Talented Young People

From the Ashes

2011-01-12T14:38:00.000-08:00

A sport which I don’t talk about much on the blog is cricket. Looking at cricket on a global scale I think the quality of the sport and the image of the sport has gone down in recent years but it is great to see England bucking that trend. This winter for the first time in 24 years England won a series in Australia and retained The Ashes.

Now you may think well the Ashes isn’t a big competition and doesn’t prove anything as it is a competition all about two countries but if you add this to the successes the England Cricket team have had in the last twelve months it really is impressive.

Since England’s Ashes win there has been a surge in people buying tickets for their matches in 2011 when they return home which is great to see. The media attention these last couple of months have been phenomenal as well which has done wonders for the English cricket scene I think.

The only down side to all the hype has been due to it being winter here in the UK and PE syllabuses here it will be hard to capitalize on this hype and convert it in to more children playing the sport. I just hope that the memories of this Ashes series won’t fade too quickly and that when the summer comes more young people will take up the sport.

The one thing the Ashes has done this winter is shown again how sport can give the country a feel good factor, just imagine if we do well in the Olympics in 2012.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

How old is young?

2010-11-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

What do terms such as a youth, young person and young adult really mean? What ages would you have to fall between to be classified as one of these? And if it is based on being a particular physical age, should it be this that is used as a quantifier?

Ask a hundred people in the street these questions and I am sure you would get an absolute myriad of answers on what defines you as being young. I know some people who think being young means being in your early teens but I also know people who still see you as a young person if you are in your twenties.

I think personally that being young is about your intelligence, your experience and your maturity. I have known some very mature teenagers with a ton of life skills but on the other hand I know some people in their twenties who aren’t ready to leave home yet and have the same attitudes and maturity that you would associate with a young person.

I don’t think an age range should be put on the term young person although I would like to see some unified clarification on the term. I think that people should be treated as an individual and not be forced in to a new stage of life just because they have reached a certain age.

One organisation trying to do a lot to make sure people in their early twenties get support and aren’t just expected to fend for themselves at 16 is Catch 22 and they currently have a “Ready or Not?” campaign that I urge you to get behind, to support it follow the link below:

www.catch-22.org.uk/ready-or-not-campaign

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Tuition Fees

2010-11-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

This week the Government in England has announced that Universities will be able to charge students up to £9000 in tuition fees to attend their University and get a degree. This is the latest change to University costs and funding over the last twenty years or so. It just seems there is no end to the spiraling costs of attending University.

The first attack on Higher Education was when the grant system was taken away, this forces students to take out loans and overdrafts to cover their costs. This however was still affordable as the Student Loans Company gave out loans which you only paid back at a small rate when you were earning a high figure and tuition fees were relatively low.

After this we had Top-Up fees which lead to some universities increasing the cost of a degree by raising tuition fees. This added to the recent recession then made it even harder for students to afford to go to University. Now to hear that Universities will be able to charge £9000 must send shivers down the spine of any prospective student and this could only be the beginning.

Universities have evolved over the year and are now more business driven than ever with course places really turning in to supply and demand. Currently there are more people applying for University than there are places which means Universities can afford to bump their prices and can make more money than they would by opening more places and courses for everyone.

I think society and education are to blame for this current demand for University places which has lead to the rise in costs. I think money needs to be invested in showing people that there are other successful roots than University because if you did this the value of a degree would go up for people who do one and you would have less unemployed young adults with a mountain of debt to pay back.

Don’t get me wrong I am proud of my degree but only because it has helped get where I wanted to go in life. In today’s world with the spiraling cost and the decrease in value of a degree I am not sure if I would do one. I just think it is the madness that the value of something can go down but the price can go up, to me in any other business as a customer which the students are in this situation you wouldn’t buy it so I don’t know why so many people are.

You can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=839

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Commonwealth Games

2010-10-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks you will have probably heard, read or seen something in the news about the Commonwealth Games. The competition has got a lot of press this year, a lot of which has been very unfavourable which it wouldn’t have received in previous years.

The Commonwealth Games cost a lot to host and this year it was Delhi who got the pleasure of being hosts but they soon came under fire when in the weeks running up to the event the standards of the accommodation and sporting facilities for the athletes was brought in to question.

The Commonwealth games falls behind the Olympic Games in the pecking order and in many sports World and European Championships are regarded as more prestigious. This has got the press asking whether the games are worth the money the hosts have to pay out and after seeing low attendances to events at the Commonwealth Games in the opening days this year whether the interest is really there.

I personally think it is a shame that the press are spending more time talking about these issues that the people who matter - the athletes taking part. I think any place where an athlete can compete and test themselves against fellow athletes is important. Every chance a person gets to represent their country at an event should be seen as important.

To get good athletes for the Olympic Games in 2012 to represent their country they need to be regularly competing at the highest level possible in the run up and I think the Commonwealth Games are a great chance to do this as I think it is the closest thing to the Olympics you can get and there is no shame in playing second fiddle to the Olympics. By having the Commonwealth Games countries in the Commonwealth have a chance every two years to compete in a major sporting event which can only be a good thing.

I do hope that the events of this Commonwealth Games makes all sporting bodies sit up and take notice. When a country gets awarded to host an international event more should be done to make sure they have the finances and infrastructure to host the event at the standards they require. The sporting bodies should also manage the preparations a lot better so that situations like what happened in the weeks before the Commonwealth Games don’t happen to another sporting event.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Must be the Music

2010-09-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Recently I have really taken an interest in a new TV series in the UK called ‘Must be the Music.’ We have had TV talent shows for years here in the UK but I really enjoyed the subtle changes this show made to the concept.

The series finished last weekend with Emma’s Imagination a female singer from Scotland winning the final. Unlike X-Factor the show was open to singers, musicians and bands, not only this but performers were allowed to play their own compositions.

These weren’t the most exciting difference though. The way they really innovated the market by making all performances from the semi-final round all the way up to and including the final available for download on iTunes straight after the performance. Not only this but the acts were given 100% profit of the sales from their performances with two acts cracking the UK top ten and four UK top forty hits.

Instead of giving the winning act a record deal the winner got a £100,000 cash fund to develop their music instead of the usual record contract. This was done to make sure the winning act had more control of their career instead of a record company which I thought was an interesting idea.

I just wish the show had mean on a terrestrial channel as if this format had the backing of one of those channels I think it could have been huge. The programme has however I think given a shot in the arm to TV talent shows and show other channels how it should be done.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Youth Olympic Games

2010-09-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

In August we had the first ever Youth Olympic Games with Singapore chosen as the nation to host it. The event spanned twelve days and saw thousands of young athletes aged 14 to 18 competing in a wide range of sports.

When I heard this was happening I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t had this before! But I am very glad that we have it now. It is so great for young people to be able to have the pride of representing their country, being able to meet people from different cultures and to get to compete against the best in the world in their age group.

Having a huge event like an Olympics for young people will also help the media attention and coverage that these youngsters get as many of these young athletes will have been doing amazing things for years with little recognition. The event like the regular Olympic games will be held every four years with China being the next host country. Hopefully with every Youth Olympic games the press coverage will grow even bigger.

I think by having a Youth Olympic Games it will give countries a great opportunity to prepare their young talent for when they are ready to compete in the full Olympic Games. It will also help the Olympic teams spot talent and to give them a test. The Youth Olympics will also help the young athletes prepare themselves to compete at the main Olympic Games.

I can’t wait to see what it is like in four years time!

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Life is a destination not a journey

2010-08-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

I heard someone say “life is a journey” earlier this week and it really set something off inside of me and got me thinking. Why do people say this? Yes the journey can be fun and interesting but surely the most important thing in any journey is getting to your destination. It’s like when you go on holiday you may enjoy going on the plane but the thing you are most looking forward to is going to the country you are visiting.

To me life is a series of destinations and those destinations are the dreams and things I want to achieve. If you don’t set yourself these destinations and don’t do everything you can to get to them then you are never going to achieve what you want to out of life. To me life without dreams would be a life that I wouldn’t want to lead.

The journey may be long and the journey may take you all over the place but it should always have direction. It is important we don’t get consumed or lost in the journey forgetting what our destination actually is.

It’s like when people say ”the most interesting people I knew were the people who didn’t know what they wanted to do with their life in their forties” sorry to me that doesn’t ring true. The most interesting people I know are the ones who have big dreams and are passionate about achieving them. I think statements like these are cop-outs for people who never really achieved anything or tried hard in life.

Don’t just see where life takes you, if you think life is a journey never forget that you are the driver and it’s about time you came up with a destination.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

It runs in the family

2010-08-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

There was a story in the news this week where research had found that in some areas of the UK young people who had parents that were unemployed are more likely to be unemployed themselves.

This started me thinking about whether there was a correlation between young people who achieve their dreams and what their parents achieved in their lives. The other factor to look at is how much a family’s wealth effects the likelihood of their child going on to be successful.

Some people would say that young people from less privileged families can be more motivated to achieve their dreams as they want to change their life, their surroundings and their lifestyle. Then there is the flipside that it is also a damaging effect to be brought up in less privileged circumstances as they don’t have money to buy equipment or attend special lessons in their area of talent and don’t have the contacts in that area, on top of this they can be more exposed to crime and due to their circumstances can be susceptible to ill health.

If you look at young people from privileged backgrounds they can have the money to pay for all the equipment and lessons they need. They have less pressures in the way of money & crime, they can also have access to a better education. It is said however that young people from a privileged background may have less motivation as they have a more comfortable lifestyle.

I know this issue generates some very strong opinions and heated debate. I would like to see some research on this to see what correlations could be drawn if any. I still like to think myself that none of this matters and that success is based on the individual and not on the situation as I have seen young people from all walks of life achieve great things.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Another talent show enters the fray

2010-07-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

I meant to sit down and give channel Five’s first major attempt at a talent show “Don’t Stop Believing” a watch on Sunday night but other events transpired against me. It is being sold as a ‘Glee’ inspired talent show with each act having to put on a song and dance routine similar to those you see on Glee and performed by Show Choirs or Glee Clubs across the globe.

I think it is ingenious of Five to cash in on the success of Glee and is another twist on the talent show format but really underneath it all it is again a talent content based on singing and dancing. I am interested to see a show for myself as I want to see how they are handling the format compared with the likes of the BBC and ITV.

The one question I start to ask myself is are we in danger of everyone getting sick of TV talent shows as it only seems like the other day that “Over the Rainbow” and “Britain’s Got Talent” were ending and I am sure it won’t be too long before X-factor is back. I am sure we will get to the point soon where on every week on a major TV channel there will be a talent show of some description.

I myself am a big fan of ‘Glee’ and if it is encouraging people to set up similar groups and to sing and dance I am all for it. It will be interesting to see how the UK talent matches up to that of the US. I am glad that Five is giving things like this a go and are doing things to promote talent as it is only by trying these things that they will be able to find out if they can do it or not.

Will the ‘Glee’ phenomenon be a fad? Are we just copying the US? And if we are should we be? We would love to know your thoughts and you can do that by joining in our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=823

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Graduate Jobs

2010-07-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

It has been officially reported today that it is even harder than ever before for Graduates to find work. Now to me this comes as no surprise as I am sure the job market is affecting everyone whether you are a graduate or not. The report I heard said that there were in the region of sixty applications for every Graduate post and that the minimum grade they would accept was a 2:1.

I do however think these findings are slightly floored as they only seem to discuss graduate jobs but if you are a graduate you can apply for other jobs other than graduate positions. Graduate jobs are only a small section of the jobs market. I think the days of going to University with the aim of getting a Graduate position at the end are over.

I think this could be a good thing in the long term as there are many skills a graduate has that will benefit the non graduate jobs market. On the flipside this does it make harder for non graduates who are already finding it hard to get work but for companies and employers it is a really good time as they will have higher level applicants applying for roles.

Another thing I hope this does is to get Graduates thinking about starting up their own companies and enterprises. I think this is something that not enough graduates do but the state of the job market could push more people towards.

If you are a graduate or about to graduate just remember to keep positive about work and to think outside of the box.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

How are young people going to be affected by the Budget cuts?

2010-06-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

Since the new coalition came in to force in UK Government I have been wondering to myself what effect it would have on young people?

With this government looking to reduce the budget deficit with an aggressive strategy on spending it is only natural that services that affect young people will be hit in some way. With the government cutting budgets for vital services like the Police I am worried for youth services.

It’s not only services for young people that are backed by government spending that we have to worry about. It is also industries that young people with talent want to get in to like media and art that will more than likely be affected to.

Yes the government need to sort out deficits and save money where they can but they also need to think of the long term and the effect it will have on today’s young people who in ten, twenty years could be running this country themselves. Not only that but what will employment rates be like? And will young people be given the chance to exceed and fulfil their potential?

I strongly advise anyone to keep to their eyes open and their ears to the ground on where cuts are going to be made and to really engage with this process.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Turning up on the day

2010-06-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was involved in a thrilling game as a coach as the football team I coach was competing in a county cup final. My team put in an amazing performance and overcame the odds to pull off a win against a very good and respected side. The whole experience got me thinking of how its not just talent which is important in things like sport and performance art but the ability to turn up on the day.

I have seen some very talented players in my footballing career who can do amazing things in training but when it comes to a competitive game they freeze up or just can’t perform at the same standard they do in training. These people are great when things are relaxed but as soon as there is some pressure on it seems their talent disappears for a minute.

To succeed in area which involve you having to give a performance you have to learn that ability to deal with the stress of performing and how not just to be able to deal with it but to do even better when the pressure is on.

In football when a team that should win a game fails to do so the manager will more often than not say their team didn’t turn up on the day and that it was the difference between winning and losing. If you are good at something people expect you to be able to deliver on a regular basis which is another pressure in itself you need to learn how to deal with but if you can do that you have the potential to go far.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The World Cup

2010-05-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

In a little under four weeks the football World Cup kicks off in Africa. The tournament will be watched by millions around the world. Millions upon millions will be ploughed in to hosting the event and millions of pounds will be made from sponsorship and TV rights. The question I ask is – for all this hype and investment what lasting difference will the tournament have on South Africa and the rest of the world?

The one thing the World Cup is good at is capturing young people’s imagination from all parts of the globe and getting them in to football. I think any event which inspires young people to take up sport can only be a good thing. As I m sure many young people will kicking a ball around the streets during the tournament.

