Pro-athlete job training

[Hampshire]

(Couldn't think of a better title)

If you were to start training your child from the age of 3 for a specific sport or specific position within a sport, whereas they could make good money when they went pro, what would be as close as possible to a sure-fire position?

Certainly you could rule out things like quarterback, tennis player, basketball player, etc. because these are extremely competetive and just because you started them young doesn't guarantee they'll make it pro.
But how about something like NFL punter/kicker? If you started your kid practicing making field goals when they were 3 and trained and coached them and got them professional lessons all the way through high school and college would they have a fairly good shot at going pro?
What other sports could you excel in because you were trained since childhood to do it?

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

Marv? Marv Marinovich?


Is that you?

[Lobsang]

I became good at defending and goalkeeping in football (the type where feet and a ball-shaped object are used) due to growing up with a friend (since the respective ages of 4 and 6) who had a natural talent for attacking and goalscoring.

It's a hard OP to answer but I guess I'd buy badminton racket and net for my kid (when I get one) and spend as much time as possible playing it with them.

Growing up in an even vaguelly British environment means they would probably get involved in football, so as with me I might encourage them to persue more defensive roles. But that would suggest I have no confidence in their ability with posession of the ball. (My defensive role involved getting posession and giving it asap to someone who can keep it)

I could also try snooker. Hopefully I'd have a room big enough to buy a table.

[SandyHook]

Some sort of racing - cars, trucks, motocross. The first two pay pretty good and the third is really coming on.

It seems to me the skills involved are very learnable, expecially if you are taking the view that you have 20 years to learn them. The physical requirements don't seem to be too harsh, unlike the big 4; football, soccer, basketball, baseball.

[Hampshire]

Looks like even that Marv Marinovich guy made out fairly well with a 2.7million contract even though it didn't last. And he was expected to be a quarterback!! Highly, highly competetive i'd think.

[Happy Scrappy Hero Pup]

Marv was the dad who raised the son, Todd, to be the ultimate QB.

Todd brought his own specially-made cake to other children's birthday parties because Marv didn't want Todd's diet out of his control. Todd was doing passing drills and conditioning work as a toddler.

Naturally, he went out of control once Daddy's grip wasn't that tight.

Marv Marinovich is the biggest sports-dad joke in the world. Bigger than Earl Woods, Richard Williams, Damir Dokic, and Jim Pierce put together.


I was just trying to be funny, really, but Google all those names as a bit of temperance.

Oh, and don't play "Rock and Roll Part 2" or "We are the Champions" through headphones into the womb either.

[jk1245]

I think golf, if you can afford it and get the kid to stick with it. It's the one sport where success is largely determined by amount of practice, especially amount of practice as a young kid. There really aren't any physical requirements either, those obviously some people are naturally better than others.

Not saying you'd be guaranteed Tiger or Phil type money, but you can make a fairly decent living on several satellite tours. There's also a lot more openings than in most sports.

[MaddyStrut]

I'd guess that at 3 it would probably be too early to tell where a kid's natural abilities lie or what his or her body size will be at maturity. No pro football lineman, no matter how early he started or hard he worked, could have made it as a jockey. So you'd have a better chance matching the individual kid to the sport rather than picking the sport and then trying to fit the kid to it.

At 3, you could probably start with stuff that builds basic hand/eye coordination along with some flexibility, strength and endurance. Then maybe pick the specific sport at age 6 or so when you have a better idea how the kid will mature.

Did the old Soviet Union really have those sports training academies where they'd start kids at really young ages? If so, when did they start kids and how did they pick the sports? Or is that just an old cold war legend?

[Ellis Dee]

Long Snapper. No glory, nobody wants the job, every team needs at least two.

[thirdwarning]

There's always bowling. And you don't even have to pick a position.

Seriously, I think it's possible, theoretically. But I think it's more likely to lead to rebellion or stress injury. You really would have to pick a sport and position where size and physical type don't really matter, though.

Golf, bowling, maybe (American)football kicker, maybe even baseball fielder. Of course, it's all hypothetical, because I think if you really did this you should be smacked repeatedly in the head.

Just sayin'.