The English soccer league champions, Manchester United, have just signed a promising young Australian star, Rhain Davis. Nothing odd about that; big teams sign young talent all the time; save that Rhain Davis is just nine years old.In consequence, his delighted and proud parents have removed their family of themselves and two other children from Brisbane and are to settle in Manchester.The youngster was spotted by a talent scout who saw a short video of the boy playing and reported this discovery to the club.A clip has been shown on TV here: it's patent that he has exceptional natural skill and balance, reminiscent of the Brazilian star Ronaldinho who was of a similar age when first noticed and filmed .
Now, does anything like this ever happen in American sports? At what age are such prodigies normally detected? And are they ever tied to a professional team in this manner? The club has the parents under contract not to allow the boy to play anywhere or otherwise than the club directs. He will join a youth academy of boys aged ten and under at the club. If he makes the expected grade he'll be apprenticed at 16, on a two year contract, and might hope to be considered for the first team squad at ,say, 19.More likely is that, at that age, he'll be farmed out to a lesser club, 'on loan' with a view to his gaining experience until, and if, he is thought good enough.
there are instances where a child prodigy is discovered. Tiger Woods with golf was filmed playing golf at a such young age. Lebron James went to the NBA straight out of high school. I'm sure there's more but I just can't think of their names right now.
Posts: 2690 | Location: USA | Registered: 06-07-02
Originally posted by coldfuse: Freddy Adu played in his first professional soccer game at 14.
Who? A quick search reveals that he had a fortnight's trial with Manchester United (above) ,who presumably didn't want him, and signed for Benfica (a Portuguese team) this year. He cost them only $2 million. To compare:at the same age, 18, Wayne Rooney cost Manchester United £23 million (c $41 million then). Incidentally Manchester United is owned by Americans. But, joking apart, it's great to see American soccer talent getting noticed (and existing). We do have American players here. A very few play in the top division of twenty clubs but none are currently first choices in star clubs in it . One thing is sure and that's that any really talented American soccer player will be found by one of the scouts for the big European clubs .Europe, and above all England (but not Scotland!), is where the money is. They hunt talent everywhere where kids play the game , even if that's in the roads of a slum or some African village, worldwide. That explains how some clubs have fielded eleven players, each of a different nationality, in their starting line up.
And another!Lewis Hamilton [pause for American 'Who he?' Does nobody follow Formula 1 there? ] leads the Formula 1 championship in his first season. He was signed to team McLaren at age 13 !There seems to be no end to 'cradle snatching' in European sport. He came to notice as a go-kart driver. As with other prodigies e.g Tiger Woods, spotting him cannot have been difficult. He started on go-karts at 8 and at 10, already far faster than drivers who were years older than he was, he was noticed by Ron Dennis, the manager of McLaren.
In his very first season in Formula 1 his,utterly unprecedented, record so far is: three wins, five seconds , one third, one unplaced.
Yes Fred, Hamilton's record so far this season is impressive. Just imagine what more he could achieve if the Grand Prix of Gibraltar was added to this year's championship? Will you be doing the commentary?
Originally posted by dance girl: Yes Fred, Hamilton's record so far this season is impressive. Just imagine what more he could achieve if the Grand Prix of Gibraltar was added to this year's championship? Will you be doing the commentary?
But first I have to get ze blood out of zis white suit
Not quite 9-year-olds... but I can remember when Gregg Jefferies (a baseball player with the N.Y. Mets) was considered the next "can't miss" prospect for Major League Baseball. Brought up by his parents on a strict exercise and diet regimen to be a baseball legend. What did he amount to... a Sports Illustrated cover (predicting the end of wooden bats) and a rather mediocre 14 seasons as utility player who never quite "shook the world".
Oh, and if I am not mistaken, Wayne Gretzky was anointed as the "someday to be the greatest player ever" before he reached puberty... and pretty much turned out to be just that. Just as Tiger Woods appeared on TV as the next great golf prodigy at age 3 (and turned out to be just thatas well).
As for signing, I would assume that baseball rules the roost for youngest signings in America (often signing high school players when other sports are not allowed to). Joe Chapman played before he was 15, Joe Nuxhall was not 16 years old before he pitched in the Major Leagues for the first time.
I hope this helps answer your question. BTW... I suspect that Steffi Graf's child with Andre Agassi will be signed to a contract before age four ! Yeah, I am being serious.
If I remember correctly, Harold Baines, an outfielder-DH with several AL teams from 1980-2001, was seriously scouted by the Chicago White Sox from his days as a 12-year old Little Leaguer. He eventually signed with the White Sox and had a good career over 22 years.
Posts: 3476 | Location: Colfax, WA--the home of the world's largest chain-saw sculpture!! | Registered: 06-03-02
Former NBA'ers Bill Willoughby, Darryl Dawkins and Moses Malone come to mind--all who came into the league right out of high school--with Malone BY FAR enjoying the most success....
A quick search reveals that he had a fortnight's trial with Manchester United (above) ,who presumably didn't want him, and signed for Benfica (a Portuguese team) this year. He cost them only $2 million. To compare:at the same age, 18, Wayne Rooney cost Manchester United £23 million (c $41 million then). Incidentally Manchester United is owned by Americans. But, joking apart, it's great to see American soccer talent getting noticed (and existing). We do have American players here. A very few play in the top division of twenty clubs but none are currently first choices in star clubs in it . One thing is sure and that's that any really talented American soccer player will be found by one of the scouts for the big European clubs .Europe, and above all England (but not Scotland!), is where the money is. They hunt talent everywhere where kids play the game , even if that's in the roads of a slum or some African village, worldwide. That explains how some clubs have fielded eleven players, each of a different nationality, in their starting line up.