I hope the World cup as well as inspiring young people to play football will encourage young people to find out more about the countries playing in the world cup and the cultures of those countries. I think every year it becomes even more important for young people to have an understanding and knowledge of the world around them.

I think this World Cup is going to be more special than most. I just hope that the World Cup can have a positive effect locally to the people of South Africa and really impact the local communities. If the money is invested correctly it could have a long lasting effect and legacy but we will have to wait a few years to see what difference the tournament made.

Are you looking forward to the World Cup? Who do you think is going to win? Share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=813

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Elections

2010-04-28T14:34:00.000-07:00

At the moment you can’t open a newspaper switch on the TV or listen to the Radio in the UK without somebody writing or talking about the elections. We are now a week away from polling day now so the media coverage is only going to intensify as the days tick away.

Everyone is talking about the elections you can’t escape it. People who rarely discuss politics suddenly have a strong opinion and are getting in to robust debates with friends, family and colleagues on who the right party is to lead this country.

The one thing which has really encouraged me for this election is not the parties, the leaders or the media coverage. That one thing is the amount of young people really getting involved and taking an interest in politics.

Politics normally isn’t the coolest thing to talk about in schools or amongst friends for young people but over the last few weeks so many of the young people I work with have started conversations about politics with me. They have been sharing their opinions but more than that they have been asking questions and trying to find out more. It always encourages me to see young people get so interested especially when they can’t even vote yet. Its not today’s political parties which give me hope for the future of the company but it is the young people who will be our future leaders and future voters which really inspire me.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Blind Side

2010-04-14T14:31:00.001-07:00

Last night I managed to get a rare outing to the cinema to see The Blind Side and yes to all my American friends I know it was out ages ago over there but we have only just got it over here.

My friends that go to the cinema on a regular basis gave it mixed reviews but for me I thought it was awesome. I love feel good films where you come out feeling happy, empowered and thinking the world is a better place.

The film really showed you that no matter how bad your situation that if you keep on moving and doing the right thing you can make it and that your luck can change through the main character of the film Michael Oher. In our own lives we start thinking about how bad our situations are and use it as a reason for not succeeding but then when you contrast your life with someone like Michael Oher its not that bad and its not impossible to achieve.

The other side of the film I really enjoyed was the educational side. Michael in the film had problems writing his answers down on paper so tested badly and people thought he wasn’t intelligent but when a teacher gave him a test verbally he excelled. The film also proved that someone’s worth and someone’s skills should not be judged on their ability in class but by their character. Michael in the film before he gets help is marked as very unintelligent but has a protective spirit which is unmatched and its his protective spirit of other people around him which get him to where he goes in life and achieving a scholarship to college.

I would highly implore people to watch this movie as you can’t help but be inspired by it.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

BT Seen and Heard Awards

2010-03-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

It was my honour this week to be invited back to the Houses of Parliament for the second time in six months. I was there to pick up a BT Seen & Heard award and to participate in a day of leadership, politics and debating. Notable names that were in attendance were MP Ann Widdecombe and Olympian Leon Taylor to name but just a few.

It is so great to get recognized by big organizations for the work we do and to be recognized in such a prestigious building makes it such more memorable, it is a day I won’t forget. It is so humbling just to be invited in to a building like that, let alone pick up an award.

I also had the pleasure of meeting some other amazing young people who are making a difference in this country. Sometimes it is just so easy to get focused on your project and not realize how many other great projects there are out there so I love these events as I get to find out what is going on and network with other youth organizations.

It is events like these where one connection that can be made that can change everything for your organization and if it hadn’t been for the event you would have never have made that connection. If you email or write to an organization or person you want to network with they may not reply to it but if you can meet them in person and show your passion for your project you are more likely to get them on side.

So a big thanks goes out to the BT Seen and Heard team for an amazing day out.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Lighter Evenings

2010-03-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

Finally we are getting to that point in the year where it starts getting warmer and the evenings start to draw out. Only a week or so away from moving the clocks forward and everyone’s mood seems to lift. Its amazing what extended daylight dos for the morale of this country.

The dark cold days are gone well for a few months at least. This is the time of year where people start thinking of booking a last minute holiday somewhere and start making their summer plans. If you are young this is the time of year you have been waiting for as it means you can stay out longer playing in the street or in the park.

All I want to do is to implore as many of our viewers as possible to use this positive feeling and channel it in to your drive towards your dream. Its amazing how much more you can get done or what you can achieve with extra positivity.

Also now the nights are drawing out make the most of them. Go and do the things you couldn’t do in the winter. Go and enjoy and do things in the evenings in the great outdoors. Go and do some jogging, cycling, adventuring just make this summer the summer where you really make the most of it.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

One Medal

2010-03-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

Whenever the Summer Olympics are on there is always great talk and debate about team GB’s medal Haul, whether they didn’t do as well as people expected or if they do better than people expected. Its always front-page news. So why is this not the case for the Winter Olympics?

Yes it is great to see Amy Williams getting all the attention which is what she deserves but at the same time there should be front-page coverage and debate about our lack of medals. If we had come home from the summer Olympics with just one medal there would be an outcry but instead we seem to just be happy we got a medal at the Winter Olympics.

If this isn’t an alarm bell that more money needs to be spent on winter sports I don’t know what is. All I can hope is that over the next four years more money is spent on winter sports and that we see the fruits of it at the next Winter Olympics. If there is already a lot of money being thrown at it then someone needs to sit down and look at what we are doing wrong and how that money could be used more wisely.

Great Britain maybe a small island but it’s a proud island and we didn’t come back with much pride from the Winter Olympics.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Winter Olympics

2010-02-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

I am going to go out on a limb here and say I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer Olympics. I have enjoyed watching the Ice Skating and Snowboarding events and can’t wait for the Bobsleigh.

One thing which I find impressive is when countries who aren’t famed for their snow, ice or winter conditions do well at the winter sports like, China, Germany etc. the Winter Olympics also give the chance for smaller countries who may not do well at the summer Olympics to excel like the Scandinavian countries.

In British schools as part of PE youngsters get taught track and field events in the summer but in the winter its team sports like Rugby / Football / Hockey and Netball that get taught, I can’t think of many schools that would offer skiing or ice skating. Now I know this is because we don’t have the conditions and these sports can be very expensive to deliver but I think more needs to be done to encourage young people in to winter sports. This can be done through the use of ice-rinks, dry ski-slopes etc. I personally would have loved to have had the chance at school to do Snowboarding.

I hope the Winter Olympics can capture the imagination in this country and encourage more young people to give winter sports a try. I also hope that sporting bodies, education bodies and the government can put more money in to the development of winter sports in the UK, now that I care about how many medals we win any Olympics it would just be great to see young people getting the chance to participate in winter sports and excelling in them.

The Winter Olympics is the subject of our weekly topic, and you can share your views on the games by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=804

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Monetisation

2010-02-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

I read a great article last week on monetisation in the music world. I am always a fan of people and industries who when faced with a problem think of a way around the problem or new avenues in which they can go down. The music industry has the problem of dwindling music sales so musicians and labels have had to diversify and find new ways to make money and to survive.

Back in the boom of the music industry it was record sales, royalties and sales of tickets to gigs which were in its bread and butter. Then in the late twentieth century other avenues of revenue were opened up like sponsorship and commercials following on from this in the early part of this century we then had reality TV which provided another way to make money.

Now however with the rise of the internet, the way we get hold of music and our attitudes towards paying for music artists and labels are having to be even more innovative with their ideas as they become entrepreneurs. What a lot of music acts are doing is instead of putting money in to trying to attract a bigger audience they are working hard to get their hardcore devoted fan base to fork out more money. Successful ideas have been artists writing personalized songs to their highest bidding fan, artists selling the ability to remix their songs and artists recording a version of any track the fan wanted them to cover to the highest bidder.

Now as a business model it is dangerous as if you are only marketing towards a small group of hardcore fans they are eventually going to run out of money but for the short term these ideas can generate a good sum of income. The best idea along this vein I have seen is bands selling the live recordings of their concert to their fans at the gig to take home on a USB pen drive as a memento of the experience.

I for one can’t wait to see or hear about the next innovative idea in the music world.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

It’s All About Image

2010-01-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

This week in the entertainment world in the UK there were two interesting stories. The first being that presenter of popular BBC 1 evening programme “The One Show” Adrian Chiles has been asked to shave off his beard by BBC executives. When Adrian started on the show he was clean-shaven but since the show’s return after its Christmas break he has been sporting a well-developed beard. Now this could just be one big publicity stunt for the show but if it isn’t it raise an interesting point.

As a nation or a culture do we need or expect our TV hosts to be clean-shaven? Is it right that people should be asked to remove their beards in order to present on a TV show? As a viewer do we react differently to people with beards or without beards? What this has underlined is how image conscious the media world is, that is just incase you weren’t already aware.

The second story was about Susan Boyle being snubbed by the Brit Awards when they announced the nominees for this years awards this week. In my opinion any awarding body has the right to put forward any nominee they like as at the end of the day the awards are their awards. There is all this news about Susan Boyle but there have been other big acts this year that have done well this year like Chipmunk, Kelly Clarkson, Cascada etc. and nobody is asking why didn’t they get nominated for awards? The press are putting the story out that it is because of her image that she hasn’t got nominated and she is getting the headlines but if it wasn’t Susan Boyle no other artist would get as much press attention for not being nominated.

Susan Boyle not getting nominated could totally be an image thing and the press may very well have hit the nail on the head but it could also be a case of the media just again using image as a news story as like I say before it is what the media world revolves around.

I think image will continue to play a part in media and entertainment for many years to come and although this is very hard to change I think it is important that it is documented as much as possible and discussed as it is the only way we will ever change the situation. If we can’t change it in the short term we need to make sure there is a constant high awareness of it.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Completing a Project

2010-01-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

Now all of us at some point have an idea for something big we would like to do, like write a book, start a business move to a different country, the list is endless. Now for some it will remain just that, an idea. For some they will get the motivation to start the project towards achieving their dream and not get any further. Then finally for a small few they will see the project through and achieve their goals and there is no feeling like accomplishing what you set out to do.

I had that feeling this week as a book I wrote on coaching youth football became available to purchase. It started as an idea, I then sat down and wrote the book, got it edited and got it all the way through the publishing phase so that now anyone anywhere across the world can buy it. That moment when I went on to Amazon and saw it there was worth all the work I had put in to the project and made me feel so proud.

The project took me over a year from idea to publishing and there were plenty of problems to overcome and plenty of times where I could have given up but I kept going and got myself in to the elite few who can say they have finished a project.

So this blog is for anyone out there who has an idea for something they want to do but hasn’t started trying to achieve it or for anyone feeling like giving up. The idea is only half of the fun it’s completing it which gives you the real buzz. Just remember when you get an idea make sure it is something you are passionate about because you are going to have to be passionate about it to see you through.

Once you have completed one project it gives you the motivation and the belief to complete another. This is why later this year another book of mine will be hitting the bookshelves as I near the completion of a book on youth motivation.

If you want to buy my first offering to the literary world go to:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guide-Surviving-Youth-Football/dp/1445203480/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263420777&sr=8-1

Do you have an idea for something you would like to achieve? Are you currently on the path towards achieving your goal? Let us know by going to our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=800

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Don’t let the snow slow you down

2010-01-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

First I would like to start by wishing all the readers of the blog a Happy New year. I know its been a while since I last wrote something but here we are back in 2010 with a bang. So have you made New Years Resolutions? Have you made plans for 2010? Well then this blog entry is directed at you.

For the last couple of days the UK has been gripped by snow, ice, wind, storms and every other type of extreme winter weather you could think of. This has meant a slow start to 2010 for many. Lots of people have been unable to go to work, lots of schools have been closed and lots of people have just decided to stay at home and not brave the elements. This has meant you may have already lost a couple of days of 2010 whilst you wait for the snow to thaw.

When you make plans or resolutions you want to hit the ground running whilst that enthusiasm is still fresh and with some people when they come up to the first hurdle it can put an end to their plans. Say if you have committed to doing something daily whether that be writing, running or something else after you have been doing it daily for sometime it makes you more determined to keep doing it and not miss a day but if you have only just started and you miss a day it can be much harder to get back in to it. The longer you can go without a hurdle the better but if you are someone that is easily distracted by hurdles you need to be resolute and find a way around that hurdle.

I know the snow can be fun and a big distraction as it brings out the big kid in all of us but it is important that we don’t let this temporary weather affect our long term plans. On the other side the snow can be annoying as it stops us going places or doing things we want to do so we have to adapt and make the most of not being able to go to work or school by using that time to achieve something that we normally wouldn’t have had the time to achieve.

So I hope you are making the best of the situation and that you are going to make 2010 your year.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Getting in to TV

2009-12-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

As like a lot of other industries Media has been affected by the recession. Less people are advertising jobs in the Media Guardian and there is less new TV written and produced by new talent. The TV industry not only has the recession to contend with but the ever changing marketplace with the internet now playing a key role in its development so much so that the degree that I graduated from Broadcasting studies is now called Digital Media.

The question I want to pose this week is with audiences now watching TV more and more online has it opened up a greater opportunity for young people to get established and noticed so that they can move on to regular TV or has the recession stopped any chance of this?

I think with technological advances it is easier and cheaper today to produce a TV programme or film than it was ten years ago. This has been highlighted by the British film “Colin” which was made for £45 and got a limited cinema release. With more and more people using the internet and watching TV on the internet it is also easier to market your work and get people watching.

This development has given young talented people the chance to shine in TV which they wouldn’t have normally had but it is the next step which is the hardest and most important which is making your talent in to a career or securing a job off the back of it. With sites like YouTube, BBC iPlayer and illegal file sharing viewers online are reluctant to pay to view and securing an advertising deal which pays you any kind of real money is near on impossible to find so making money out of your work can be hard.

So the only way really to use the online world is for publicity to help you get paid work in industry however this is where we hit another snag. Because of the recession TV companies don’t have big budgets or money to waste so many are reluctant to take risks or to employ unproven talent no matter how good you are. The big networks are looking for cheap to make programmes and programmes they can make money out of and know they are going to get high viewing figures for. This is why we have the X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity on at the moment, which takes up a huge chunk of weekly TV.

