Burnout in sport

Watching Lexi Thompson today made me think about this subject and I began to wonder if this axiom should really apply to females in golf.

Every individual matures at a different pace and I think it's fair to say that girls tend to mature more quickly than boys and yet, I only ever hear this term being aimed at females (in sport in general). Why is this?

With Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa leaving the game in order to start a family, it is a sharp reminder that the female biological clock is no respecter of time and that, perhaps, we shouldn't prevent talented girls from becoming professionals until the age of 18. Indeed, given girls can have - and do! - have babies at a much earlier age, it seems ridiculous they can, in turn, be prevented from exploiting a golfing talent until a certain age. After all, there is no guarantee that waiting to gain experience in order to be able to 'cope' is going to reap rewards.

Consequently, I believe that the age limit should be reduced to 15 or 16 to allow girls to follow a career in golf which will still leave them with options as to which direction they wish their lives to go in later in life.

In any event, burnout is surely not a given?

Hi gael,

Very good points but ones that probably need to be emphasized and pressed by the ladies. It certainly doesn't make sense to restrict their window of opportunity but not sure many men think about it from such a perspective. Bottom line is that it's hypocrisy.

It's the exploitation of young female athletes that most are pretending to prevent that is a farce. In most other entertainment industries and professions, less thought is given to it. Take the film, television or music with the safeguards in place to insure that there is a guardian and teacher nearby for their duties along with a limit placed on time allowed to work per day. But the young ladies are allowed to perform even though the costs of production increase.

Ultimately, it's going to take a constant effort by all women involved in professional golf over a decade or so to change the policies. Michelle Wie and her parents didn't do anybody any favors as they were selfishly intent on promoting Michelle Wie and nobody else. Hell, she didn't even want to associate with ladies golf. They were partially responsible for the backlash that sought restrictions for the younger ladies coming along who had the talent, maturity and support to pursue professional golf.

But Lexi is getting some revenge this week as she is currently -10 and Ms. Wie is at -5. And her professional manner spells maturity. I'm for allowing anyone to compete at any age as long as they meet the standards.

Good points well raised Gael.

The thing men don't think about when it comes to Women in sport is that if they want to have a family they have to effectively give up their chosen profession whether that be for a limited period of time to be a mother or indefinitely. Due to the pull of being away from their children for long periods being too difficult for them. Of course this as men is something we do not have to worry about, as we cannot bare children we simply are blind or should I say ignorant to this part of being a parent. If we have children our partners do literally all the hard work and we can also in a way distance ourself to the point where travelling for longer periods isn't as difficult because the mother/child bond is far greater having carried and nutured the child for so long.

With regards to age and burnout IMO your age is not a factor that should be taken into account to play professional sport, simply if your good enough then your good enough. Didn't Martina Hingis win Wimbledon at something like 16/17 and was wordl no 1 at the same age. Don't premiership footballers sign pro contracts for silly money at 16!

The only exception to the rule should be Pugilisitc sports such as boxing and mma whereby you do legally need parental permission to participate until you legally become an adult due to being put in harms way to participate in your chosen sport.

As long as the youngster has a good management team and family around them to prevent them taking on too much outside of their sport and helps them set a schedule that gives them a good rest period then there is no reason burnout should occur.

(P.sm please ignore any spelling or grammatical errors I'm half asleep as Mav III has had me up since 0430 due to him being unwell)

Cheers guys!

What a mature exhibition of golf from Lexi yesterday. Bet Michael Whan feels a lot better now about having awarded her lpga m'ship for 2012 a couple of months ago. Having won home and away, it would surely now have made lpga governance look particularly silly had he not.

You're absolutely spot on though venice: if they meet the standard then, as you say, provided competent guardianship is provided, why should their age matter?

Potentially, Lexi could win a bunch of trophies (not to mention a bunch of money) by the time she reaches her mid-twenties, leave the game for a few years to start a family and, be back for second helpings at around 30 or so with still plenty of good golf left in the tank. It also helps that the lpga have a good creche facility (wasn't this one of the more positives things that Bivens did?).

There is another reason why I don't believe exceptional talents should be age-barred. Teenagers tend to be absolute fearless in their approach to the game and nowhere is this demonstrated more than on the greens. Yes, they may lack experience in being able to read pace and line as well as more experienced players but what does that matter if you can follow up with confident hole-outs?

Of course, that last point is open to debate but it was made in the context of females not having the luxury of time to develop their talent at a more leisurely pace.

With the US now being able to offer some decent resistance to foreign invasion in the form of some very taelented homegrown players, hopefully this will spawn (sorry about that ) an increase in sponsored events.

Hope wee Mav is on the mend by now Maverick.

Well done Lexi she certainly has "game" hope to see a lot more of her as she grows into a potential major winner.

Not enough of the ladies game on the goggle box these days and can get boring watching guys bomb it, find it, wedge it. That's why I like guys like, Donald, Stricker etc guys that plot and play, something the female game does exceptionally

Oh and Gael the little lads on the mend and finally at 15months lazy sod decided to start walking in time for christmas

Maverick wrote:Oh and Gael the little lads on the mend and finally at 15months lazy sod decided to start walking in time for christmas

This is where I would have put a thumb's up emoticon Maverick ... had there been one. (could do with a biggrin as well).

Now that he's upwardly mobile, time to move everything up!

Re the women's and men's game, what I really miss is the chip n'run shot. Saw a little bit of it at the President's Cup in Australia and it provided the perfect antidote to the gouged shot which lost its appeal for me many years ago. As for the bombing bit of the game, unless you're there standing behind the player or, occasionally when the camera manages to get right in behind a player, it's impossible to experience/appreciate length of shot so it becomes pretty academic from a watching viewpoint.

I hope the powers that be look after Lexi and treat her right - she seems to be everything the Americans hoped Michelle Wie would be

I watched some of Lexi's final round on Saturday and she was phenomenal. Extremely mature for a 16 yhear old though I believe she is due to turn 17 early in the new year - still astonishing though

Maverick wrote:Oh and Gael the little lads on the mend and finally at 15months lazy sod decided to start walking in time for christmas

Does that mean we'll see him on tour in January 2031 at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club?