Comments on: Sports stars start too young, retire too early

By: Bakkies

Bakkies — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 03:18:13 +0000

Add a shed load of female tennis players, Fernando Torres, and pies Wayne Rooney to that list. Hingis and Capriati are classic cases.

By: Scotty

Scotty — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:09:45 +0000

Fair enough Tom but then for Libby death isn’t a constant companion during training and competition as it is for Stoner. We have been lulled into a false sense of security, but make no mistake motorcycle racing is a dangerous business. Its not a problem for Casey yet, but the birth of the first child usuallt is a key point in the life of a bike racer.

Scotty

PS – I don’t race bikes, but I have ridden for 30+ years

By: GrantS

GrantS — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:56:53 +0000

Interesting story ! Can you start playing sport too early ?

When kids start school they start some kind of physical exertion or sport as part of their physical training and education. Where they progress to, and how quickly, is relative to how good they are (or show potential to be.) Hasn’t it always been like this ?
The only difference I can see is that now there are probably more competitors, so you need to be that much better to reach anywhere near the top and the monetary rewards are certainly far greater than ever before.

How you handle the fame, pressure, etc. is probably different for each person and is possibly the reason most sporting organizations/clubs hire appropriate personnel to advise their team members.

By: sam.gilbert

sam.gilbert — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:07:37 +0000

i agree with sports stars starting too early. robbie fowler, michael owen, harry kewell.. all injury prone because of being teenage whiz-kids, brought to the top level too early.

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:07:20 +0000

The cases of Trickett and Stoner seem a bit different; Stoner doesn’t have to endure hours upon hours of staring at a black line on the bottom of a pool for one thing…

By: Hansie

Hansie — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:27:45 +0000

In the case of Libby Trickett, it wasn’t that long ago that a swimmer aged 24 was a rarity. Not many swimmers stayed in swimming beyond about age 18 before a lot of money came into the sport.

By: David

David — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:28:26 +0000

While we all have different coping mechanisms and abilities to handle pressure, I reckon there’d be thousands of young hopefuls who’d willingly jump into Casey’s seat at Ducati. A salary most of us can only dream of, first-class travel and accommodation, celebrity, 3 months off a year, sponsor and media commitments (how hard is that, really?), and he gets to ride a motorbike very fast.
I guess what you’re getting at is that, at the top level of sport, 10 years is about the max (Casey started in Europe at 14). That sort of thinking wouldn’t cut it in the corporate world. Why do sports stars seem to feel the pressure so much more than a company director? Or at least why do they so clearly burn out?
Maybe the public expectation?
Then again, guys like Valentino Rossi/Mick Doohan didn’t have a problem, so as I said, it’s all down to Casey’s ability to handle the pressure, rather than the environment itself.