I think in the future there will be a way to draw more money out of screening programmes on the internet but until that day comes I think it is going to be hard for someone to make a decent living if they aren’t employed or funded by a major company. From an artists point however I encourage any budding TV and film maker to go out and produce something and put it up on the web as I think in the future there will be more cases like “Colin” that go on to do big things and get recognition.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Humanitarian

2009-11-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

I was privileged this week to be invited to the British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards at the House of Commons. I was nominated and then short listed for the prize which was really humbling. I had never been to the House of Commons so to just get the chance to go inside was enough of an exciting prospect for me but then to be awarded as runner up was completely overwhelming.

This got me thinking about the word ‘humanitarian’ - the dictionary definition of the word is:

“someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social reforms”

To me when I always thought about the word humanitarian I always associated it with people who went out to clear landmines in war torn countries, people who went and helped in orphanages in poverty stricken countries or people who helped people suffering from major medical problems. Not once did I ever think that humanitarian could be a word to describe somebody like myself from a rural county who helped young people in the community and helped people across the country pursue their talents.

I really enjoyed the British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards because of the positivity of the event. So many times in the press young people are used for negative news so the more events like this that highlight young people doing amazing things the better. At the event there were so many humbling stories of the difference young people are making in this country and the power that an individual has to make change.

I just hope this event has got people thinking that they can be a humanitarian in their own communities as well as in the wider world. So I would just like to use this time to encourage you to do something to help others and be a humanitarian. As a population of young people we need to put more importance of lives we can change and difference we can make over the money we can make.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Success and Happiness

2009-11-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

The footballing community was saddened today by the news of German Goalkeeper Robert Enke committing suicide after battling depression for many years. As we the public look at talented and famous people we think they have the best life and we are envious of them as to us they seem to have it all. However we need to remember that these are real people going through real problems.

As a world we put so much importance on success and achieving things to an extent that we don’t stop to think about happiness. As a world we are consumed with being the best and achieving standards on professional or skill level whereas not many people come out in public and say I want to try and be the happiest person in the world.

Happiness is something we can’t take for granted and doesn’t always come with achievement. We have to start looking at successful people as human beings and not just these people we idolize or scrutinize. If someone is not prepared for it talent and fame can be a burden and not a privilege.

I know some people who have achieved a lot in life that aren’t truly happy and I have met some people who do non skilled jobs who are truly happy so success doesn’t always equal happiness. Regardless of whether someone is successful or not we need to look out for them, we can’t just keep on assuming that successful people are happy.

Yes we want people succeed and be successful but we have to make sure we don’t do this at the price of people’s happiness.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Cheating for a school place

2009-11-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

This issue has reared its head in the press again this week and has sparked much conversation and debate. The argument put forward this week is that more should be done to deter parents from lying to get their child in to the school of their choice and there should be a bigger crackdown on those parents that have done this.

Now if you ask many parents they will say that they want thee best for their children and I think you have to commend parents that put their children first and do anything they can to give their children the best upbringing possible but the question is where do you draw the line?

If you as a parent are willing to cheat and lie to get your child in to the school of your choosing what message does that send to your children. As parents we have to be examples to our children. There are other problems associated with cheating to get in to schools like if other children find out that you cheated to get your child in they may pick on your child or you yourself may have problems with other parents at the school.

Schools can be a bit of a postcode lottery at times which I don’t think is fair but cheating is not the answer. If you happen to have a house in the radius of a good school your lucky but then what can happen is that wealthier families can afford to buy and move in to houses near these schools to get their children in which isn’t cheating but unfair on low income families who can’t do that.

I think more needs to be done to improve failing or underperforming schools as this is the only way we will avoid this situation. At the moment it seems more is being done on the prevention side but not the cure. It is only when we work on the cure that we will improve education for young people which is the real issue here.

What are your thoughts on cheating to get a school place? We would love to know and you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=789

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Keep on Moving

2009-10-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

In life there are many setback and obstacles put in our path. Some we can control or see coming, some we can’t. In life there will be so many opportunities and times where you think you can’t go any further and feel like giving up on your quest to fulfilling your dream. Well this week I’m here to encourage you to just keep on moving.

When we get a knock back sometimes it becomes hard to see what we should do next as we may have pinned our hopes on getting that job, that scholarship getting on that course etc. And because we pinned all our hopes on that one thing we didn’t stop to think, “What if I don’t get it?” “What am I going to do next?”

With every success or failure it is important to keep on moving. Failures and successes shouldn’t deter you from the path towards achieving your dream. If you experience a failure its up to you to pick yourself up and look at how you can keep moving. Keep on moving could be a case of finding a different course or a different source of funding and keep on moving can be simply putting in more time working on your talent. Every day is precious and the longer we are stopped for the harder it is going to become to achieve your dream.

Keeping on moving won’t guarantee you success but it will put yourself in a position to grab opportunities that are out there. If you keep on moving it will show prospective employers, agents etc. that you are committed to your dream and that you don’t let any setbacks get in your way.

By committing to keep on moving you may find better opportunities out there than the one you just missed out on. You will also be more aware of all the opportunities that are out there so it will help you make better decisions on what paths to follow.

So if you have just received a knock back remember it isn’t the end of the world, dust yourself off and keep on moving by going out there and finding new opportunities. Never stop!

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Fame

2009-10-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Last week the American box office smash hit remake of Fame came to our screens in the UK. The original Fame was a classic film and one that many people either studying performing arts or working in performing arts have seen. So I thought it only right that I comment on it in this week’s blog.

I’ve seen the original and last week saw the new release and although I loved the original I do still like the remake. I think the way they have adapted it has made it relevant for young people today and focuses on a lot of the problems people in the performing arts world have trying to make it in the business.

I will try not to spoil too much of what happens but for those unfamiliar with Fame it centres around a handful of students who attend the most recognized performing arts school in the country which happens to be in New York. The film follows the individual characters from auditioning to get in to school to graduation and showing how the quest for fame changes and affects each of them.

Coming out of the film I felt very uplifted. In a current culture of people wanting to be famous more than they want to be talented and the rise of reality TV I think it put performing arts back in to perspective. The film showed that fame doesn’t always equal happiness and that you can love your talent without having to be famous for doing it. It showed that success isn’t about becoming famous it is about being happy which is a message many young people need to hear as sometimes some people can become to obsessed with becoming famous.

So if you can please go and check out this film it is very much worth a watch.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Is it worth it?

2009-10-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

This week saw the first live show of X-Factor hit our screens and as per usual it has been headline news all week in the tabloids with over eleven million people watching over the weekend. One of the headline stories have been twin act John and Edward who have encountered the wrath of the tabloid press and the general public.

The twins have been highlighted throughout the audition process for their over the top personalities, their attitude and their antics which included singing over others or signing other peoples lines at bootcamp and then giving one of the worst auditions at the Judges house section and still getting picked.

Without knowing them the press has brandished them as vile creatures and the general public have got on the bandwagon by starting up Facebook groups which are about wanting them kicked off, voted off etc. It was to the amazement of many that they managed to survive the first round of the live shows as they were the favourites to go out. The scorn against the pair has got that bad now that the judges and presenters are having to try and counterbalance it with being nice to them at any chance.

Yes they aren’t the most talented act on X-Factor but I think they know this and this is why they have done what they have and acted in the way they have to get where they are. Instead of being credited for how they have managed to get themselves in to the top 12 they are being despised because of it. To get in to the top twelve if you aren’t the most talented on the show must be harder than if you are the most talented.

However in light of the reaction to the pair they now must be thinking was it worth it? Yes they have got themselves their fifteen minutes of fame but I think they are going to find it hard when they come out of X-Factor to either be taken seriously or to get work. Sometimes we can get so shortsighted in our goals and will to succeed that we forget to look at the bigger picture.

I think there is something to admire in John and Edward’s determination to get where they are but it is a great case to look at for long term success. If you are going to put a lot of hard work in you need to make sure it is going to be worth it and if you are going to use a high risk strategy you have to be very careful and be prepared to accept the risks.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Volunteering and the Recession

2009-10-07T14:40:00.002-07:00

Something that crossed my mind the other day was I wonder how volunteering has grown or changed since the recession. Are people out of work using this time to volunteer or are they spending their time doing other things? With the shortage of jobs are young people doing more volunteering to bulk up their CV and make them standout?

I think bodies that support volunteering in this country should be doing more at the moment to try and make sure as many people out of work are volunteering as possible. I remember in the past we have had things like Millennium Volunteers and the Year of Volunteering but I think it is time for a push again.

During a recession there should also be more volunteering opportunities made available to cope with the demand. Instead of volunteering organizations thinking right we can be more selective in who we take on because of the demand their should be agencies working with people to find them a volunteering opportunity that is right for them.

During a recession, profit making enterprises may feel like they capitalize on the situation by getting people to work for free for them in return for some work experience and a reference but I think it is important that we make sure that people aren’t getting ripped off and are getting something out of it.

If you have some spare time on your hands be sure to find out what volunteering opportunities there are in your area. You will be surprised by what is available to you. Just always make sure to check out the organization and the position first to make sure that it is the right place for you as if it is you will be amazed by what you can get out of volunteering.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Student Loans

2009-09-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

In many cities and towns across the UK over the last week you will have noticed that its that time of year again as students descend on University for Freshers Week and to start their term. This year there has been a record number of students applying for University and getting placed so there will be even more of them wondering around your local area.

However due to the record uptake and the recession it has caused problems with student funding with many students still waiting to receive their allocated student loan. Without student loans many people would be unable to afford to go to University and it is causing many problems and stress for students up and down the land. Some students don’t even know yet how much they will be receiving in payments so can’t even budget yet as they have no clue how much they will be entitled to.

The University year doesn’t get delayed because of students not getting student loans so students have been forced to try and get money from other areas whilst they wait for the money to come in. Some are getting loans from high street banks, some are having to get jobs and some are having to borrow from friends and family. These solutions are only going to add to their long-term debt or affect their ability to achieve on their course.

Universities still expect their fees, landlords still expect their rent and other things have to be paid for including food, bills, books and all other imaginable essential living items regardless of whether your student loan has come in or not. This means that some people will leave University in more debt than they should do or even worse still have to leave the course because they can’t afford to be on it without the student loan.

Many of the current MP’s got their University education for free so its about time they did something to help put pressure on the loan companies to sort this out or find a way to deal with the problem as if it isn’t rectified it could lead to a brain drain from University with high achieving students being forced to quit their course. If left any longer this problem will have unfair affect on students from poorer backgrounds, those who don’t have friends or family who can lend them money, or savings they can dip in to. Students from wealthier backgrounds may be able to deal with the situation and keep on going but University should be for everyone regardless of their financial situation.

Have you been caught up in the Student loans problem? If so we would like to hear what you think and you can share your views by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=780

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Excuses

2009-09-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

I personally think that excuses stop us from achieving so much in life and I think we are growing in to an excuse culture. In sport if a team or an individual loses they say its not because the opponent was better than them but instead blame it on things they did wrong or other factors like the referee. If somebody doesn’t do well at school it can be the school system, their background, teachers or anything else that their parent can think of which is to blame. I think it is about time we got out of this excuse culture.

In sport I think if you can’t see or admit when a team is better than you, you will never succeed. Saying a team is better than you can be a positive experience if done right as you can use that team as your motivation to get even better than them. The high majority of sporting matches are won by the better team and with only a few really being down to bad referring decisions or other circumstances. If you make excuses it stops you from improving or working hard which is the only way you are going to become the best if not you will be making excuses all season.

I think it is also time that we stopped blaming our situation in life or our background and using that as an excuse to why we don’t achieve. There aren’t many people in the world who’s life is actually perfect and there will always be someone better of than you or worse off than you. Everyone has problems of some kind and normally it’s the ones that don’t about them who have the biggest.

If you want to succeed in life you have to cut out the excuses because they only stop us from reaching our full potential. I would rather achieve something than have to always be coming up with excuses. You have to remember that the more you make excuses the less people care and in the real world excuses don’t cut it.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Pushing it too far

2009-09-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Now if you have been talking about TV this week the chances are you have been talking about Derren Brown and his lottery trick. Last week live on TV he put together a show where he proclaimed to have managed to predict all six lottery numbers that were going to be drawn. On the show you saw a set of balls on screen but could not see the numbers and then after the lottery had happened Derren turned them around and they did in fact match the lottery numbers that were shown, however this doesn’t mean he predicted them.

Regardless of whatever technique you were to use to predict the lottery numbers the percentage chance you had of predicting them all correctly would still remain the same which is approx 1 in 14 million as there are that many different combinations that can come out. However Derren’s show was crafted so well that he got many people believing he had actually predicted the numbers.

This isn’t the first stunt Derren has pulled, over the last few years he had done Russian Roulette and a show on mind control how he managed to get people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Now both of these tricks might like his recent stunt be fixed but these two were plausible that he could actually pull them off, with Russian Roulette you never have a worse than fifty percent chance of getting it wrong and the idea that you could through the art of suggestion get someone to do something is again very plausible. However with the lottery stunt I think he has tried to push the envelope too far and it has come unbelievable.

In the human spirit there I something that wants to believe that there is someone out there that could do something amazing and we would all love to be able to predict the lottery which is where Derren gets his fan base. I think if Derren tries too many of these stunts, too often I think he will lose any credibility he has. In my opinion Derren is a great TV presenter an a great illusionist but as for having the powers he proclaims I’m not too sure, I will however give him one thing he is great at getting people talking and if this show has caused people to try their hand at maths and problem solving to try and prove or disprove his trick it will have done something good.

I think it is a wise lesson for young people to learn from Derren Brown that if you push things too far that you may become unstuck so always be sure to think about what you are going to do and your next move before you do it because as soon as you lose your credibility then you’ve got problems.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Motivation, Politics and the classroom

2009-09-09T14:46:00.001-07:00

The President of the United States of America Barack Obama has been making headlines this week for a speech he made which was broadcast to schools across the country. In this speech he encouraged children that if they want to achieve anything they will need an education to do it and that the future of the country depended on their educational achievement.

Many people in the US have been unhappy with his speech, as they believe he is trying to indoctrinate young people in to his political agenda. Instead of bringing politics in to the classroom he has brought himself in to the classroom with a motivational and inspirational message.

