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

Inspiration - Live Events

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go and see Kelly Clarkson in concert at my local music venue. Now for those of you who don’t know who she is she was the winner of the first series of American Idol and has since gone on to produce three albums winning many awards in the process. Now Kelly Clarkson may not be your scene but the whole experience of going to live events go me thinking.

Now we all have our favourite artists when it comes to music who we enjoy listening to or in my case singing along to, on top of this many of us are inspired by our favourite artists through their music and their personality. For me though there is nothing more inspiring than going to see someone perform live. Actually seeing someone with our own two eyes in the flesh and listening to them performing live creates strong emotions, feelings and memories which can’t be created by listening to them on CD or on the Radio.

I am a highly motivated person and I don’t need concerts or famous people to inspire me but I always come out of live events like these feeling even more inspired than when I went in. I am sure many people share this feeling after they come out of the event but the problem is for most of them that it is short lived and they don’t harness the inspiration. I wish everyone could get the chance to go to live events like concerts and get these experiences as an event like a concert is such a tangible way to show someone what can be achieved through hard work. If you see an artist have a CD in the shops you notice it but when you are at a concert you can see first hand how people react to them and you can feel their success.

This is the same for other live events like theatre and sports. Whatever it is you follow or whatever it is you enjoy watching or listening to there is nothing like the live experience. It’s at these events where celebrities and professionals get to be the most inspiring and where they probably inspire the most amount of people who actually go and do something with that inspiration. These events are especially inspiring if you don’t go to gigs all the time or don’t go to a football match every week, it is a more memorable and special night if you have had to wait for or save up to go and see something you really want to see.

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Award Ceremonies

February seems to be awards month with many awards evenings, events and presentations taking place. If you live in the UK you will have been aware of the Brit Awards which recognises musical talent in the UK and if you live in the US you would have been aware of the Oscars event which recognises talent in the film industry.

Now award shows are great especially when it is you that is getting an award. Watching awards is also fun if you follow the industry in which the awards are taking place as you always have your own personal favourites that you think should or should have won.

The one problem I have with awards is that in many award shows you never know what actually happened for that person act or piece of media to get the award. They say things like judges or the board voted but you are always left wondering if an act deserved to win or if politics, personal agendas or power struggles behind the scene had anything to do with it. That is why I prefer awards that are decided by the fans. It is the fans that put the money in to an industry and keep it going and they are the ones that are important. Films and music are made to attract an audience so it is the general public who should be the judge.

The thing that got me thinking was that in an arts and entertainment world how do you decide who should win an award how do you work out who the best actor / singer is or what the best film is. In sporting competitions its easy to see who the best is as they can compete against each other and the result is dependant on their own performance not influenced by other people. In arts and entertainment you can work out who the most popular artists or films are by sales but how can you say who is the best? It is all subjective as different people like different things so to have awards which are best this or best that I think are wrong as really they are just the people who the judges liked the most.

Here is another thought if someone is more popular than another does it mean they are more talented than less popular artists? If this is true are the most talented people already established artists or are there a horde of people more talented than popular acts who nobody knows about?

To share your thoughts on awards or awards ceremonies join in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=366

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The BAFTA's

In what was tipped to be the biggest film awards night of the year before the Writers Guild of America called an end to their strike this week to safeguard the Oscars Ceremony the BAFTA’s took place last weekend.

Now for those of you who don’t know BAFTA stands for British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Now I am all for awarding and celebrating talent, brilliance and creativity but my problem with these awards is that there were only a few British nominations in the main categories and even fewer British winners.

In today’s world we need to continue to improve cohesion and links between countries but that doesn’t mean we should promote those other countries talent before promoting our own talent. The American awards evening the Oscars promote American film talent before any other country so why can’t we do the same with British film talent in Britain. Yes by all means have an international category but more needs to be done to promote home grown talent with more categories that are strictly for British talent.

The one problem at the moment is that many films are being branded or referred to as British like Bourne Ultimatum, Harry Potter and James Bond when they are funded, directed or produced by American companies or talent. Now I know American film houses have the money and the power in the international film market which isn’t going to change but I feel British film is at an important stage where it needs to keep a foothold in the film market.

To get public interest in an awards ceremony and to have a fair representation of the last year in the film industry you have to involve the American film scene but more needs to be done to make sure these awards are used to promote British film and it not just being remembered and talked about for the American winners. The one reason I am in favour of American films and actors being recognised at the awards is if it inspires a young British viewer of the awards ceremony to get involved in film which will end up helping the British film scene in the long run.

Like I mentioned earlier the Writers Guild of America this week have come to an agreement to end their strikes. This is great news for film professionals or young people trying to get in to film as people can now start going back to work. The strike was also good for talented young writers as there is now even greater financial stability and incentives to work in the industry. Now I know we are British but like I have commented on with America having so much control if you want to become a film writer there is a good chance you will end up working with an American company at some point.

One thing that is for sure is that with the strikes and awards ceremonies the film industry is the most talked about industry in entertainment which is hopefully getting young people interested and inspired to work in the industry.

What did you think of the BAFTA’s? We here at Talented Young People want to know and you can share your thoughts by visiting our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=351

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com