Is there any help available for sports coaching for a gifted child?

bigmomma051204

Person_one wrote: »

Four? A deep love and affinity?

I wouldn't get over excited.

PMSL! That actually made me laugh out loud!!! :rotfl::T:rotfl::T

*max*

Person_one wrote: »

Four? A deep love and affinity?

I wouldn't get over excited.

I thought exactly the same thing. He's only 4, he hasn't even played yet apart from a few goes at tapping the ball and already his mum is thinking about sponsorships...Call me cynical, but I have a feeling the coaches at the open days were trying to sell lessons by means of flattery rather than actually being amazed at a 4 year old's "gift" for a sport he has never played.

By all means, enrol him in lessons if he enjoys it and you can afford them. But nobody is going to sponsor a 4 year old. In fact, nobody sponsors anyone without some pretty decent prior achievements in the field.

Reggie_Rebel

He doesn't need specialised coaching at four, he needs a racket, some balls and a wall.

Caroline_a

I would echo what people are saying. Unfortunately, due to some of the huge football salaries and endorsements there is a misconception that if you are in the top few in a particular sport then you're going to get rich. Sadly for most sports this isn't true, and sponsorship is very few and far between even in this Olympic year!

Tennis of course is a highly paid sport at the top end, but how many other youngsters are playing without getting anything like the amounts that Murray gets? From a corporate point of view, exposure at anything less than national standard is a waste of money, so to be honest, any child under 14 is unlikely to get any help - particularly as children change size, height (which is usually of great help in sports), and also the desire to do a particular activity. British sport is littered with wonderful Juniors who never transferred to the senior level, hence why companies are reluctant to push money at them.

I would make sure that your little one isnt totally fixed to one sport - it's easy to be blinkered and you could be missing out on some great opportunities for him to compete at higher levels in different sports.

andygb

angie_baby wrote: »

If he enjoys it why not just pay the £7 a week for a lesson and see how it goes after a couple of months? I'm not an expert but any funding im sure won't happen until he knows the basics and has competed in several competitions etc. I know if you don't have the money it's hard, but maybe you can cut back somewhere for that extra £28 a month?

The problem is, that one lesson a week is not going to make any difference, because the people (parents who want to push their kids) who want to succeed will be having lessons every day.
The reason I know this, is because I played against elite sportsmen at an early age - England players, Commonwealth Games gold medallists - and their funding and preparation was far beyond what I could afford, and my parents were not interested (they just criticised me for not winning or even breaking racquets/bats), whereas theirs backed them every inch of the way, with their own money and through sponsorship.
Just look at Andy Murray, arguably our best ever tennis player, who has been given everything to succeed - equipment, travel to tournaments, training in Spain.
If you really think that you have a potential World beater, then don't penny pinch, because they will not make it. You have to support them, and spend thousands of pounds on real help.

andygb

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

He doesn't need specialised coaching at four, he needs a racket, some balls and a wall.

There is a lot of truth and good sense in that, because that is what I used to do (people in industrial units must have wondered who had drawn/painted a white line across their wall, and what the thumping noise which went on for two hours was:rotfl:), and I used to get moved on, when people got annoyed with the endless - thump, thump, thump, and the inevitable bad language when the wall won:o
I used to do that at 18, because the wall never fails to get the ball back, and the harder you hit it, the faster the wall returns it.

rainbow_791

Person_one wrote: »

Four? A deep love and affinity?

I wouldn't get over excited.

As I was reading down the comments I was waiting for someone to be this honest I have to agree, at 4 thinking about sponsorships when he has not had much experience seems mad to me. But good luck to your son

thatlemming

Unfortunately the first few years have to be self funded. I only got my first sponsorship for tennis when I was 12, my parents had funded it from the age of 5.

FBaby

Ha ha, I heard it about my DD swimming too, how amazing she was and showed great potential and talent...until I realise the coach was saying the same to almost every parent!! It's not even that he was doing it for business, just good psychology, knowing that if you boost parents' ego, you boost that of the child too.

My DD also showed some talent in tennis when she started at 4. She was just a bit quicker to grasp the basic than her friends. By the time she was 7, she was average and now at 12, she struggles to keep up with her brother who is three years younger.

As everyone has said, £7 is very average price for any activity of this sort. If your son indeed shows to be trully gifted when he is at secondary school, then there might be scolarships that could apply to.

ognum

Buy yourself a tennis racket and take him out and hit balls at him, this is exactly what Venus and Serena Williams dad did. He was not wealthy but he spent time with his kids hitting balls with them.

Most sport coaches make a big thing about saying how good any child with a small spark of talent is, of course they do, they want people doing their sport.

Find a local club and talk to the people who play there, they will help I'm sure but don't believe you have a genius until they at least play Junior Wimbledon!!!