Now I am all for public and famous figures doing all they can to inspire and motivate young people to achieve all that they can and I think more people should use their fame or stature to do this. I think where Obama has come unstuck is when he says that the future of the country depends on you. No matter how true I think this statement is I think he should have gone down the route of encouraging young people to work hard to see what they can achieve in their own life and not tagged on the message about the country.

In the UK will we see Gordon Brown trying a similar thing and if he did what would the reaction be? I think Obama is in a unique place as I think he is one of the most liked and recognized world leaders amongst the young community that there has been so young people in America are probably more likely to listen to him than say if Gordon Brown tried the same thing over here.

Overall I think world leaders should always be doing more to help and inspire young people but it needs to be for the right reasons not for point scoring or some other hidden agenda and as Obama has found out the way the message is delivered is so important as young minds are very impressionable.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Competitiveness against intelligence

2009-09-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Schools were once seen as a place of learning where young people could experiment and explore. A place where young people could feed their minds with knowledge and where they were given freedom to research and study things which interested them. Now to me as an outsider looking in Schools seem to be more about competition than anything else.

With more people looking to stay in education after school due to the lack of jobs out there, there is a higher level of competition for these places. To get funding and a good reputation schools are pressured in to getting their grade averages up so now many schools will choose to offer subjects where it will be easier for their students to get good grades in. GCSE and A Level results can give off the illusion that the school is improving where in actual fact it could just mean less students are doing so called harder subjects or that the exams themselves are getting easier.

Now I am one for competition as young people need to know how to achieve in a competitive world as that is what the outside world will bring them after they leave education but competition shouldn’t take the lead over learning. Real intelligence can’t be measured by exam scores. If you get good grades but haven’t come through a school system which has nurtured your intelligence development it may mean that you struggle on that A Level of University course you have applied for. A grade is just a means to get on to another course or a job but if you aren’t prepared for that course or the job you are going to fail in the next stage of your life.

I think it is quite ridiculous how we can live in a world where sports days are getting banned or changed to take away competitiveness from it yet school grades and league tables are plastered all over local and national media for all to see as each school tries to out do the other.

Do you think School exams are getting easier? We would like to know your thoughts and you can share them by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=770

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Media Attention

2009-08-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

In a sport which only receives widespread media attention during the three big competitions (Olympics, Commonwealth and World Championships) athletics has been thrusted on to the front pages this week. The story getting the attention centres around Caster Semenya but its not the news of her Gold Medal in the 800 meters but the allegations surrounding he gender which is getting the attention.

Now a month ago on the street if you had asked the average person on the street who was Caster Semenya? A good 99.9% of people would not know but now she is the name on everyone’s lips. The only thing she has done is win a race and now she is the subject of debate and at times ridicule.

I think Caster the runner from South Africa has been put in a terrible situation which could have and should have been avoided. Her local governing body should have known something like this may happen and should have done something about it. Then failing that the athletics body at the games should have stepped in when she arrived.

To have people talking about you around the world because of you talent is pressure enough but to have people debating your gender is much more personal and damaging especially if you have never been in the spotlight before. We should be talking about her talent the same as if anybody else had won and then wait for the results of the tests without jumping to any conclusions.

This situation may also form a new debate on whether or not other criteria as well as gender should come in to play when deciding on who is eligible to enter which race which is a whole new can of worms altogether.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

If it isn’t broke don’t fix it

2009-08-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

This Saturday sees the return of the X-Factor to our screens in the UK. After many seasons of the same format this year the producers have made a range of changes including auditions now being held in front of live audiences instead of just in front of the judges to name just one.

Using the same format the X-Factor has been a hit in the UK for many years now but this is the first time the producers have played with the format. I’m not sure if this is because they are scared about viewing figures or people just want to make change for change sake.

If something is successful or you are successful you should keep doing things the same way as yes a change could make you even better but there is a risk if you change things up for no reason that it could make you less successful. If you are going to make changes there should be a purpose behind them and they should be well thought out.

It is hard in today’s world to find a winning formula and with things like TV programmes the viewers obviously like the programme for a reason and if you change it you may alienate those viewers that liked the programme before you changed it.

In a fast changing world there seems to be this atmosphere and culture of having to change to keep up with the times and for entities to keep evolving but I think it is important that we don’t go blindly in to this cycle and sometimes fight the urge to change some things.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Giving to get in return

2009-08-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Over the last year a new innovative project has come to my attention that being Orange RockCorps. The idea behind the project is to get young people to volunteer for four hours to help out with a project that benefits the community in return for getting a ticket to a special concert only for Orange RockCorps volunteers headlined by some of the most popular and biggest musical acts.

I am a huge fan of big companies like Orange giving back and getting involved with helping the community and young people. Mobile phones are so important to young people and its great to see them using that influence they have with young people to get them involved in volunteering. I think every commercial company that sells product and services to young people should be doing something to give back to them.

The one thing I hope is that the Orange RockCorps experience encourages the young people that volunteer with the project to continue volunteering after their four hours commitment is over. The principal behind volunteering is to do something selflessly for other people without expecting a reward so there are some issues with this project.

The problem comes when the young person who volunteers with Orange Rock Corps then goes to do more volunteering and expects to get something in return where that charity or organization may not be able to afford to reward their volunteers no matter how much they might want to. Some people may not even get involved in volunteering expecting a reward they may instead not even apply to be a volunteer without a guarantee of a reward.

The other problem is if the young person is just doing the volunteering for the ticket and don’t get anything out of the experience or have any intention of volunteering again after the project. However if they never planned to volunteer regardless of the project if we can get four hours out of them is that better than nothing some may argue.

I think projects which encourage young people to volunteer and get more people involved in volunteering are great and much needed. Projects like Orange RockCorps need to be careful though. I know Orange RockCorps do work to try and help people to continue with their volunteering but if you give people a big reward after just four hours what is there to encourage them to continue to keep involved.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Weather

2009-08-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Now I know its seems like all British people do is complain about the weather but down in the South West we have yet another terrible and wet summer. I’m sure travel agents and airlines love this as it makes us all wish we were holiday somewhere nice and hot but due to the recession it just means that a lot more people in Britain will have no choice but to make the best of the British summer.

Not only does the weather affect the mood of young people in the country but it also limits their opportunities to do things. After a year slaving away in the classrooms their reward is six weeks holiday of what so far has been mainly rain and days are ticking away as before they know it they will be back in school.

When I was a kid summer was a time for getting out and adventuring, for walks, for going places for playing sports. With this weather it is hard for young people to either do these things or enjoy doing these things. Many young people will have just traded the classroom for the home. The lure of TV’s, computers and video games is already high enough for young people with time on their hands but now with not much else to do it is even worse.

Now I’m not saying young people shouldn’t enjoy relaxing, watching a bit of TV and playing a bit on the computer over the summer but it shouldn’t be the only thing they are doing. The summer can be a great learning experience for young people where they get to experience new things and actually have time to dedicate to things they want to do but to help them and increase their opportunities we need this weather to brighten up quick smart.

We want to know what you guys have been up to over your summer holidays, and what you do when it rains? Are you on your games console or have you found a way of keeping active and busy despite the rain? To let us know your thoughts log on to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=759

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Summer Jobs

2009-07-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

It has been tradition for many years in the UK for young people to find summer job during their summer holiday from either School, College or University. With the current jobs market this tradition is under threat as the number of summer jobs have significantly decreased and the amount of people applying for them has increased.

It’s not just young people on summer breaks who are now applying for these jobs its older people to who can’t find work and will take anything for a bit of money until they can find something more permanent. With the financial decline it will also means that more people had to fund their way through University as their parents may not have the funds to help them. This means more students applying for jobs including those that a few years ago may not have had to.

Summer jobs were normally low skilled jobs in the tourism, retail or seasonal trade. However with the current unemployment problems people with top notch CV’s, qualifications and experience are applying for these jobs making the competition even harder for students. With more applicants applying for vacancies employers can be more picky about who they bring in. Sometimes a recommendation from a friend use to be enough to get you a job somewhere but now even friends who work in places are having problems getting their other friends in.

As well as summer jobs there is unpaid work experience and internships over the summer period but now that students need money they can’t afford to do unpaid work and now there are lots of unemployed people doing work experience and internships just to get some more experience and contacts to boost their CV’s in this competitive market.

So after a hard slog all year in education young people have to start battling out over the summer as well.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Making a Splash

2009-07-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Tom Daley the young cheeky chap from Plymouth has made headlines this week by winning Gold at the World Diving Championship. Tom was tipped for great things before the Olympics last year and when he failed to deliver a medal many people saw this as a let down. Don’t get me wrong there was still a strong contingent backing Daley but some people started to questions his ability after all the hype that had surrounded him but hopefully now he had put some of those criticisms to rest.

Now To may not have a cult like following like some young pop stars or have the paparazzi chasing him wherever he goes but he is a poster child for UK sporting stars. If it had been someone say in there twenties that had won the gold at The World Diving Championships I don’t think they would have got the coverage that Tom has this week and if Tom hadn’t competed in it I don’ think many of us in the UK would have known that it was taking place.

Earlier this year Tom was making headlines for non-sporting reasons when a story of the bullying he was receiving at school made the national press. He was subsequently moved schools because of it but this brought up a whole range of opinions from the general public. Some saying he shouldn’t get special treatment and that it was part of life from some asking why in today’s society do we have to pick on someone just because they are successful. If this had been any Olympic star accept Tom Daley this wouldn’t have made press or if it had been any child on your own street that this was happening to it wouldn’t have made press.

If the pressure that was on him to bring home the Gold in 2012 before wasn’t enough now after winning Gold at the World Diving Championship people will now be expecting him to do it at the Olympics. The fact that the Olympics are three years away and people are already bigging him up shows the pressure that is on. Anything could happen in those three years, Tom could get injured, a new face may come on the seen, Tom may stop diving, who knows. All I know is that I don’t think we have seen the last of the press interest in his life which I think is only going to get worse the closer we get to the Olympics.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Young People and the recession

2009-07-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

In new studies recently released it says that young people are the most optimistic about this country getting itself out of recession than any other demographic but they are being the worst hit by job losses and the lack of jobs going around with a high percentage now out of work and/or claiming Job Seekers Allowance. Some over 16’s have now been out of work for some years and some are yet to be able to find their first job.

Some peoples answer to this is to stay in education with applications for Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses going up. These young applicants are obviously hoping if they stay in education long enough the recession will be over by the time they finish their course but if it isn’t then they will have increased debt to deal with and still very limited job prospects.

I think the government need to step in and do a lot more for young people during this period as the more dissatisfied young people with no money and time on their hands we have it could lead to an increased level in youth crime. If we try and look at it positively with so many young people out of work we have so many man hours available to this country which we need to utilize by getting these young people doing something active and positive which helps this country and helps them get back in to work and to build up experience. If we were to do this we would also lessen the chance for youth crime in the young unemployed group.

With more young people out of work more people are claiming benefits which is more government money being spent. Now this money needs to be spent and unemployed people need it but the government need to invest in getting young people back in to work so they don’t need to claim benefits and save this country money in the long term. As the more people claiming money out of the government and not contributing to the economy the longer it is going to take to get out of this recession.

If the research is true and the young unemployed group are the most positive and optimistic about getting out of recession then we need to harness this positivism. Lets repay their positivism and help keep them positive by helping them as we are going to need this energy to help us get out of this recession.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Drawing

2009-06-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

This week I got an email telling me about the Big Draw campaign coming up later this year. It is a yearly event which is all about encouraging more people to draw, lots of events will be out on across the country to try and get as many people drawing as possible. This got me thinking back to my school art days.

I personally can’t remember the last time I did a sketch or drew something. As adults unless we are good at something we tend not to do it which I think is a shame and I think is a big problem with art. Because people like to judge art and when someone tells you that a piece of art you have done is terrible you take it personally, not many people want to invest time in something just to get ripped apart. However for me I think it is a shame with art that we are too worried with what people think of our end product rather than concentrating on the fun or experience we had making the piece.

I think it is important that we keep as many of our creative channels and outlets open as possible. Even if you just do art for yourself I think it is important to participate in as being creative and keeping your mind creative can help you in other areas of your life and the way you approach situations.

It is important that we encourage young people to participate in art in all forms and that we encourage adults to get back in to it. Drawing is such an inexpensive hobby and it is so accessible for people to take up. I hope that this event encourages lots of people to come back to drawing and get in to a creative mindset.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The possible imminent collapse of Setanta and the impact it will have on sport in the UK

2009-06-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Professional sporting bodies, teams and athletes will all be watching the news this week with great interest to see what is going to happen to Setanta Sports. For all of you unaware of what Setanta are they are a subscriber based sports platform to which its viewers pay a monthly view to watch its collection of sports channels which feature the likes of Premier League matches, golf, boxing, rugby and more. Now you may be asking how this will effect young people who want to get in to sport but please read on to find out who this could effect you.

The way the selling of sports right goes at the moment is that the governing body say for instance The FA will sell the rights to a sports channel to show its matches live, the FA would then distribute the money to the clubs in the league which matches are being aired and keep a percentage for themselves. The problem comes is when the clubs spend the money before they get it and then the deal falls through which is the situation we find ourselves in now.

Normally when professional sporting clubs hit hard times the first things to go or to be cut back are areas that don’t make them profit so area like youth development and coaching in the community can be cut back. This then has a long term effect on the quality of coaching offered to our sporting stars of tomorrow as well as effecting the number of opportunities available to them.

Sporting bodies who were also depending on the cash from selling the rights may then also scale back any youth development work they do as an organization and promotion of the sport which again will effect the number of young people taking up the sport.

When sport is on TV it can inspire and encourage people to give it a go but if Setanta does disappear some sports and teams may become less visible here in the UK if no other broadcaster picks up the rights. To those sports where the rights do get picked it isn’t all good news as now with less potential buyers in the market it will force down the price they can sell their rights for so leaving them with less money in the future.

I hope that some how a deal can be made that helps everyone as there are so many ramifications and people who would be effected if Setanta do go under.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Being Equipped to deal with your Talent

2009-06-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Susan Boyle’s involvement in Britain’s Got Talent has brought this question in to sharp focus this week. Susan proved that there are people out there with amazing talents that the world doesn’t know about but her involvement in the show has provoked much debate over how we handle these people. To go from long term obscurity to worldwide fame in seven week is a daunting task for anyone so why should we expect people to be able to cope with it.

