Paralympics

After all the hype surrounding the Olympics who has been following the Paralympics? After all the pages of press Team GB got for their medal haul in Beijing many people are unaware that our Paralympians have already amassed a staggering 42 Golds, 29 Silvers and 31 Bronzes outshining the success of the Olympics.

You won’t see our Paralympic team on the front of every paper when they come back, you won’t get people rushing to see them off the plane and you won’t get people saying they should get Knighthoods, but why is this? Are they less worthy of our support and adulation? NO! If anything they are more worthy as their determination and inner strength is greater than any regular Olympian.

What’s it going to be like when it is in our country in 2012 are companies like the BBC going to make more of an effort to show it just because it is in our backyard and then revert back to their old style of coverage when it goes to another country? When the Olympics were on every time you put on the TV there was something on, when you were eating your breakfast something was on, when you were eating your lunch something was on and when you were eating your tea something was on. Now if you want to watch the Paralympics there is one, one hour show every evening but not on BBC 1 as it is has been demoted to BBC 2.

In a day and age where we should all be equal and not look at someone’s disability, race or physical appearance before the actual person inside, the media seem to be in the stone age as it treats the Paralympics like a second rate sporting event. It’s the media that have so much impact on the way we react and treat each other and with them sending these messages it’s not helping us as a society and the way we treat people.

Have you been watching the Paralympics? We would love to know your thoughts on the event and you can share them by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=559

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

Stage School

This week I want to talk about stage schools. Watching the new series “Hairspray: The School Musical” got me thinking about Stage Schools as in this series Denise Van Outen is trying to get a regular school to put on a performance of the hit musical on the West End. It’s going to be interesting to see how the young people react to their school being changed in to a stage school type environment and if kids from a regular school can pull it off.

Stage schools for many years have been seen as the place for wannabe actors, dancers and singers to attend in order to achieve their dreams of making it in these industries. They have also been seen as many as a place that is for children from well to do families who can afford the yearly fees and for children with pushy parents who will do and pay anything to get their child to the top.

I know many people who have gone through some of the top stage schools in the country and I know many people who have worked at top stage schools. The majority of these people have spoken highly of their experiences in the Stage School environment. The one thing that Stage School does is make you really aware of the competition and what standard you need to be at to get roles and contracts. The energy in these places are immense as in Stage Schools everyone has the same dreams and are all working hard to achieve them which you don’t get in regular schools.

Stage School’s are brilliant for unmotivated, undedicated and undisciplined people as the environment forces it’s pupils to be all these things with the rigorous hours put in to development of their craft and the pupils being forced to keep disciplined with the hectic timetable of lessons and workshops. Many people who go to Stage School wouldn’t spend half the time they do on their craft if they weren’t in Stage School. The problem is that when you graduate from Stage School and enter in to the workplace you need to be disciplined and motivated as there will be no one there to make sure you are.

Another thing to remember in this day and age is that Stage School isn’t just for people wanting careers in theatre, TV or Movies. Nowadays many TV Presenters and Radio presenters are coming out of Stage School. We now also have pop bands who are formed from members who attended Stage Schools.

I think it is important to remember that going to a stage school isn’t a guarantee of success and they aren’t the only way to break in to performing arts. Stage Schools do however give you high class teaching and time dedicated to your craft that you wouldn’t get anywhere else, they also give you a network of contacts, invites to auditions and people working on your behalf to get you work. So I do believe going to a Stage School can really help you get a career in performing arts but it is your natural talent and dedication that are going to get you there and these are things that you either have or you don’t.

I still believe that if you don’t go to Stage School you still can have a great chance of making it in performing arts but it just means that you need to be on your toes, scouring every source you can for auditions, trying to get your talent to the best level possible and building your own network of contacts. The good thing now is that more and more companies are looking for everyday people and holding open public auditions so it gives a chance to those who don’t go to Stage School.


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

Back to School

This week many young people up and down England will be going back to school after a six week break which has seen more rain than sun. Most young people will be wishing they had more days off and didn’t have to go back this week but that would be the same story if they went back this week or next month as everyone always wants more.

Over the last couple of weeks parents will have been shopping with their children for new school uniforms, shoes and other clothing wear as well as going to the stationeries to get all the stationery they need for their school year. As well as preparing their children with clothes and equipment for school they will be starting to prepare them mentally for school with bed times reverting back to normal and talks about what is expected of their children this year.

