Child Champions – Where are they now?

Trophy chasing and medal hunting at young ages is frivolous at best and harmful to the long-term development of the athletes. Child champions and age group record holders do not have a good track record of long-term success. Undue emphasis on results gives the youngster and their entourage a distorted sense of their actual abilities, value and self worth, which seems to stifle the desire to keep working to improve. The prevalent attitude among age group champions is why do I have to work harder I am already the best. This is a tough one to counter. Then it catches up with them two or three years later when the late developer who has kept working passes them by and now there is a huge attitude problem as well as a limited possibility of making up for the work that was not done. The competitive life of age group champions is historically very short. Very few go on to latter success. Philosophically it is very important to measure success not just through competitive results but also by producing better people with sport as a vehicle for that. Delight in the experience and the lessons learned, not everyone can be an Olympian or professional athlete.