People looking at someone who has a talent and say they are lucky but to some people with talent it is a burden and a problem. Many talented people spend so much time working on their talent that they have missed out on social development and personal development as well as building on their maturity and emotional capabilities. I think it is important we spend more time with people who have talent equipping them to deal with their talent and to pursue their talent to the highest level.

Should TV shows and producers on programmes like Britain’s Got Talent be forced to do more to protect the people who perform on the show and do more psychiatric testing on them to see if they should be on TV? This show has made headlines with the people who have appeared on the show but has this series gone too far and are people now worried for the people on the show? Instead of being entertained the audience is now starting to feel uneasy with young acts breaking down in tears and a negative press campaign against a woman who has won the hearts of many.

People who have years of build up before they get famous for their talent still can have issues and problems with what fame brings so we shouldn’t be expecting people who haven’t had that to be able to deal with it. As the general public I think we need to be careful about the way we treat and react to people like this and shows like this as I don’t think TV shows and the press will ever change. Fame can be taken as quickly as it’s given but all the TV companies seem to be worried about are viewing ratings and advertising revenue.

Do you spend time perparing your self for the life you will lead when you become successful in your area of talent? How important do you think this is? Britain's Got Talent has brought this question in to focus this week and I would love to know your thoughts and you can share them by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=731

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

One Horse Race

2009-05-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

For many weeks people have been predicting that Susan Boyle is going to win Britain’s Got Talent. She has had millions of people watching her performances on Youtube and has been featured in and discussed by media outlets across the world. Now my question I pose today is: Is it worth taking part in a competition which is seen as a one horse race?

With each semi final with only two going through from eight I think most acts are already thinking before they perform that they will be going out. This year more than ever I think they have put through novelty acts or strange acts just to make interesting TV and create media attention and unlike with previous seasons I think the audience at home has known as well as the acts themselves that they aren’t going to go through which I feel spoils it a little.

The way the semi finals are devised are unfair I think as so far all we have had go through our singing and dance acts when the show is suppose to be about variety. I think they should do a night for dance acts, a night for singers and so on so that in the final you get a good mix of talents. Also there should be less semi-finals as semi-finals in competitions usually means the final four or two matches when it comes to sport not five rounds of eight people.

As previous acts who haven’t won Britain’s Got Talent have proved you don’t have to win the competition to be a success like Faryl Williams and Escala for instance who have both released albums. So just because you know you aren’t going to win doesn’t make it a worthless exercise as with the right help and support you can turn your five minutes of fame in to a career or at the very least use the publicity to help get you gigs and to help promote yourself. I am sure lots of entertainers will be putting “As seen on Britain’s Got Talent” on their tour posters soon.

The thing with one horse races is that the voting public like their vote to make a difference and count so sometimes if a voter thinks that someone is going to win the competition with or without their vote they may vote for another act or some will vote against the favourite just to go against the grain. For an example of favourites not winning just look at last week’s American Idol where clear favourite Adam Lambert was beaten by the underdog Kris Allen.

I think Simon needs to be careful with Britain’s Got Talent as when it started it seemed to be about showcasing variety and a competition where anyone could win but now with every year the show to me just seems more and more like just a launchpad for Simon Cowell to showcase his latest star.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Never Giving Up

2009-05-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

After the outcry last year from the UK over the Eurovision song contest the UK came back with a bang going from a year after year of languishing at the bottom to finishing in the top five. After last year there had been cries from the UK people for the UK to withdraw from the competition due to the perceived less than impartial voting going on fearing that the UK would never get a fair chance of winning.

This year however Andrew Lloyd Webber came to the rescue helping the country to find our act and then writing the song for them. Even with all this many in the UK were still skeptical about our chances of success and still were questioning our participation. People had regularly tuned in to Eurovision to watch the UK do terribly and to listen to Terry Wogan’s commentary in the past but this year we had neither.

Looking back at our success you can start wondering if it was Andrew Lloyd Webber who got us there or if the voting has changed and if anybody could have gone up on stage and got the same votes. This we will never know but last Saturday proved a great point. The point being that no matter how aggrieved you feel about injustice in competitions the only way to change or improve the system is to stay involved in the process and not give up. Giving up is never an answer that will change things. I think the outcry from the public did make people take notice of the situation which was great but it was only that it was twinned with our continued participation which is why we got the success we did.

Andrew Lloyd Webber instead of worrying about the voting was proactive and looked at ways he could change things like with our act Jade Ewen touring the voting nations on a PR campaign. When you come up against problems you need to look at all the different ways there are to get around it and not just give up when you encounter it.

As a viewer I thought that this year was not perfect but it was closer to being a song contest that it ha ever been and it was great to see so many young and talented people representing their nations. Who knows what will happen next year? If we will see a return to the voting of the past but this year has given me great heart for the future of Eurovision. People just need to remember that votes doesn’t always equal talent, just because you may not get many votes doesn’t mean that a song or performance isn’t any good and we can’t lose sight of this.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Playing the media

2009-05-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

As the years go on it seems more and more like the media are in complete control in peoples success and failure. It seems that regardless of someone’s talent the media can make or break anybody which is a depressing thought. People seem to be more interested in entertaining news and scandal than getting behind someone because of their talent.

This is not a new phenomenon by any stretch of the imagination but is depressing nonetheless. With the increased interest we seem to place in the lives of celebrities it is no wonder that there is more scandal as the media won’t stop until they find some or if they can’t they will create some. It’s like I was watching a documentary on Miley Cyrus the other night and the interest in her life at the moment is crazy with the amount of press she has following her around its no wonder the press are going to pick up on anything which isn’t 100% perfect.

The big media story in the UK this week is the break up or Jordan and Peter Andre which shows the other side of media. Since this was announced in the press showings of the pairs reality TV series have risen significantly and I am sure both could sell their side of the story to the press for big money. Now some may claim they are just playing the media to make more money and get attention but only they will ever know.

Because celebrities have got so good at playing the media you may see it as the celebrities are fighting back and trying to beat the media at their own game. The only problem now is that because people are aware of both sides of the coin when a story gets released about a celebrity you don’t know if it is a case of the celebrity playing the media or the media playing the celebrity and on top of this if something in the news about them is actually one hundred percent true because of the games that go on you don’t know whether to believe it or not. So are celebrities really helping themselves or not?

I don’t know what the answer to this is and I don’t think there is an answer as celebrities need the media and media need celebrities but I think this cycle makes it really hard to find any role models any more in the celebrity world as they don’t sell newspapers or get the headlines that scandal does which I think is the biggest shame in all of this.

We here at Talented Young People want to know what you think about media and celebrities. Who do you think is in the wrong? And what do you think could be done to solve the situations highlighted in this weeks blog. To share your thoughts go to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=718

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

You can’t escape your past

2009-05-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

As you are all aware I am a big fan of Britain’s Got Talent but the one thing I can’t stand is when I see an act that I love who has a sob story and is portrayed as an amateur to only be exposed in the newspapers a few days for telling lies or misleading the public. Britain’s Got Talent is the only show to have suffered from this as it has happened in shows like X-Factor but at the moment it seems like a weekly occurrence on Britain’s Got Talent.

I understand the producers of the show have to make entertaining TV so the programme is edited together in a way to make us smile, laugh and cry but I don’t think the British public enjoy being mislead. To me I would much prefer the act to be honest and then give a great performance as there is no getting away from talent but doing it this way it tarnishes the performance. Now I can’t say if it is the reduction company or the act themselves are the ones misleading the public but you thought the producers would have learnt by now with all the previous scandals.

So far we have had an aspiring saxophonist who turned out to be an artist who was once signed to a record label and a singer who claimed never to have performed in front of a big crowd who has now turned out to have sung in a London theatre before and we are only three or four episodes in.

If you or I can find this stuff out on the internet and the press can you would think that the producers would research all the acts before they broadcast the show as it is filmed months in advance. It also begs the question on whether acts who have already achieved success should be allowed to audition or not?

With your own personal career development you need to be careful about what stuff gets posted about you on the internet as in the 21st century it is very hard to escape your past and something which you did ten years ago could be used against you today. In today’s world more and more employers are googling applicants names before they interview them. Our image is no longer just about how we carry ourselves in our day to day life, it is now also based on what pages come up when you google your name. Nowadays peoples first contact with you will come through searching your name so make sure you are giving off the right image. With people blogging and commenting on all of lives trivials points and with millions upon millions of photos ending up on Facebook from social events just keep this in your mind as it is very hard to escape your past.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Handling the Pressure

2009-04-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

If you are a football fan this week you have probably been discussing the decision by referee Howard Webb to give Man United a penalty on the weekend, the Champions League or your teams battle for promotion or to avoid relegation as we near the end of the season.

The matches between now and the end of the season are a real test of players, managers and referees. This is where we get to see if they can justify their huge wages and if they can handle the pressure. It’s alright being the best player, the best team, the best coach or the best ref but if you can’t handle the pressure you’re not going to win anything regardless of how good you are. This next month is where seasons are made or broken.

In our own lives it’s our ability to handle pressure which will help get us to where we need or want to be. To get a job you will have to either go to an interview, audition or trial where you will have one chance to impress your prospective employers enough to give you the job. In life you will also always been under pressure to make the right decisions and do the right thing which when your growing up can be even harder because of peer pressure.

It is our ability to not be affected in a negative way by pressure that will help us lead a happy and fulfilled life. If you can react to pressure by trying harder and doing better then you can achieve great things. Its like over the next month in football there will be players who crack under the pressure and then there will be some that grab the headlines and score the important goals. So be the one scoring the goals and not the one cracking under pressure.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Following a path or blazing a trail

2009-04-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

A discussion the other day got me thinking this week. I was chatting to somebody who had been reading a lot of books on people that had succeeded in business to try and get some pointers for what he should do to be successful. This got me thinking, to achieve success should we be looking to copy others or should we be going out blazing a trail of our own.

I think it is wise to learn from the successes and failures of others but to succeed we need to be ourselves and we need to be unique. Sometimes it is very easy to lose yourself and to become somebody else when you spend your day emerged in research on successful people. People see success and they are attracted towards but just because something worked for someone it doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Even when you do find some info on someone who has been successful and how they have done this still not be the best path to follow as there may be an even better route than that person took which could lead you on to even greater success. An idea might have worked for somebody as they were the right person at the right time to use it but if you tried to recreate it now it may not have the same success. People always want something different or something new not just an old idea reinvented.

People need to be sure in themselves and not always be looking for advice and guidance, to be successful you can’t always refer to a book or somebody else for advice. I heard a great quote the other day which was “Chase the dream not the competition.” Which I think is bang on as it is so easy to be come consumed with your competition and to just follow them when if you had just been concentrating on your dream then you would have spent more time trying to achieve that dream.

I think it is wise to be knowledgeable on the dream you are chasing and to learn where others have failed and succeeded but it is important not to get bogged down with it all and use the information not to follow in others footsteps but to blaze your own trail with. Don’t lose yourself and be the one that people are writing about in years to come as someone who shook things up, somebody that innovated and somebody who blazed a trail as not many people are going to write about you if they have already written the same story about somebody else.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

2009-04-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Britain’s Got Talent came bursting back on to our screens last weekend with a bang attracting over 11 million viewers. Last season the country sat in amazement as a whole host of young talented people stole the show. Last years winner George Sampson told the story of the underdog coming from a disadvantaged background doing everything it took to win so that he could pay for his mum to have a house.

If the first episode was anything to go by this year is going to be the year of “Not Judging a Book by its Cover.” 48 year old Church worker Susan Boyle took to the stage to the audition and proclaimed that she was going to sing for the judges. All three judges on the panel sniggered and smiled when she said that, as based on her appearance they thought they were about to hear the most terrible audition ever and that she was kidding herself if she thought she could be a singer. Then to the amazement of the judges she belted out an outstanding rendition of a song from Les Miserables.

Susan is now already one of the favourites to win and her performance has been viewed millions of times over on YouTube. After the performance she got an apology from all three judges for the way they treated her before she sang which is very rare indeed and I hope it has taught them a lesson. With shows like this and X-Factor in the audition stages its like we as a country want to laugh at people more than we want to see some talented performers which I think is part of what is wrong with today’s society.

So many times in life we are quick to make judgements and assumptions about people based on what’s on the outside but I think it’s time we started taking more of an interest on what’s on the inside. I think Susan is just one of many people out there who haven’t been given the chance to live their dream or been taken seriously because of their appearance, the way they speak or the way they act. I hope Susan inspires more people to go for their dreams no matter what their situation or no matter how much they think people will laugh at them. Its society today and peoples attitudes which is stopping talent like this being discovered and I think it’s about time that we the people gave these people the chance to shine.

We here at Talented Young People want to know if you find yourself falling in to this trap or if you have ever been judged unfairly and you can share your views by clicking on the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=700

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Test of a Champion

2009-04-08T15:40:00.000-07:00

As many of you will be aware the Formula 1 season started a couple of weeks ago and with all the hype surrounding British driver and last years World Champion Lewis Hamilton it has been fellow Brit Jenson Button who has been leading the way with two wins out of two yet it is still Lewis getting all the headlines but for all the wrong reasons.

Last year Lewis became the youngest ever Formula 1 World Champion aged 23 after only three seasons in the sport and for this he was awarded an MBE. Now defending a championship is always said to be winning it for the first time and already that has been proving true for Lewis. Not only have things been going wrong in his performances and the car but off the track as well Lewis has been brought in to question. We have had Lewis starting from the back of the grid, Lewis failing to make it through to the final stages of qualifying in the qualification stages, having points taken off him, and to cap it all off was hauled in front of the F1 panel in lying and cover up scandal involving him and his team.

Now everyone goes through bad seasons and yes his quality as a driver and the quality of the car was being brought in to question but it is the scandal that threatens to derail his season and possibly his career. With Lewis being the posterchild for F1 and him having more sponsorship endorsements than you can shake a stick at he can ill afford any scandal. With such a quick rise to fame with little time to adapt Lewis could be brought down to ground just as fast.

What all the Lewis scandal is doing is taking away the limelight from Jenson Button who is not getting the column inches that Lewis was when he was on top. Jenson when he started his career had a bit of a reputation off the track but has since seemed to mended his ways and for the last few years has been loyal to a team where the car hasn’t delivered. Jenson is now reaping the reward from his loyalty as the buy out of his old team has left him with a car that can compete at the top level.

