Eastern European fighters

[Joe King]

After watching Jon Thaxton being outclassed by Belorussian Yuri Romonov for the European Lightweight title and seeing Gavin Rees knocked out by Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik a few weeks ago, are we now seeing a group of potential world champions coming from the Eastern block?

I know both British fighters aren't the best of examples but they looked a totally different class to the Eastern Europeans who looked technically solid and tactically spot on.

Are British fighters just 'club fighters' as Floyd Mayweather described Ricky Hatton? Just pure heart yet lack that edge of skill to rise above the rest.

[PTP]

without training to move too far off subject - but that can be said for british sport as a whole. For me the development of youth sports in this country is ****e - they (the govt) seem to throw a lot of money at this but it's a load of bollocks. IMO the majority of successful british sports stars make through natural ability and sheer hard work. It's rare that anyone in britain without stand out ability as a child will get spotted/nutured through the ranks, if that makes sense.

IMO and through my experience the whole set up for sports in school is ****ing ****e. Whether or not it has changed in the last 10 years i don't know but certainly in our area the sports set up was terrible(unless you went to a grammar school and played hocky or rugby)

[Rich]

As a country we don't spot and nurture sporting talent like many others.

[Imy]

Overly competitive - thats the problem with youth development, it's all about results as opposed to naturing the talent, how many times have you seen parents go ape**** at their children when they miss a chance etc?

At a young level it should be about getting the fundamentals correct and enjoyment.

[PTP]

As a country we don't spot and nurture sporting talent like many others.

exactly - they have improved in this area in football but then completly counteract it with the purchase of foreign signings, (but that is a whole other arguement).

for example in football - when i played at ages 9,10,11, 12 - I played at a reasonably good standard for my age with and against some very good amatuer footballers - It was very rare/unheard for anyone to get trials with Liverpool/Everton/Tranmere - I'd say 1 in a 100 got a trial - and they had to be exceptional or stand out talents ie lightening quick striker (didn't matter if they could shoot they just had to run the 100m in 7 secs) or an unnaturally tall 7ft 10 year old centre back

Tehn bang Owen burst on to the scene and the clubs went youth development mad in the hope of finding the next michael owen. All off a sudden everyone I knew who had a relative aged between 6-12 and could kick a ball were getting 6 weeks trials at Liverpool/Everton/Tranmere.

My godfather(who is basically like an uncle) son got trials at everton as a goalkeeper - he was 7 and got offered to spend 6 weeks at a summer training camp with about 20 other keepers the same age that he knew/played against and that was just from the warrington area.

It's madness because the clubs run it over the six weeks summer holiday - they must bring in about 100 lads at every age group so as I said anyone who could kick a ball will be looked at -then after the six weeks they prob keep on about 1 or 2 in each age group and the rest get binned

Now on a plus side, these youngsters have had 6 week top notch training which will bring their game on unbelievably (i know a few lads who i have played against who were at clubs at a younger age and although we played at a same level and in the same team you could see the difference) - half of these lads have their hopes built up, then crushed leaving them lost and depressed - they get addicted to crack and a life of crime

it's just madness

[Rich]

I always wish I'd tried harder at Rugby - even forced to do it; there aren't that many fast, decent hands, 6' 4", broad people out there - I could have been a Superstar!!!

[PTP]

I always wish I'd tried harder at Rugby - even forced to do it; there aren't that many fast, decent hands, 6' 4", broad people out there - I could have been a Superstar!!!

ay - but imagine if you had been given trials, had ur hopes built up before being rejected and forced into a life of crack and crime.

I know what u mean tho - i look back when i was younger and really wish i had pushed myself - i am an idiot and an underachiever it hurts to admit it like - not saying i would have been a pro but i should have been much better at two sports - both golf and football if i had been comitted and more motivated as a child

ie - i have always been decent at football yet i could have been so much more - the lads i play with all play at a decent standard and overall are just a bit better than me due to fitness and match sharpness - i can compete with them and do things they could never do -yet i stopped playing footie (proper footie, competively) from the ages of 12 till 20 - probably the most important years of development whilst my mates all played for reasonably good amatuer teams form the ages 9 till 26 - They all play for a good team in west cheshire leage which they have asked me to signed for - i know i am good enough to play and I look at some of the players and i am miles better but i am lacking that fitness which is frustrating

the same with golf - i had good natural ability at golf and rarely practisced i was a single figure handicapper at around 16 years old and all the lads i played golf with were similar yet they worked 10 times harder than i did. I have more less packed in competive golf over the last 5 years or so - all the lads i played with are now all scratch, 1 or 2 handicaps and winning and playing in big comps.

ah well - looks like i am left in a life of crack and crime

[PTP]

now to bring that back on topic - the development for me in both those sports was ****e - the schools weren't interested and unless you were stand out amazing you wouldn't get spotted and thus ou would miss out on that extra quality and development you would get from professional coaching - if i had lived in say america (of course i am basing this on all that i know about the states from movies like american pie and tv shows like saved by the bell) i would have represented my school in both sports, dedicated time and been developed in one, and ultimatley offered a college scolarship -got invitied to frat parties and wild house parties where some young sexy girl gets wasted in her rich parents house etc

[Joe King]

I don't understand why we don't have university teams like they do in America. I suggest a system like they do in the NFL which is that the top talent of the university teams go to the crap teams of the Premiership in order to cut the gap of this inequality. However many would say that because in American professional sports they have 'franchises', the lower league clubs would say, 'what about us? we need talent'

I believe that schools should have more PE. When I left school a few years ago, I only had 1.45 hours a week which is ****e because you spend like 30 hour getting ready and getting the ****ing register done. More PE lessons and more variety of sports- our PE lessons were mainly football matches and cricket matches on ****ing tarmac. FFS. The government need to develop schools with better facilities. My school didn't have ****ing grass FFS. We had a tarmacked tennis court where no one played tennis and an all weather pitch for football which is absolutely ****e in the snow and rain.