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

Facebook Fatigue

The last two years has seen an explosion of social networking activity on the Internet. With websites like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook attracting millions of users who log on each day to check their profiles, upload photos and talk with their friends.

Over recent weeks Facebook has reported in a downturn in activity on their website and it is lead to people claiming “Facebook Fatigue.” With so much hype about Facebook and so much to do on their websites with millions of applications that you can download or get invited to take part in people are now starting to get bored of their product or are starting to use it in a less active way.

I think social networking has its good points and its bad points. I think social networking websites are great for developing confidence and networking skills as well as sharing information and getting back in touch with old friends. However instead of using social networking as a tool and part of your life people over the last couple of years have let social networking become their life with a high percentage of their daily interaction with other people happening through social networking and not real life. Some users have not been able to go five minutes without checking their profile to see who has commented or left them a message it has become like an addiction and a way for people to waste time.

The biggest concern I have with social networking is the security implications of using them. if used sensibly and run sensibly these sites can be safe places but with so much information being posted and made freely available to the general public it is now becoming too easy for people who you wouldn’t want getting your information getting hold of it. Also on the security side it is now all to easy to set up an account in which the user can pretend to be someone they are not in order to engage in criminal activity.

I think social networking can help make your social life more efficient but this is if only used correctly and as a tool. I think that social networking needs to be made a lot safer before I would encourage children to use it as at the moment there are too many dangers. Regardless of how many good points there are if there is one small danger to young people I would not recommend it.

Social Networking is now big business with Facebook, Bebo and MySpace all making millions of pounds each year so there are always going to be new companies trying to break the market so like Facebook has grown over the last year I’m sure next year there could be a new major player.

As well as the companies that provide social networking not getting complacent companies that market through social networking or have social networking pages also have to guard against compliancy. Social networking pages are a great publicity tool but you have to make sure you are getting the most out of your page and providing a service that your viewers want. Also social networking is great for young bands as they can now have their own page for free which can easily be updated and that they can drive viewers to which is another way it can be used for good reasons.

So overall I say yes there is a place for social networking but don’t let it rule your life. Customize the experience to suit your needs.

To share your thoughts on social networking come and check out our topic of the week on our forums by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=375

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

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com