The recent weeks really bring in to question things like when should an MBE awarded to someone and what should it be awarded for and it has really shown how no matter how good you are and no matter what is going wrong on the track you need to always make sure that you aren’t doing anything stupid or anything that can be perceived in a negative light as one bad incident can jeapordise years worth of hard work. I still think that Lewis can recover from this and hope he does but I hope this makes him wiser. Is it worth trying to cheat the system for a few extra points if it costs you your image and brings you character in to question? What is more important, your performance on the track or how you are perceived off of it? As a racer should you be brave and speak out when you see wrong doing in your team? Hard questions but the questions I think Lewis and other drivers need to ask themselves.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

School Grading Systems

2009-04-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started TYP I have been very outspoken on school league tables. In my opinion you can’t judge the successfulness of a school based on exam results because it means some schools will never have the chance t finish top. Should schools be judge more on the progress of their students rather than the final grade they get? And shouldn’t schools be judge on the number of their students that go on to gain skilled jobs as surely school is just suppose to be a building block to make a pupil a well rounded member of society who can get a job doing something they love doing.

In the news this week has been a new school grading system which has been implemented in America which sees schools getting graded from A – E which is measured not just against exam results but behaviour and progress as well. This gives the chance for schools from deprived areas a chance of being a top school which they probably wouldn’t have under our league table system.

Now no system is perfect and this has its floors as well because if you are a top school with pupils consistently getting a high grade you aren’t going to get top marks for progress. However I do feel for pupils to behave better in schools they have to have a sense of pride in their school and this system lets the pupils who go to schools in run down areas the chance to be proud of their school.

The news is now that they are heading our way to the UK which has been met with positive and negative feedback. Myself personally I think grades speak form themselves so parents that would have sent to their kids to a school that achieve top exam grades are going to continue to send their children there but this system can bring the feel good factor to some schools and give them something achievable to work towards. Most schools know that they will never be top of the league table so may think why bother but with this system every school has the chance to earn an A.

Like I said at the top I can’t wait until the day we see league tables based on pupils life outside of school but I think this is a step in the right direction. I think schools need to start putting more emphasis on the characters they are developing in their pupils and what contribution they will make to society, not just worry about grades. I think both systems can and should be used in the UK as I think it help parents make informed choices of where their children go to school and the parents will be able to ascertain quicker the sort of standard at their child’s school.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Google Street View

2009-03-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

This week one subject which hasn’t been able to keep out of the headlines is Google Street View’s UK launch. After a successful launch in other countries like America now thanks to Google you can virtually wonder around some of the biggest cities in the UK. However in the UK its launch has been marred by criticism over the perceived invasion of privacy which this is causing many people to call for it to be shut down.

Now I’m not going to talk about the wrongs or the rights of Google’s latest idea but merely comment on the power of the Internet. Ten or so years ago Google was merely a web based search engine that was starting to build its fan base by providing better and quicker searches than its rivals but through one very basic and simple concept Google has now grown to one of the biggest companies on the net.

In a time of economic crisis it is great to see web companies and web based ideas really gaining attention and still making money. If Google believe in the old phrase that any publicity is good publicity then they will be rubbing their hands together but if nothing else the media backlash shows just how powerful they have become. I also find it interesting to see new company start ups on the net that offer new ideas and new concepts and how they can get the masses interacting with it.

To me the greatest thing about the Internet is that it offers anybody the chance to share a new idea with the world, to make a successful business and to make a name for themselves. I am sure we haven’t got the most out of the internet yet and can’t wait to see more people really pushing the boundaries of what you can achieve using the internet.

Who knows what the next internet craze will be, but if the next ten years are exciting as the last ten then the internet is going to be an exciting place to be.

What do you think about Google Street View? Have you found a good website lately or do you run your own online business? If so we would love to find out about them and you can share your views by going to our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=688

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Raising the Bar

2009-03-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

As we get closer to the end of the college year many students will be left anxiously waiting if they get accepted to their first choice university after completing their UCAS form. This year however one of the so called top two Universities Cambridge has raised the bar even higher. This year instead of the typical three A’s they now need an A* and 2 A’s.

The pressure put on students in college is immense as they know once they have got an offer from a University if they don’t get the grades they are predicted then they may not get the place. Now yes I think students need to be challenged and need to want to get the highest grades possible but in a situation which isn’t as pressurised because as it stands one 2 hour exam could change the direction of your life completely.

I think that Universities need to look equally at what the student can bring to the university in the way of other skills, interests, knowledge and character as well as their grades. This is why I think that Universities who ask students to submit work, projects, CV’s etc. are much better placed to judge an applicant and are running a better system.

The problem with the big two Oxford and Cambridge is recently I have been speaking to parents of children who have reached the right grades but still can’t get in so just getting these grades does not guarantee you a place. Some people work hard for years in order to try and get a place at one of the big two and still don’t get in. In the outside world you will need more than grades to get you through so I think it is important that Universities encourage their applicant to be well rounded individuals. As Oxford and Cambridge show it’s not your grades alone that will get you in.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Become a Teacher in Six Months

2009-03-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

This week I wanted to talk about news in the UK educational world which has caused a stir. The government have unveiled plans to change the time it takes to complete a teaching qualification to six months from a year which the course currently takes.

This has been seen as many as way to cash in on the current quality of applicants on the job market who may have fallen out of high power jobs due to the credit crunch and to make teaching more appealing to them. For some time the government has been advertising hard trying to get more people in to teaching and has offered many financial incentives but this could be their most newsworthy step to date.

With stories of schools becoming more unruly places and with many people complaining about the lack of respect some pupils have for teachers is six months training going to be enough time for people to learn the skills needed for the modern classroom?

Is this approach going to see quantity over quality? Are the government just trying to get more people in to teaching regardless of their training and suitability? Is this move going to affect the standard of teaching young people receive in our schools? These are just a handful of the questions that myself and other people across the country are asking this week.

Do we want a teaching pool filled with ex-bankers? I think personally that this country needs a diverse range of teachers from different backgrounds if we are truly going to give these young people the best education we can. Getting ex-bankers back in to work and to help create more teachers is a short term fix to some of the problems this country has but long term what problems is it going to cause for the young people in school today when they graduate? Are they going to have the education they need in order to contribute in the best way they can to our economy?

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Do Young People Care?

2009-03-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

One question I know a lot of teachers and people that work with young people is do the young people they are working with actually care about what they are doing whether it be a maths lesson or competing in a sports team. To them it seems at times that they care more about the lesson or the activity than the kids they are trying to enthuse do.

The biggest battle any person working with young people is getting them to care. If they can get a young person to care about what it is they are doing then that young person will reach greater heights and be a lot easier to teach than a young person that doesn’t. As a young person it is so important to be cool, accepted and fit in and for young people the normal way to do this is to not show an interest in anything and to play up. As soon as you show an interest in something it takes you out of that big group and makes you different.

Most of the time young people can’t comprehend the importance of doing something in school as they can’t see how it is going to benefit them later in life or in sports they may not know where their career could take them. I think it is so important with young people to always make them aware of what the end goals could be and what being in a lesson or part of a club can help them achieve.

The people that go on and achieve great things in life are those that are passionate about and care about what they are doing. As a young person you don’t want to look back later in life wishing you had cared more during your younger years to try harder in things you wanted to do and achieve. Don’t be scared to care in something as when you achieve something in that area it will mean so much more and feel so much better.

Do you care about your school work? Do you care about your hobbies and interests? And you care about developing a talent? We would like to know your stories individually and if you think as a generation young people need to start caring more? We want to know and you can share your views by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=678

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Film Industry

2009-02-25T14:47:00.000-08:00

Last week was the biggest week in the Film Industry calendar as the winners of the Academy Awards otherwise known as The Oscars were revealed. Outside of school holidays the run up to the Oscars are a busy time for the cinemas the publicity of the awards encourages more people to go to the cinema.

The British film industry had huge news to celebrate as the film Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards at the Oscars a film which had British cast members, a British Director and was funded by British Film companies like Film4. Not only this but Kate Winslett also won the best actress award so Britain had more than one reason to celebrate this weekend.

Even with the huge success of Slumdog Millionaire which had a comparatively small budget compared to Hollywood Blockbuster films British film company Film4 that funded it are still be forced to be very careful with which films they support due to the financial times we live in. So just because of the success of Slumdog Millionaire it doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more British films made and more funding available for them.

I went and saw Slumdog Millionaire a couple of weekends ago and I really enjoyed the film but my local cinema charged me £7.50 for my ticket. When you can buy a DVD to own for less than that with the sales that go on in the high street and online I think £7.50 is a bit steep for a ticket. If the film industry wants to survive the economic downturn it needs to encourage more people to go to the cinema and not squeezing money out of loyal cinema goers and putting people off from going.

If you want some free entertainment and are aged under 26 I found this online the other day which I thought was a great idea:

http://www.anightlessordinary.org.uk/

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The benefits of the Credit Crunch

2009-02-18T15:23:00.001-08:00

Now I know I have written a lot of blogs lately on the credit crunch but there were a couple of interesting stories this week which caught my attention. Now most talk about the current economic climate is normally from the angle of doom and gloom but the stories I am going to discuss offer hope.

The first story to catch my eye was a report I read saying that University applications are quite significantly up this year with many people sighting the credit crunch as the reason. Young people seem to be concerned about the lack of jobs and job security at the moment so are deciding to spend some time in University hoping the economic climate is better when they graduate.

Now I am not saying that University is for everyone but it is great to see young people really thinking about their future and what the best route for them is. In a time of economic downturn some said applicants would be put off University as in these times they may have found it hard to come up with or justify the tuition fees so I am glad the University system seems to be surviving these tough times. That’s the thing which is overlooked a lot by the media as it is not only the corporate world which affected by the downturn.

The other story I read was a bit of publicity for a film coming out at the Cinema called “Shopaholic” now I haven’t seen the film so can’t comment on the quality of it but I thought the film was apt for this period. In a time where we need to be watching what we spend and our finances it is great to see a film which deals with a real problem for many people. Regardless of the way they film portrays the issue it is great to see it talked about on the news and by the general public.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Premiership Managers

2009-02-11T14:44:00.000-08:00

This week in the English football Premier League two managers have been sacked only months in to their contracts. They aren’t the first to go this season and may not be the last but when you have a big name club like Chelsea axing their manager it makes headline news. It brings me on to my point of discussion which is how long should professional sports people be given to prove themselves after signing a contract.

In professional sports clubs take a gamble on players and managers when they bring them to the club. Normally they would have been scouted and chosen for what they can bring to their club. The scout’s watch these people excel at other clubs and bring them in on the hope that they can do the same for their club. To get the services of these staff they are sometimes wrangled in to long term contracts with no probation or trial period.

In reality just because a player or a coach is good at one club it doesn’t necessarily mean they will be good at another club. There are very few players or coaches that join a new team and click right away. For most it will take a bedding in period where the player or coach gets use to the set up, the way things are doing and working with their fellow players and or coaching staff.

In the Premiership a lot of the clubs are run by short term thinking who want to see an instant return on their investments and want to see results in the short term. If things aren’t going well owners will get worried and forget about long term plans and just worry about the short term. With every result getting even more vital every year the time managers are given becomes less and less. If a team is doing bad usually the responsibility is laid completely with the manager and if things aren’t going well it will be the manager who is the first to go not the players.

My question is how long should coaches and players be given? I think that too much expectation is put on new staff and new signings and too much pressure is put on them. I don’t think there is a given period of time you can say that a person has to prove themselves as it will vary from person to person but I do believe they need to be given a chance. Maybe trial and probation periods should be brought in to football but one thing is for sure something needs to be done about manager turnover in the premiership. More clubs and managers should be made to keep to their contracts instead of clubs having to pay millions in compensation when they don’t honour a contract.

The manager merry-go-round is damaging to the reputation of managers as it is so easy for them to be a hero one minute and fired the next. With every new season the clubs seem to forget about their past success and just base their decisions based on the current results. However with the money involved in professional sport I don’t see any changes happening soon.

We want to know your thoughts on this in our topic of the week. Do you think managers are given long enough to prove themselves in professional sport? Should they have better job safety and what can be done to change what is happening? we want to know and you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=659

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Politics

2009-02-04T14:52:00.000-08:00

Politics is everywhere at the moment. Wherever you look politics is a hot topic. I’ve always been fascinated with Politics and trying to involve young people where possible in to politics, getting them interested and getting them talking about politics. There has never been an easier or better time to get young people in to politics than the world we live in today.

Barack Obama has made politics cool again in the process of making history as the first black American President. Barack has really captured the imagination of the world who followed his campaign right through to inauguration through papers, TV and the Internet. People who wouldn’t usually talk about politics are talking about Barack Obama, people of all ages, races and backgrounds know who Barack is.

Closer to home in the UK the big political debate of the week is what to do to stop walk outs by UK staff of various companies up and down the country which was started by a contracting company who wanted to use an all foreign staff force at a UK Oil Refinery. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has harped on in the past about British Jobs for British People but who is to blame in this situation? Are the staff right to walk out? What should Gordon Brown be doing about it, if anything? These are all questions which young people should be debating and engaging with.

Then we can move on to things like The Credit Crunch how could Gordon Brown have handled it better? Should the taxpayer be bailing out the Banking system? All of these are serious and huge issues with big implications but it doesn’t half make politics interesting. Then we have other issues on local levels like should London have been more prepared for the snow? Again it comes down to politics.

I think schools and councils should be doing more to encourage young people to think about and talk about politics. I personally encourage any of you reading to get in contact with your school or local council and see if there are any ways locally or nationally in which you can get involved like becoming a Youth MP or joining discussion and panel groups.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Superbowl

2009-01-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend will see the Pittsburg Steelers taking on the Arizona Cardinals in what is one of the most watched sporting events in the world. For all of those not familiar with the Superbowl it is the final of the NFL competition to find out who is the best team in American Football.

The reason I want to talk about it is because in the UK we don’t really put on sporting events anywhere near the magnitude and razzmatazz of the Superbowl. At our FA Cup final the biggest domestic cup match in football as we know it we will normally have someone singing the national anthem and possibly a fly over from The Red Arrows and this is seen as big.