For young people the beginning of the school year can be a mix of emotions, gladness at going back to see friends, anxiety about a new school or a new teacher but most importantly it’s a time to think about their targets for the year and what they want to achieve out of the year. Every year spent at school is a year closer to the real world of optional education and the workplace so with every year the importance grows to do well and to be ready for the challenges after your school years are over.

What I say to young people is to sit down with their families before the year starts and set some goals for the year, goals which are going to challenge you to work your hardest but goals that you can achieve. Once this is done you need an action plan on how you are going to make this happen and you need to stick to the action plan as if the action plan is a good action plan and you stick to it you will achieve results. By having an action plan it gives us something we can look at on a week by week basis to measure our progress. This is important as many people start the school year with big dreams of what they want to achieve but after a few weeks have forgotten about what it is they wanted to achieve and have got caught up in the distractions of school life. It’s easy to put your all in on the first day and get all your homework done but what about in the fourth or the fifth month. School is a marathon and not a sprint.

Regardless of what you pack in your pencil case, regardless if you haven’t got a compass or a protractor as long as you make sure to pack your can do attitude, your action plan and your goals and live by them you will have a successful year this year.

What are your goals for this year? Are you looking forward to the year ahead at school? We want to know your thoughts and you can share them by joining in our discussion topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=548

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

Turning Ideas in to Action

We have all had ideas we have never acted upon. During our day we think of great new inventions, business ideas, ideas for TV programmes and so on but by the end of the day we have either usually forgotten about them or if we do remember them we don’t do anything about them.

Now I had a situation like this recently. I enjoy writing and spend much of my day working in a TV environment coupled with this in my spare time I enjoy playing and coaching football. Based on my experiences in football I had the idea to devise and script a new fictional TV series based around a youth football team. It wasn’t that I wasn’t passionate enough about my idea but it was just my busy lifestyle kept getting in the way of me putting pen to paper, every time I thought I had an opportunity to start, something would get in the way.

Then after months of thinking this idea through in my head, (yes even though I wasn’t writing it I was still thinking about all the characters and plot twists for my TV series idea) I picked up my TV guide to see that BBC 2 were about to launch a series based on a youth football team. Now I’m not saying my ideas were anything close to the show that ended up on BBC 2 but now with that in a prime time slot other channels aren’t going to be looking for something similar to it.

Its one thing believing in an idea but you have to make it happen, if you truly believe in an idea go out and make it happen don’t wait for someone else to get there before you. There are so many people in life with great ideas which could change the world or just merely entertain people but none of these great ideas ever see the light of day. If half of our good ideas were acted upon just imagine the world we would be living in.

Some ideas are harder to get off the ground than others but don’t let the difficulty to deter you as a good idea is a good idea regardless of how hard or difficult it is to make happen. Don’t waste your life wondering about what ifs or what could have been. By trying to make your ideas happen at least you know what would have happened and if you are successful it may change your life or if you aren’t successful you can move on to new ideas or new projects.


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

Summer Blockbuster Films

The weather may not be the best here in the UK at the moment but at least there have been some great Blockbuster movies at the cinema to keep us happy. We have had the new Indiana Jones, Wall-E, Dark Knight, Prince Caspian, Hancock, Incredible Hulk and Kung-Fu Panda to keep us entertained with what seems like a must see film being released every week.

Now I haven’t seen all on that list but from friends of mine that go regularly to cinema tell me that there have been some gems in amongst that bunch. Last weekend I went to see the new Batman film The Dark Knight which I thought was brilliant and one of the best films I have seen this year. I would have gone to see more but the ridiculously high prices at my local cinema means I am choosier about what I see so out of the list in the top paragraph I have only seen Dark Knight and Prince Caspian.

The cinema may be an expensive past time and I for one am personally more in favour of young people enjoying the great outdoors over the summer but with the current weather as it is I hope young people have been enjoying these films. Watching films can help inspire young people and really help develop their creativity as well as giving them some escapism from problems they may be going through.

I am also loving the rise of Superhero films over the last few years with Spiderman, Superman and Batman all having major box office successes. In a world where we seem to have less role models and with the lines between good and bad getting blurred it is good to have films which really bring the ideals of character and the battle between good and bad to the forefront. Young people shouldn’t be inspired to copy or imitate the actions of superhero but be inspired by their character traits and how they act as it’s their courage, bravery, dedication and their good citizenship which are the skills which make them a true superhero not the amount of buildings they can jump off or what villains they can derail.

What have been your favourite summer blockbusters? We at Talented Young People want to know and you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=517

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