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Doomed from the start?

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  • 26-06-2011 5:40pm
    #1
    WhiteNoSugar
    Registered Users Posts: 35 ✭


    I was all enthusiastic to get my young fella involved in hurley but after reading Outliers and Bounce I'm gutted...
    His birthday is the 24th December so according to Gladwell he is statistically up sh*t creek.
    For those who haven't read "Outliers" the basic premise is than in any sport where the age cutoff for categories is based on the calendar year (like GAA football, hurling & camogie) then if you have been born between January and April you have 6 months growth on the guys born in the last few months of the year.
    This is nearly impossible to overcome with practise (you can't grow faster ) so by the bigger kids get all the games, which translates into more experience which translates into better overall players.

    My young fella's birthday is December 24th so right now I don't know what to do. I've no interest in signing him up for a sport where he is doomed to be cannon fodder for the 1st team his entire career.

    Any stats out there on GAA player success vs. birth month?
    Tagged:


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    #2
    Fireball07
    Registered Users Posts: 13,264 ✭✭✭✭Fireball07


    WhiteNoSugar wrote: »
    I was all enthusiastic to get my young fella involved in hurley but after reading Outliers and Bounce I'm gutted...
    His birthday is the 24th December so according to Gladwell he is statistically up sh*t creek.
    For those who haven't read "Outliers" the basic premise is than in any sport where the age cutoff for categories is based on the calendar year (like GAA football, hurling & camogie) then if you have been born between January and April you have 6 months growth on the guys born in the last few months of the year.
    This is nearly impossible to overcome with practise (you can't grow faster ) so by the bigger kids get all the games, which translates into more experience which translates into better overall players.

    My young fella's birthday is December 24th so right now I don't know what to do. I've no interest in signing him up for a sport where he is doomed to be cannon fodder for the 1st team his entire career.

    Any stats out there on GAA player success vs. birth month?

    That doesn't sound right tbh. Children grow at different ages. There was one player on my team who was 11 months younger than me, a year younger than some of our players, but he was bigger than everyone. And skill can always win out.

    When I was U-14, we had a couple of U-12s who were better than a lot of our team.

    It's not all about physicality, if the player is skilful enough, then they're skilful enough.


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    #3
    therunaround
    Registered Users Posts: 128 ✭✭therunaround


    Joe Canning birthday 8th October
    Henry Shefflin November 1st
    DJ Carey 11th November
    Noel mcgrath 17th December
    Brian Lohan November

    (google)



    send him on down...


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    #4
    Kristopherus
    Registered Users Posts: 11,907 ✭✭✭✭Kristopherus


    Well my Birthday is Dec 25th, so I can empathise with your kid. If its any consulation, despite the disadvantage in age if you have the skill it will win out no problem. I went on to play at senior co. level for a long no. of years. Skill in hurling far outwieghs physical attributes in the end. Any coach that dose'nt work on that premise should'nt be involved with youngsters. In the early days the emphasis is on fun and skill-building.No great need to worry yourself unduly at the beginner stage yet.


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    #5
    A19B1C12
    Closed Accounts Posts: 166 ✭✭A19B1C12


    I was September and I was a county minor footballer, and as above 2 of the most promising young players of our generation were born in the latter months of the year. Hurling is less physical than football in my opinion so he'll be even better suited.

    If he is good enough, he is good enough. No other way about it.


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