The Superbowl on the other hand is a weeklong event. In the build up to the match there will be press days where the media can grill the players, there will be lots of events for the fans where they can try their hand at playing some American Football an there will be entertainment shows up on with live music in the run up to the event. Across the country it will be what everyone is talking about and what all the press organisations are reporting on. This is before we have even got to the match itself. When the match is on they will have fireworks, pre-game entertainment, music and more. Before the match starts all the players are introduced and welcomed on to the pitch, at half time the pitch will be turned in to a stage where a major international star will perform the half time show and then at the end of the game there is a ceremony for the winning team.

I think the UK need to take leaf out of the American’s book and really hype the big finals like The Superbowl. The bigger and more exciting you can make the game the more young people you can inspire to take up the sport. Cup Finals should all be about capturing the imagination of the audience and making memorable events where the country comes together to watch.

The organisations behind these sports need to use them to get young people in to sport. In the run up to the event they should be running events that encourage young people to get involved all across the country and not just in the host city. Sporting bodies should be capitalizing on the attention these events get and using it to get as many young people involved in sport as possible.

I will be staying up late in the UK to watch it and even if you aren’t a fan of American Football why not give it a quick view to see what I am talking about I have many friends who aren’t fans of American Football but will tune in to the Superbowl. The NFL do a great job of promoting the sport over here in the UK and I think is a blueprint for what the English FA should be doing to promote our sport abroad.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Knowledge of the job market

2009-01-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

With the global credit crunch hitting harder and with more closures and redundancies being reported everyday young peoples knowledge of the job market is becoming increasingly important.

For the college student deciding on what course to study at University they now have to start thinking about what industries are making money and which are not cutting back on jobs. Now by the time they have graduated the job market may be a different place so they always have to be aware of what is happening and what they think will happen over the next three years.

For the education leaver who is going in to the work place there is less choice around. With low skill and base level job numbers shrinking it is becoming harder to get a foot on the bottom ladder of a company and work your way up. If you are just looking to get some money or some experience again these jobs are hard to come by as now companies only want to spend money on people they think will contribute to the company and not someone they have to invest a lot of time in.

For the University Graduate there are less graduate positions available so they have to find a way of making themselves stand out from the crowd. They have to have more knowledge than the other graduates looking for those jobs and do more research to get themselves to the top of the pile, it really is survival of the fittest.

For those currently in work it is time to be thinking of ways in which you can make yourself irreplaceable in your company. It is also a time for being prepared in case the credit crunch hits the company you are working for, know what your options are and what you can do if you are made redundant.

My advice to surviving this period is to try and really master a skill whatever that may be. Companies are always going to need skilled staff to keep their company going. So whatever skill that may be you need to start really working on it and make sure you can do that skill better than anybody else.

To give us your thoughts on the credit crunch and job market why not join in our topic of the week which can be found by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=644

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Appreciation

2009-01-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

Actress Kate Winslet has been grabbing the headlines this week for her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes after winning two awards. Her gushing acceptance speech in which she forgot the name of fellow nominee Angelina Jolie has been seen the world over and it got me thinking about my topic for the blog this week – Appreciation.

To achieve great things in life we need a strong support group around us whether that be family, friends or colleagues. These people can help you in many ways from doing small jobs for you to save you time to focus n your goal to helping you improve in certain areas of your life or your talent.

The most important thing family, friends and colleagues give is their emotional support. When you are feeling down they pick you up and when you are doing well it is their encouragement which spurs you on and makes it all worthwhile. These people are there to offer support and advice when you need it the most and to offer it from a point of view which is one of wanting you to succeed. It is their love and belief in you and knowing that you have their love and belief which helps you handle going in to interviews, auditions or trials when they can’t physically be in the room with you, when you are alone or when it all rests on your shoulders.

When you are trying to achieve your dream some of your support network may put their life on hold for you or at least rearrange all their plans so they can help you. This is why it is so important that you show them everyday that you appreciate them. You may not be able to thank them on TV with millions of people watching but you need to find ways in which to know they are appreciated. Some people may not help you if they don’t feel appreciated but most will help you without the need of being appreciated however this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t show them that you appreciate them. Showing you appreciate someone can really make their day and help inspire them in their own life.

So go out and make someone’s day go and show them that you appreciate them.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Starting the Year off Right

2009-01-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

So you are now back at School, College, University or work and already one week of the year has passed us by. Gone are the parties and the fun of the Christmas / New Year period and if your like most you wont have a clue what you are going to do in 2009. You have probably already made new years resolutions with many people already breaking them and you may have put a few pounds on over Christmas but now is not the time to look back now is the time to start the year off right.

A lot of what you do in January can dictate how the rest of your year is going to go. Now is the time we need to get our attitude right for the year, get focused and get that determination going. We need to start setting ourselves goals and go about achieving those goals, forget about what you did or didn’t achieve last year just focus on what you can achieve this year and how you can achieve what it is that you want to achieve. If we can’t get that determination and that focus going now its going to be harder for the rest of the year and if you do manage to find it later on you will have already wasted so much time.

Now is the time to get your diary out and plan your year. Start putting in all the things you have planned and if you don’t have enough things planned start planning things. To succeed in 2009 you are going to have manage your time and make the most out of every minute you have.

As we start the year it is time to cast off all those things about us which are stopping us from achieving and making those changes in our lives and in our attitude that will help us become more successful. This is the year to make the changes in your own life that make a big impact.

What are your plans for the year? We want to know what goals you have set yourself and you can let us know by joining in our topic of the week which can found by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=631

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Christmas

2008-12-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

In our final blog of the year before Talented Young People closes its doors for the Christmas break I thought it was only fitting this week that we talk about Christmas.

Now to me Christmas is a time of relaxation but deserved relaxation. If you put in one hundred and ten percent all year around to achieve your dreams your batteries need to be recharged with a week’s rest. With companies and a vast percentage of the population slowing down and closing up for Christmas it makes sense to get your rest and relaxation in when it is hard to get anything done.

Christmas is also a time for reflection. To think about what you have achieved this year and what you should have achieved. It’s only when looking at a year as a whole and matching we achieved against what we wanted to achieve that we can see if it has been a success or not. It is so easy to get caught up in the craziness which is the modern world and life so times like Christmas where everything shuts down are needed to get true perspective.

Christmas is about remembering what is important in your life. Spending time with family, friends and loved ones around Christmas can really bring home to us the importance of the people around us. It is a time where we make an effort to connect and reach out to people and a time where we can be overwhelmed by the generosity of others as well as feeling the warmth of making the time special for someone else.

If you want to hit the ground running in 2009 you need to make the best of this season to put to bed 2008 and to put you in a great position to start 2009.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us here at Talented Young People Ltd.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Miming

2008-12-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

Britney Spears has launched a press and PR assault on the UK this weekend with an appearance on X-Factor and a 90 minute supposed bare all interview which was broadcast on Sky One this week. People should be talking about her new album which she is here to promote but this week many people have been left talking about her alleged miming on her so called live performance of here new track “Womanizer.”

People have been miming for years and this isn’t a new thing for music artists to do but when big names do it, it gets headlines. This week I ask when is miming acceptable and even is it acceptable at all? Should TV companies and music companies be doing more to make sure they perform live? And should we be told before an act performs if they are live or miming?

When people pay to see a concert are they paying for a show? Are they paying for entertainment? Or are they paying to see the act perform live? Now I can slightly understand if you are going on to a TV show at last minute and they can’t set the audio production up properly for you that you wouldn’t want to go on live. With sites like YouTube if you give a bad performance its going to be plastered all over the internet and through one performance could ruin your image but when it comes to concerts you play in venues which are designed for gigs and in which you have the whole day to set up and do sound checks so to me there is no excuse for miming at a gig.

When an act goes on to a TV show to do an interview and a performance do you just see this as a promotion / an advert for the music or should it be held in the same position as a performance at a gig? With a TV show no fan or member of the general public has paid anything to hear you sing live so is it acceptable not to?

You play a dangerous game when you mime and try and pass it off as a live performance. If you youtube Ashlee Simpson and Saturday Night Live you will see what I mean as on live TV her track started before she was ready and within a few seconds left the stage in embarrassment. Or if like Britney you have one of these headset mics and then when you have to be interviewed after the performance the interviewer has to put their mic in your face. As much as a bad performance can be bad for your image getting caught miming can be equally as bad just ask Ashlee Simpson.

The whole miming side of the music industry helps reinforce the belief that many people have that pop stars can’t sing and all there stuff is just edited to sound good. This is a reason why I think more needs to be done to make people perform live because as long as people continue to mime people will continue to have these thoughts.

I think the problem lies in the overproduction of tracks when they are released. When an artist can go in to a recording studio and spend days just recording one song and record it in small chunks having hundreds of attempts of course it is going to sound a bit different when you have one take to belt it out live. I think the quality of the production of some of these tracks makes it near impossible for some acts to recreate live and this puts them off performing live.

Britney picked the worst show to do a mime on as the show is all about people who have none or very little professional training performing live every week and this is what has brought this in to the headlines. If Britney had mimed on a daytime TV programme I don’t think there would have been as much talk about it.

What do you think about singers who mime on stage? Do you think it should be stopped? Or do you just want to be entertained and not care if the act is miming or not? We want to know your view points on miming and you can share your views by joining in our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=617

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Leadership

2008-11-26T15:00:00.000-08:00

I haven’t done a blog on a sporting topic for a little while but this week my inspiration from this piece comes from the world of sport. If you like your football you will be able to guess what I am going to be talking about. I am a big fan of Arsenal Football Club and they have been all over the back pages this week following their Captain William Gallas making claims and statements to the press about trouble behind the scenes at the club. So this week it is all about Leadership.

In this world we will always need good leaders and leadership qualities are great to have. Now what does being a leader actually mean? Is a leadership someone who shouts the loudest and can get people to do things? Is a leader someone who leads by his actions? And should leaders speak out and act out on things which could have a detrimental affect on the group they lead?

To me a leader is someone who is considered but someone who can when it comes to crunch draw on their own experience and feelings to make a decision on how to lead. The important thing not to be when being a leader is a loose cannon. When some people think of a leader they think of someone who doesn’t bow down to anyone and leads based on their own opinions. A loose cannon is what William Gallas ended up being which is not the way to lead.

As a leader you need to put the group of people you lead before yourself and as a leader the way you act and behave will be seen as a direct reflection of your group by many people looking in. To be a leader you need to have the respect and the backing of your group without those two things even if you have the title of a leader you are not a real leader in the true sense of the word.

Even if you don’t want to a be leader when you grow up you never know when your leadership skills could be called in to question and when you will need other people to help you or do things for you so you always need to keep your leadership skills sharp. So when you are a leader never make a rash decision, always think before you act and always put the group first before yourself.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Accomplishments and recognition

2008-11-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

We all like winning awards, trophies and recognition. Whether it’s winning the cup with your football team or being top of the class we all like to see a reward for our hard work. In a world which if you believe the press has an increasing amount of youth related crime happening it seems that more organisations are creating awards to reward young people doing great things in society whilst trying to get some good publicity for young people.

My question this week is this: Should we be rewarding young people for everything that they do? And if we do this are we just creating a culture of young people who will just expect to get an award for everything they do and then only do things if they get an award for it.

For me young people need to be empowered to achieve great things for their own personal satisfaction and not for an award. Young people should want to achieve in what they are doing first then if an award comes up it is a bonus. Someone shouldn’t be judged by how many awards they have won they should be judged by how good they are at something.

For me I want to win awards so I can show others what can be achieved through hard work as if you keep working hard at something and always want to get better at it somewhere down the line you will get the recognition for it.

So to sum up I am all for awards and recognising the efforts of young people as long as it doesn’t breed a culture of award hungry young people who lose focus on the long term goals they are trying to achieve in life.

What do you think? Do you like getting awards? Is that what motivates you? We want to know and you can share your views by joining in our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=605

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Contracts - Are they worth signing?

2008-11-05T14:45:00.000-08:00

Now many of us are aware of the lengthy and sometimes unfair contracts that music acts are signed to by record labels but nobody has really thought about contracts on the X-Factor. On the show each finalist is tied down to a contract which states that they can’t release any music until after the winner has released there’s and that they will have to take part in the X-Factor tour among countless other things I’m sure.

Scott allegedly wants out of his contract so that he can start releasing music now and not be restrained by the terms of releasing music on his contract. He obviously believes that his best chance of chart success is getting something out now before the X-Factor buzz dies down. If successful he would set a president and it would get other acts wanting to do the same so I a sure if he did attempt this it would be unsuccessful.

Ok the X-Factor contract may be restrictive but without it Scott wouldn’t have gotten on TV and had all the media buzz behind him so even if he does have to wait he still has a higher chance of success than if he hadn’t been on the show. The X-Factor tour is also great PR as he gets to perform to thousands of people up and down the country at the same getting paid a nice amount for doing so which without his contract he wouldn’t get the chance to do.

I think if this story is true then it is just another attempt to get media hype for being the first person to try this. I’m sure if Scott was still on the show he wouldn’t want to be released from his contract. Personally I think it is worth signing a contract like that for the opportunities that show can supply but it does bring back in to the spotlight the importance of reading a contract and thinking about the outcomes before signing one.

In this week’s topic of the week we want to know if you think contracts are unfair on the talent? Are the big record labels and TV shows wrong to tie people in to contracts> We want to know your thoughts. And you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=598

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

TV, Internet and the 21st Century

2008-10-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

This week I want to talk about an email I got this week from some of the guys working on the E4 series Skins telling me about competitions they are running for young people to get their music featured on the show and to secure speaking roles. This got me thinking for my blog this week.

I think its great how TV companies are integrating their services with an online arm and they are using their online side of the organisation to encourage members of the public to get involved and create media. The internet has made it so quick and easy for young people to create recordings of their music and videos of their acting or producing which is encouraging more young people to try their hand at these things and enter competitions like this. Back many years ago people would have to make a tape of themselves and then send it off to an address to enter competitions like this which would put many people off who had the talent and ability to do win competitions like these.

Many shows have asked for people to upload videos for competitions for acting roles but not many have offered the chance for young musicians to have their music featured on a show. This is ingenious because now young people will get the chance to have their music featured on a show which is popular with young people and a series which will be repeated, available online and possibly on DVD which is a great advert for their music.

