By Travis Brooks

Too often I see kids touted as the next big thing for their sport. Comments like: “This kid is so good”, “They’re going to play for Australia”, “they’re in a class of their own”, and so the list goes on, are common claims made by people.

I remember as I was growing up playing against kids who I had only heard rumours about. Some of the kids lived up to those rumours, others were just that, a rumour. I find it difficult to understand how someone can say that at around 13 years of age, this kid is going to be the next big thing.

My experience tells me that there are quite a few factors to take into consideration when making such claims. For instance, at 13 years of age, quite obviously kids bodies are going through a fair bit of change and what you find is that some kids bodies begin to develop before others. Some kids grow, some add strength and power, some put on weight or ‘fill out’ where others have a growth spurt and begin to look ‘gangly’ in their movements. What I have noticed is that it is during these years its the kids that bodies develop the fastest are the ones that begin to see an improved performance as a result of the changes that their bodies have gone through.At 13 I made my first state team and can remember having some interesting discussions at training. One of the boys in the team had a full chest of hair and was already shaving, something that I didn’t have to worry about for at least another couple of years!This kid was a ‘man-child,’ and if not our best player, then at least in the top 3. He was much taller and stronger than any of the other kids in the team. Now that I look back on my career since retiring, its people like these kids that I wonder what ever happened to them? This kid I talk of was touted as the next ‘big thing’, but by 18 years of age he was no where to be seen….

Then there’s the late bloomer, the kid that gets to 21 years of age then comes out of nowhere to be a world beater. A bloke who is the perfect example of this is Stephen Mowlam, the goalkeeper of 2004 Olympic Games, and a member of the 2006 FIH World 11.  The ‘Gimp’ was a freak in the net with amazing reflexes that produced save after save and saw him as a constant pest to international forwards. Stephen made his first state team at 21 years of age, a rare occurence in the field of hockey, but went on to play at the highest level and reap the greatest rewards possible, Olympic Gold. He shows that if someone has their mind on achieving something and the drive to achieve it, anything is possible.

Not only is there physical aspects to a childs development that need to be taken into account as to whether or not they will become the next big thing, but there’s also social and mental issues that will see some people fall short of realising their potential.

As a player reaches their later teen years, the social scene presents many issues a player will need to navigate in order to become the best they can be. From alcohol, recreational drugs and parties to peer pressure, I have seen all these issues result in what I call a ‘waste of talent’ occuring. The major factor in a player touted as the next big thing, actually becoming the next big thing, is in fact the player themselves and their attitude and drive to want to get there.

Many kids who have been identified to have talent at a young age and destined to make it to the elite levels, lose a perspective of where their performances are really at. Whilst the kid may be a world beater at the level they are playing at, they develop habits that are destructive in their development in the sport. For example a kid who is the best in their team who regularly runs from one end of the field to the other with the ball executing fantastic dribbling skills, misses out on developing other key areas of their game such as awareness for other players around them and the ability to execute the numerous types of passes. Whilst the kid may dominate their age group for a number of years, as they get older and the kids around them get smarter, they are going to need a much more rounded game than the one that they are currently executing and if this hasn’t been developed as throughout their career, they will find that playing field is eventually levelled!

So what’s the trick to helping kids realise their potential in a sport he/she is playing? Well I’d follow these simple steps:

1. Enjoyment- make sure whatever they are doing they enjoy it. If a kid isn’t enjoying what they like, then when push comes to shove and they require extra work to get to where they want to get to, because of the enjoyment factor they will be more inclined to knuckle down and get stuck into it.

2. Rounded Development- ensure that a kid constantly works on their ‘weaknesses’ in their game. If they have great ball skills but poor vision, at training put them in situations where they can develop these abilities and once this takes place, challenge them to put it into practice during a game.

3. Keep it Real- if a kid is touted as the next big thing and is dominating at their age group, compare them to the next age group and beyond to see where they are really at. This will ensure that they are always progressing their development and heading in the right direction. Its easy for a kid to believe the hype that they are actually good and loose perspective of where they are at and actually how much work there is to do to get to where they are ‘categorised’ as going! If they aren’t world beaters at 15 years of age, don’t panic, as long as they are developing their whole game (as described above) they put themselves in a great position that when their body fully develops and their mind matures, they will have every chance to reach their potential.

In finishing I’m not against kids being touted as the next big thing, inevitably many of the kids describe as this go on to achieve at this level. To me its more about keeping things in perspective as too often I see kids make the wrong decision for their development because they believe their own hype. I also don’t like it when a I see a kid that has everything going for them lose hope of achieving their potential or ‘dream’ just because their body hasn’t yet gone through their its development phase. Remember we are all unique characters and there’s no one set path that one has to follow in reaching their potential.

This article was written by Olympic Gold medalist Travis Brooks and is reproduced with his permission from his website Brooks 24.