A Chance To Shine
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ProCricketer1982

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Re: A Chance To Shine
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2013, 01:03:51 PM »
Quote from: stevat on May 23, 2013, 12:56:22 PM
You sort of suggest that there are missed talents in football too, perhaps as a nation we aren't very good at identifying talent.  Also, identification of talent should be irrelevant, it upsets me that late developers are denied opportunities to improve by playing against their peers after the early developers are declared as being talented and so are no longer exposed to the riff raff.

In cricket you need natural talent, but essentially the more you play (any racquet sport too), the better your hand-eye coordination and ultimately the better your performances.  The fact that certain schools don't encourage exposure to our great sport sickens me somewhat - how many kids out their with cracking reflexes and decent technique are just in need of better coaching and more exposure to the game to be quality players?

Every sport in this country (and others) misses MOST of the talent there is. That could be due to the people not ever taking up the sport, might be the teachers/coaches not recognising the talent (maybe favouring someone else in their side etc), or maybe they are talented but lack the physical attributes (ie they might be fat) or even have serious injury.  As for late or early bloomers well that's been going on forever and to me all clubs need to do is remain true to the fairness of sport and NEVER write a player off as 'only second team, third team, fouth or not good enough'. GIve everyone a go and if they improve through hard work and coaching then give them a FAIR crack at it. See what happens.

In sport there are far to many players who have ego's who will 'only play first team' or who are regarded by their club as undropable when there are other players capable of playing just as well already and potentially could be far better. Until we as a nation change attitudes on selection and coaching we won't change the identification of talent as selection is done at the under 11/12/13/14/15/16/17 age groups and so immediately excludes players who maybe have more potential than the ones selected to open the batting/bowling.
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trypewriter

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Re: A Chance To Shine
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2013, 01:47:04 PM »
Quote from: ProCricketer1982 on May 23, 2013, 01:03:51 PM
Every sport in this country (and others) misses MOST of the talent there is. That could be due to the people not ever taking up the sport, might be the teachers/coaches not recognising the talent (maybe favouring someone else in their side etc), or maybe they are talented but lack the physical attributes (ie they might be fat) or even have serious injury.  As for late or early bloomers well that's been going on forever and to me all clubs need to do is remain true to the fairness of sport and NEVER write a player off as 'only second team, third team, fouth or not good enough'. GIve everyone a go and if they improve through hard work and coaching then give them a FAIR crack at it. See what happens.

In sport there are far to many players who have ego's who will 'only play first team' or who are regarded by their club as undropable when there are other players capable of playing just as well already and potentially could be far better. Until we as a nation change attitudes on selection and coaching we won't change the identification of talent as selection is done at the under 11/12/13/14/15/16/17 age groups and so immediately excludes players who maybe have more potential than the ones selected to open the batting/bowling.

A wise old cricketer once said to me: 'every dog has its day'. So true. I remember a club stalwart who was only ever picked as a very last resort, but turned up every week largely to help with teas and to umpire. He'd no pretensions to ability, and in truth, he was correct. But when his day did come, going in during an embarrassing collapse, he flayed 90 not out that any batsman would have been proud of... then didn't get picked again the next week...
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Papa

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Re: A Chance To Shine
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2013, 08:20:38 AM »
There are enormous (cricketing and non-cricketing) advantages bestowed upon UK children whose parents are able to purchase a private education for their kids. Sports scholarships allow some cricketing talent to breach the class divide, access the elite system, but such places are few and far between. Cricket clubs do what they can, but how many clubs have pitches of standard found in private schools and coaches who are able to devote high attention to individuals?

So naturally, in the current system, children of wealthy parents will have huge advantages over the poorer kids. The rich kids will get a better coach-player ratio, better facilities, better equipment, and grow up in an environment of achievment and aspiration. The best ‘poor talent’ will still shine though (you can’t buy motivation, determination, perserverence, practice, and pushy parents), but the pool will be smaller and barriers to overcome larger.

Wouldn’t it be great (for cricket and everything else) if all private education in the UK was abolished/prohibited (along with all religious based state education!) and up until the age of 18 a combination of distance and lottery system would determine what school you went to. So schools like Eton would be opened up to kids in Slough’s housing estates - imagine all those black&asian kids having access to the luxury of Eton’s cricketing facilities!

Now that’s a move that would really make Britain ‘great’. 
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