Turning up on the day

Last weekend I was involved in a thrilling game as a coach as the football team I coach was competing in a county cup final. My team put in an amazing performance and overcame the odds to pull off a win against a very good and respected side. The whole experience got me thinking of how its not just talent which is important in things like sport and performance art but the ability to turn up on the day.

I have seen some very talented players in my footballing career who can do amazing things in training but when it comes to a competitive game they freeze up or just can’t perform at the same standard they do in training. These people are great when things are relaxed but as soon as there is some pressure on it seems their talent disappears for a minute.

To succeed in area which involve you having to give a performance you have to learn that ability to deal with the stress of performing and how not just to be able to deal with it but to do even better when the pressure is on.

In football when a team that should win a game fails to do so the manager will more often than not say their team didn’t turn up on the day and that it was the difference between winning and losing. If you are good at something people expect you to be able to deliver on a regular basis which is another pressure in itself you need to learn how to deal with but if you can do that you have the potential to go far.

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

Handling the Pressure

If you are a football fan this week you have probably been discussing the decision by referee Howard Webb to give Man United a penalty on the weekend, the Champions League or your teams battle for promotion or to avoid relegation as we near the end of the season.

The matches between now and the end of the season are a real test of players, managers and referees. This is where we get to see if they can justify their huge wages and if they can handle the pressure. It’s alright being the best player, the best team, the best coach or the best ref but if you can’t handle the pressure you’re not going to win anything regardless of how good you are. This next month is where seasons are made or broken.

In our own lives it’s our ability to handle pressure which will help get us to where we need or want to be. To get a job you will have to either go to an interview, audition or trial where you will have one chance to impress your prospective employers enough to give you the job. In life you will also always been under pressure to make the right decisions and do the right thing which when your growing up can be even harder because of peer pressure.

It is our ability to not be affected in a negative way by pressure that will help us lead a happy and fulfilled life. If you can react to pressure by trying harder and doing better then you can achieve great things. Its like over the next month in football there will be players who crack under the pressure and then there will be some that grab the headlines and score the important goals. So be the one scoring the goals and not the one cracking under pressure.

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

Premiership Football

If you’re from the UK you won’t have been able to escape all the hype and news surrounding the start of the new football season. It’s a time when football fans stop going out with the other half shopping on a Saturday and start staying in to listen to the football scores come in then later either staying in for Match of the Day or recording it whilst they are out.

Every year it seems that the hype surrounding the new season increases and this year was no different as more millions were invested in to and spent by Premier League football teams. For ninety minutes each weekend young men who are played multi millions each year are worshipped liked gods by thousands in the stands and millions watching at home. It’s no surprise then when you ask many young boys what they want to be when they grow up they will same a footballer.

The sport has got even more lucrative this year with more foreign owners with big pockets buying in to clubs in all leagues and now with another broadcaster Setanta Sports trying to break the stranglehold that Sky Sports has on Premiership coverage it means the revenues for clubs is even higher. So now I hear you ask: Why am I talking about this in my weekly Talented Young People Blog? Well here’s why.

This extra revenue and income may be good for the clubs and players finances but it increases the levels of stress and pressure put on teams who in the main consist of a high number of young talented players to achieve. The more money an owner puts in to a club the better results they want and the more they pay you as a player the better performances they want.

With the season merely three games old every game is already being held under close scrutiny by the fans, the press and the clubs with any defeat seen as a reason to sell or let go a player or a manager. This is a tough enough situation for the older experienced players to handle but for a fresh faced sixteen year old making their debut this year it’s a different story. No longer does being good count the only thing that counts is the result and based on that no matter how good your performance is it could spell trouble.

It’s not just on the TV stage that talented young footballers are affected. The lure of the money and celebrity lifestyle has put stars in the eyes of many parents and young children who all dream of that life. This has meant that the competition an the pressure to achieve and be the best has filtered it’s way down through the youth game with some big clubs running academies for players as young as eight.

Now I’m not saying young people shouldn’t have dreams as I believe young people if they have the right motivation and support can achieve anything but I’m saying that I don’t like where this high pressure situation is going. There needs to be more support out there for the ones that don’t make it as lives have been torn apart through the dream factory which is football in this country and more support for those that have made it to deal with the pressure they find themselves under because I do fear that sooner or later the pressure is going to become too much for some people.

To have your say on this week’s blog and young Premiership Footballers join in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=149

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com/

Known Talent

Following hot off the heels of the “Unknown Talent” series of blogs this week we have decided to turn our attention to talented young people who are already gaining wide attention for their achievements.

This week one of the top youngsters bagging all the headlines in the UK has to be Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo. Say what you want about some of his actions and behaviour on and off the pitch but last weekend this precocious twenty two year old showed what a talented young person can do if given the chance as he played an important part in their win over Manchester City which proved to be the decisive victory as his side Manchester United clinched the Premier League title.

When talented young people are thrust in to the limelight because of their extraordinary skills they quickly find themselves under a lot of pressure with legions of fans and legions of people that take a dislike to them. On top of this they are immediately cast as role models for the youth of today. Some young people can deal with this and have the maturity and character to handle all the aspects that go along with the life they have been given because of their skills but some young people only have their skills and don’t have the ability to deal with the other aspects.

If the talent or dream you want to pursue is going to see you thrust in to the limelight you have to not only worry about your skills being up to scratch you have to make sure you are ready to deal with life in the limelight. I know the limelight is something which is really hard to prepare for because until you have lived that life you can never fully appreciate what you are getting yourself in for. Their have been many talented people who have had the talent to compete and perform at the highest levels but haven’t had the personal skills to deal with the pressure or the lifestyle so if you have an amazing talent make sure you are ready not to throw it away.

Now going back to the issue of young people being role models. Many young people find it hard to be role models as whilst they are asking to be role models they are still developing and exploring their own character and their lifestyle so I think it is very hard to ask every talented young person to be a positive role model but we as a world need as many as we can get. I’m not saying don’t look up to other talented young people or not to be inspired or to have heroes but remember just because you appreciate the talent they have it doesn’t mean you have to live the lifestyle or act just like them. Use their abilities to inspire you, to learn from and to drive you but remember when you make it, it’s going to be your job to inspire the youth of today and tomorrow.

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com/