For anybody interested in really getting to the bottom of this topic I urge you to read a book called Bounce
I've read it 4 times
I moved to Melbourne 6.5 years ago and whilst in Hull I coached Youth RL for 7 years and when I was the U12 coach we had 15 of the team on scholarship at FC and KR
My daughter at aged 14 was a good swimmer training 2 mornings a week at 5am to 7am and 4
Nights a week and competing most weekends
Knowing what I know now and looking at youth Tennis and RL in Aus I would have coached differently
I would have had the boys in 5 x a week at U12 and you can ask any parent of the kids I coached that those kids would have been there.
They were a great bunch of kids who lived and loved the sport and being in their team
School work was and is more importnant than sport !
Sleep is more important than sport
So going back to my point;
It's more than possible for a 14 year old to dedicate himself or herself to a sport but place it behind schoolwork and sleep and family time
Yeah sure friends have to understand their passion but something has to give if you're chasing a dream
10,000 hours of purposeful practice doesn't happen doing something 5 hours a week as a teenager
My younger daughter has been advised by Tennis Australia that she needs to participate in all forms of tennis for 10 hours a week at aged 10, if she wants to make the Tour
It's a different sort of thinking altogether and I hope one day at FC we see the light
Wigan have approx 22 coaches and we have what ? 4-6
It gets cold in Melbourne by the way !!
I've gone to work when it's 1c at 7am on
many occasions
We have an electric blanket lol