Sporting Lessons - how can we better nurture young talent?

Thanks again to all of you who read my previous article on my love for Professor Jurgen Klopp. Please note, all of the same caveats in there apply to this article – I am not an LFC fan, but I am a die-hard Wales fan so bear with me!

Despite improving results, a fearsome front line including social media champion Mohamed Salah, a Champions League final (good luck!) beckoning and a top four finish in the Premier League, my faith in the Klopp side of the force has been a little shaken of late. This has been due to his attitude towards ‘young’ Ben Woodburn AKA ‘Starman’ AKA ‘The Prince of Wales’ AKA the man who supplied the coup de grace to the best moment of televised sport in the last decade: ‘you don’t really want to be talking over that… cleared by Austria... back to Ben Woodburn… ohhhh…' Go on, watch it one more time. While his contemporaries, Ethan ‘Why didn’t he play against Ireland’ Ampadu and Dai ‘is clearly currently tearing you apart’ Brooks, have seen some a great deal of first team action this term, Klopp’s ongoing reluctance to involve him in the LFC side this term seems set to continue – he is occasionally on the bench or in the squad, but not seen tearing down the Premier league pitch. Let’s explore why this is and what, as managers we can learn from this management strategy.

You can see how much Klopp adores Ben (witness this in action at Ben’s recent award of Carwyn James Wales Young Sportsman of the Year award at #WSA2017), but Jurgen has sent some clear messages on his belief that he and the club need to treat young players like Ben extremely carefully. He emphasises at every turn that he knows how special he is, but he still won’t rush him into 1st team action, as he essentially fears burnout and too much pressure too soon taking its toll. This means the legend of Steven Gerrard (and maybe when he goes to Rangers!) gets to benefit from him playing much more regularly and has made him captain of the under-23 team. Mr Klopp is fearing for his prodigy as he carefully incubates his ’perfect balance of talent and attitude’ into a Ballan D’Or winner (I have my bet on, you should too) but avoids what he fears more than him going out wearing a sarong on a Tuesday night - burnout.

Young prodigies are everywhere in sport of course, and the dichotomy of people building up talent due to excitement (me) and the attitude of is that if ‘they are good enough they are old enough’, but when is it too much? According to a growing number of recent reports and articles, it may be right to be cautious as millennials are very stressed. According to the survey by recruitment firm Accountemps, workers aged 34 and under are the most stretched group of all age ranges, and an incredible 64% of millennials feeling overwhelmed at work daily. This is high compared to the rest of us; a particularly chilled group are those age 55 and up, only 39% of whom feel the same way. This article tries to answer why, pointing to a millennial work ethic of being online 24/7/365 and never unplugging.

So, what specifically are they stressed about? Unreasonable or extreme workloads and unreachable deadlines (33%), unrealistic expectations of their managers (22%), and an unattainable work-life balance (22%) – all of which naturally contribute to what Jurgen is worried about for our Ben – that this is not sustainable, and it will mean burnout. Add in a highly competitive job market, few opportunities to get started and climb the career ladder, and t’s a cocktail of pressure – and yet, the pressure is continually heaped on to young talent.

In football, the success stories are often used to justify the rule, of course. Few people look back to Lionel Messi’s first team debut in a friendly with Porto in the 2003-2004 season at only 16, or on May 1, 2005 when Messi became the youngest player at the time ever to score a league goal for FC Barcelona – however, interestingly, that record would eventually be beaten by Bojan Krkic of Stoke City fame – a great player of course, but one that, it could be argued, did not fulfil his potential. Messi also waited a year longer than Ben Woodburn to make his Argentina debut. Interestingly, his arch rival, Ronaldo, was fast-tracked – making history by becoming the first player in Sporting Lisbon’s history to play in the under-16, under-17, under-18, B team and first team in the same season, before going onto quickly make his Portugal debut. Of course, football is equally littered with examples of pressure being heaped onto the shoulders of young talent extremely early. In March 2013, US soccer star Freddy Adu featured on the cover of SportsIllustrated sponsored by Nike and lauded as a prodigy and the future global star of professional soccer in the United States as he selected first overall in the 2004 MLS draft by D.C. United at age 14, making him the youngest ever American professional athlete. In early 2018 Adu, who has been out of pro soccer for over a year (last appearing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the second-tier United Soccer League), announced plans for a comeback after a playing career that saw him play in Portugal, France, Turkey, Luxembourg, Brazil, Serbia and Finland between 2007 and 2015 during a career that did not fully see him reach his purported potential.

