as well as other big events like the football European Championships. Sports are making big headlines at the moment with the Formula 1 season kicking off the last weekend and the upcoming climax of the premiership football season.

This week there was some great news for young up and coming football players (or soccer players as otherwise known) in England as the FA announced plans to pump two hundred million pounds in to grassroots football. Many organisations and government parties have promised ideas like this for many years but now finally the FA are making a heavy financial investment.

After much time spent working and playing in the football community I am all too aware of the problems that exist. Young people need safe and proper facilities and staff in order to help their development. However in my time spent in youth football I have seen a huge range of standards of facilities with any clubs not having any facilities at all and just a pitch to play on.

Money needs to be invested in facilities and the education of coaches, staff and volunteers associated with football clubs. So many clubs are run by parents or adults who have had no access to training. If we can raise the quality of coaching staff we will raise the quality of players being produced. However the cost of courses are putting many people off as individuals and clubs can’t justify paying for the courses with so many other outgoings.

As well as training players to be the best they can be the FA need to encourage young people in to other career routes which can get you in to football. We need more young coaches, more young referees, more young groundsmen and more young first aiders. Not every young football player is going to go and play football for a living but if you can teach them more skills and show them different experiences it may help them make a career out of football.

This year with all the sport going on there is a great opportunity to us these sporting events to help tackle obesity and to help create a fitter and healthier nation and football is one of the many sports we can use to do that. As shown by Sports Relief on BBC last week you can do great things through sport and sport has a great power to change lives we just need to use it right.

To have your say on sports funding join in our topic of the week on the forums by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=389

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com