This article on the world of the link of junior cycling success to eventual pro success explains that it often starts with success of being a junior World Champion aged 17 or 18, acknowledging this could mean unwanted additional pressure being heaped on the young rider, and “a label to live up to for the rest of their career”. It also flags the tension of this issue - increasingly junior success is an indicator of a successful pro career to come.

Tennis is another sport that has a long track record of building up young superstars – but for every Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova winning their first grand slam at 17 and still going strong, there is also the example of Martina Hingis or Jennifer Capriati, who many consider to be  a cautionary tale, a case study in burnout on the professional tennis tour. However, the cycle continues – as well as an all-American women’s final at the 2017 US Open, won by Sloane Stephens, the girls’ final was also a contest between two young Americans, 16 year old Amanda Anisimova beating 13 year old Cori Gauff, 6-0, 6-2. In 1994, the WTA decided to restrict the number of professional tournaments to age 14 an over, and even then to a limited number. The men’s game is not too different – Rafael Nadal notched up his first of 10 French Open titles (soon to be 11!) at 17 and poor old Roger Federer had to wait to the ripe old age of 21 to win his first Grand Slam crown at Wimbledon (although in 1999 was in fairness the youngest player (18 yrs, 4 mos.) to finish in the Top 100 and advanced to his first ATP SF in Vienna and QF in Marseille). Of course, both are going strong, and it will be very interesting to see the how the ATP #nextgen develop.

Physicians such as GP Quek Koh Choon that they are seeing more and more patients in their 20s and 30s suffering from work stress-related symptoms, and that they are being exacerbated by the strong desire of young professionals to prove themselves in the work environment at the same time as being given more and more responsibilities. Mr David Leong, managing director of recruitment firm People Worldwide says that this has led to a 10% growth in the number of people asking him for help to look for less stressful jobs, having seen them working 14 hours a day, and often seven days a week. Even when at home, they continued to work as they saw their colleagues were doing the same – a vicious cycle clearly, but one that I know many of us can identify with from our early careers.

For me, a lot of this point anchors not so much on the attitude of the millennial worker themselves, but that of the person supposed to be tasked with nurturing their talent – their manager. It is important, as a manager, to recognise you need to help them, as well as push them to succeed (Witness Mauricio Pochettino request that fans support Dele Alli, not boo him - he just might win the World Cup for England too!).

Greg Barnett, PhD, says that the key to avoiding any disengagement is to create a checklist of onboarding discussion that includes having an early conversation on career direction, set some clear preliminary goals, actually making an effort to personally get to know the employee and make sure they are exposed to the right people and learning activities. I also think you need to try to lead by example in terms of not working late on evenings and on the weekend, or if you really need to, always sending messages without the implicit expectation of needing an immediate reply – noted as something that really increases the pressure - and good advice for anyone you are working with!

In my experience, the 20-35 generation of workers are incredibly hard working, motivated and autonomous – all to their credit, but for me the key to this is open and clear, and I think more important – regular – dialogue. I’ve found that by ensuring you have at least checked in with your young team members regularly with a quick email or SMS (or snap, you know, do what you need to to get through!) is often appreciated, especially by the millennial generation, and it is an opportunity to sense if something is not right. I think any experienced manager who is open and transparent should instinctively now when they see – or more importantly, ‘feel’ – a change in tone, or when positive stress and stretch turn into stress, withdrawal and negative behaviour such as hiding problems, or not sharing feelings – all of which can lead to burnout. Let them make mistakes, learn and do thing better next time. You did, after all.Also, remember that any young team members you have are already placing pressure on themselves to succeed – support them in their aspirations, push them to succeed by all means, but don’t add in any negative energy. Like Professor Klopp, look for the right time to unleash their potential and give them some 1st team opportunities to learn and evolve into Global superstars if that is what they aspire to be.

Please note, this blog is entirely based on my personal views and opinion, and does not represent the views of any other company I do work for in the past, present, or in the future!

Thanks for reading - leave me a comment or a like if you enjoyed it, and you can also find me on Social Media @drgoevans