The TV companies also get rewards for running competitions like this as they get free promotion and encourage their fanbase and potential audience members to interact with the show and feel more a part of the show. Not only this but music rights for TV programmes can be an expensive business so to get hold of music which isn’t from a major label or music company is a lot better for the producers financially as they have to pay through the nose to use music from established stars on their show.

I think we will see more competitions and opportunities like this in the near future as it is a win / win situation for all involved.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Still lots to be achieved

2008-10-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

As the year draws closer to its end, thoughts turn to Christmas and as the nights start to draw in it can be a time that many people start to take their foot off the pedal and get caught up in the season. It is so, so easy just to let these last couple of months go to waste and to relax but this week I want to use this chance to encourage you to get the most out of the end of the year.

You may have achieved some great things this year. You may have achieved more than you expected or wanted to achieve. If this is the case you can’t afford to get complacent just because you have achieved this year it doesn’t mean that there isn’t any more for you to achieve this year. Now is the time to press on and to not settle for what you have already achieved now is the time to find out what you really can achieve this year.

On the other hand you may not have achieved what you wanted to and what you wanted to achieve may seem impossible to achieve by the end of the year. If this is the case you need to reset your goals and end this year on a high by getting as much achieved as possible so that this year isn’t a waste. You need to learn from this year and use these next two months to put you in a better place to achieve your goals and targets for next year.

Try not to get distracted by things happening around you and don’t get sucked in to that attitude of just looking forward to Christmas. Your Christmas is going to be so much better and come a lot quicker if you are busy over the next couple of months achieving more great things. Let Christmas be a time where you can look back and honestly say hand on heart that you achieved the most that you possibly could with the year, that feeling is the greatest Christmas present you can give yourself this year.

We here at Talented Young People want to know what you are trying to achieve before the end of the year and you can let us know by joining in our topic of the week which you can find by clicking the link below:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=588

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

You never know where it might lead

2008-10-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

I want to draw on a personal experience for this week’s blog which is all about making steps to change your life.

In life there are so many opportunities available to us and around us that we don’t take up because they may not be quite what we are looking for, not a big enough or important enough opportunity in our eyes. By doing this and not taking opportunities like this we never know where they might have lead.

Last month I started as a volunteer commentator for the SoccerSight programme ran by the Royal National Institute for the Blind. This involves providing a live audio description for football fans who are visually impaired and that attend live football matches. I found out about this through my local club Plymouth Argyle. I sent off an application form, went all the way to Swindon for a training day and got selected. Now if I hadn’t found out about this opportunity and followed it up I wouldn’t have got the opportunity.

So there is me having the time of my life commentating on Argyle games completely happy and content to do this forever more not wanting or expecting more and then all of a sudden I get the chance to go to Wembley. Wembley is one of the most significant sporting venues in the world and at the end of the month I have been invited to assist with the commentary for my second favourite sport American Football as the NFL comes to the UK. This opportunity all came about through my involvement with SoccerSight and if it hadn’t been for that this opportunity would have never come up.

So my message this week is to try something new and get involved with something as you never know where it may lead. My story is just one example but it doesn’t have to be like that it could just be that in trying something new you find a new passion or direction for your life or it may be that the experience of the opportunity can give you a chance to do something else that you wouldn’t have had without that experience. Always go in to everything you do by putting 100% in and always keep yourself open to any and all opportunities as you never know where something might take you.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Pay it Forward

2008-10-08T15:11:00.001-07:00

Many years ago the Pay it Forward movement began. Pay it Forward was an idea to change the world which started from one person doing a random act of kindness for someone and then getting the person who has received the kindness to go and do the same for someone else. The movement got that big that there was an even a Hollywood film made about it starring Kevin Spacey.

The principal for the idea is so good as it is an idea which is so simple, requires no money and actively involves people in helping to change the world. The only problem is that this system depends to society reacting to it and the person receiving the act of kindness to then go and pass it on in a way which will get the person they pass it on to, to pass it forward again.

However I think it is a great concept and one which can be used to help change the world for young people. It’s like if we could get one young person to go and inspire / motivate another young person and get that young person to do it to someone else then schools, youth groups and so on would better places with less bullying and students supporting each other.

All of us should always be looking for ways in which we can pay it forward. It just may be that you start a chain that makes real difference in this world. If at first you don’t succeed try again, even if the person you are passing it forward to doesn’t pass it on again at least you have done something nice for one person and you never know that person in years time may remember it and do something nice for someone else.

So why not start a Pay it Forward movement in your own school or local community, see what differences you can make.

This week our topic of the week is all about Paying it Forward and you can join in the discussion by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=579

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Delivering on Talent

2008-10-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

In this week’s blog I want to talk about a situation every young person wanting to achieve something with their life will experience the moment they have to deliver on their talent. Whether it is a trial, an audition, an exam or a job interview everyone will have a situation where the time for talking and practising is over and where they have to show they are better than all the competition.

I got thinking about this subject this week because X-Factor is starting to reach the business end and because last weekend the football team I help coach kicked off their league campaign.

In X-factor before the weekend they had whittled it down from the first auditions and now all the hopefuls had one more chance to sing one more song and based on those couple of minutes would learn if they were going through to the next round. They had all been put their because the judges thought they had talent but if they didn’t deliver in those few minutes then it was all for nothing. Not giving a good performance wouldn’t mean they didn’t have talent but it would mean they hadn’t delivered on their talent. Being on TV in a situation like that the nation judges you at home on if they think you are good or not they don’t take in to account if you are having a bad day or if that song wasn’t suited to you as they don’t really know how talented you are or could be as they only see you for those brief minutes.

Now delivering on talent is a lot different in competitive sports especially team sports. In this situation delivering on your talent depends on a lot of factors including the opposition, your team mates, your tactics etc. As coaches we believe our team is good but it’s not until others see your performances and see your results that they will judge where you stand. It’s like we took our team to a tournament which was for children in the age group above our team but we wanted to test them. In that tournament we didn’t get any points and looking at the results some people would say they weren’t talented but the experience we got from that tournament helped us to win our first game of the season 2 – 0.

When trying to work out if someone is talented or not you can’t judge them on one performance or a few minutes. Talent is relative as just because you are the best at something in your local area it doesn’t necessarily mean you are better than somebody from another county as the competition in that area may be a lot higher. So if you are in a football team and you finish second in a very competitive league you may be better than a team that wins the league at an easier standard of football.

So just remember success isn’t always based on talent but you can use your talent to achieve great things. Like talent success is relative, if you want to achieve great things and push your talent to the furthest is can go you have to challenge yourself as winning a football match against a team which aren’t anywhere near as good as your team it doesn’t teach you anything or help improve your game but losing to a better team can help teach you things that will make you a better player and a better team.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Noel's HQ

2008-09-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

Now one of the main vocal points behind Talented Young People is our desire to see a better world for our youngsters to live in and to create a world of more fulfilled young people who have dreams and ambitions that they are working hard to fulfill. So Noel's HQ really struck a chord with us as the majority of the programme was highlighting how everybody can make their own positive difference to the world whilst highlighting people that already were which is what we are all about.

In a year in which we have seen a huge rise in the reports of teenage crime in newspapers and in a year which has seen the launch of the Talented Young People – Youth Manifesto, we believe there has never been a more important time than today to make the big and small changes the world needs.

We need more celebrities and people in power using their positions to help make this a more positive world to live in and it is great to see Noel Edmonds devoting his time to the cause. His TV show showed you how much difference you could make in ninety minutes. After the show had finished he had managed to sign up thousands of viewers to become organ donors as well as getting people to email in with offers of support in goods, services and time for people that were trying to change the world.

We need to fight on all fronts for this world whether it be TV, Radio, Internet or Press. We need to fight to reach people wherever they may be if we are going to change the world and make it a positive place for young people to live in.

I hope there are more programmes like this on TV but more importantly I hope shows like this encourage people to actually do something as it is the people on the ground who can make the real and big changes.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Paralympics

2008-09-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

After all the hype surrounding the Olympics who has been following the Paralympics? After all the pages of press Team GB got for their medal haul in Beijing many people are unaware that our Paralympians have already amassed a staggering 42 Golds, 29 Silvers and 31 Bronzes outshining the success of the Olympics.

You won’t see our Paralympic team on the front of every paper when they come back, you won’t get people rushing to see them off the plane and you won’t get people saying they should get Knighthoods, but why is this? Are they less worthy of our support and adulation? NO! If anything they are more worthy as their determination and inner strength is greater than any regular Olympian.

What’s it going to be like when it is in our country in 2012 are companies like the BBC going to make more of an effort to show it just because it is in our backyard and then revert back to their old style of coverage when it goes to another country? When the Olympics were on every time you put on the TV there was something on, when you were eating your breakfast something was on, when you were eating your lunch something was on and when you were eating your tea something was on. Now if you want to watch the Paralympics there is one, one hour show every evening but not on BBC 1 as it is has been demoted to BBC 2.

In a day and age where we should all be equal and not look at someone’s disability, race or physical appearance before the actual person inside, the media seem to be in the stone age as it treats the Paralympics like a second rate sporting event. It’s the media that have so much impact on the way we react and treat each other and with them sending these messages it’s not helping us as a society and the way we treat people.

Have you been watching the Paralympics? We would love to know your thoughts on the event and you can share them by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=559

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Stage School

2008-09-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

This week I want to talk about stage schools. Watching the new series “Hairspray: The School Musical” got me thinking about Stage Schools as in this series Denise Van Outen is trying to get a regular school to put on a performance of the hit musical on the West End. It’s going to be interesting to see how the young people react to their school being changed in to a stage school type environment and if kids from a regular school can pull it off.

Stage schools for many years have been seen as the place for wannabe actors, dancers and singers to attend in order to achieve their dreams of making it in these industries. They have also been seen as many as a place that is for children from well to do families who can afford the yearly fees and for children with pushy parents who will do and pay anything to get their child to the top.

I know many people who have gone through some of the top stage schools in the country and I know many people who have worked at top stage schools. The majority of these people have spoken highly of their experiences in the Stage School environment. The one thing that Stage School does is make you really aware of the competition and what standard you need to be at to get roles and contracts. The energy in these places are immense as in Stage Schools everyone has the same dreams and are all working hard to achieve them which you don’t get in regular schools.

Stage School’s are brilliant for unmotivated, undedicated and undisciplined people as the environment forces it’s pupils to be all these things with the rigorous hours put in to development of their craft and the pupils being forced to keep disciplined with the hectic timetable of lessons and workshops. Many people who go to Stage School wouldn’t spend half the time they do on their craft if they weren’t in Stage School. The problem is that when you graduate from Stage School and enter in to the workplace you need to be disciplined and motivated as there will be no one there to make sure you are.

Another thing to remember in this day and age is that Stage School isn’t just for people wanting careers in theatre, TV or Movies. Nowadays many TV Presenters and Radio presenters are coming out of Stage School. We now also have pop bands who are formed from members who attended Stage Schools.

I think it is important to remember that going to a stage school isn’t a guarantee of success and they aren’t the only way to break in to performing arts. Stage Schools do however give you high class teaching and time dedicated to your craft that you wouldn’t get anywhere else, they also give you a network of contacts, invites to auditions and people working on your behalf to get you work. So I do believe going to a Stage School can really help you get a career in performing arts but it is your natural talent and dedication that are going to get you there and these are things that you either have or you don’t.

I still believe that if you don’t go to Stage School you still can have a great chance of making it in performing arts but it just means that you need to be on your toes, scouring every source you can for auditions, trying to get your talent to the best level possible and building your own network of contacts. The good thing now is that more and more companies are looking for everyday people and holding open public auditions so it gives a chance to those who don’t go to Stage School.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Back to School

2008-09-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

This week many young people up and down England will be going back to school after a six week break which has seen more rain than sun. Most young people will be wishing they had more days off and didn’t have to go back this week but that would be the same story if they went back this week or next month as everyone always wants more.

Over the last couple of weeks parents will have been shopping with their children for new school uniforms, shoes and other clothing wear as well as going to the stationeries to get all the stationery they need for their school year. As well as preparing their children with clothes and equipment for school they will be starting to prepare them mentally for school with bed times reverting back to normal and talks about what is expected of their children this year.

For young people the beginning of the school year can be a mix of emotions, gladness at going back to see friends, anxiety about a new school or a new teacher but most importantly it’s a time to think about their targets for the year and what they want to achieve out of the year. Every year spent at school is a year closer to the real world of optional education and the workplace so with every year the importance grows to do well and to be ready for the challenges after your school years are over.

What I say to young people is to sit down with their families before the year starts and set some goals for the year, goals which are going to challenge you to work your hardest but goals that you can achieve. Once this is done you need an action plan on how you are going to make this happen and you need to stick to the action plan as if the action plan is a good action plan and you stick to it you will achieve results. By having an action plan it gives us something we can look at on a week by week basis to measure our progress. This is important as many people start the school year with big dreams of what they want to achieve but after a few weeks have forgotten about what it is they wanted to achieve and have got caught up in the distractions of school life. It’s easy to put your all in on the first day and get all your homework done but what about in the fourth or the fifth month. School is a marathon and not a sprint.

Regardless of what you pack in your pencil case, regardless if you haven’t got a compass or a protractor as long as you make sure to pack your can do attitude, your action plan and your goals and live by them you will have a successful year this year.

What are your goals for this year? Are you looking forward to the year ahead at school? We want to know your thoughts and you can share them by joining in our discussion topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=548

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Turning Ideas in to Action

2008-08-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

We have all had ideas we have never acted upon. During our day we think of great new inventions, business ideas, ideas for TV programmes and so on but by the end of the day we have either usually forgotten about them or if we do remember them we don’t do anything about them.

Now I had a situation like this recently. I enjoy writing and spend much of my day working in a TV environment coupled with this in my spare time I enjoy playing and coaching football. Based on my experiences in football I had the idea to devise and script a new fictional TV series based around a youth football team. It wasn’t that I wasn’t passionate enough about my idea but it was just my busy lifestyle kept getting in the way of me putting pen to paper, every time I thought I had an opportunity to start, something would get in the way.

Then after months of thinking this idea through in my head, (yes even though I wasn’t writing it I was still thinking about all the characters and plot twists for my TV series idea) I picked up my TV guide to see that BBC 2 were about to launch a series based on a youth football team. Now I’m not saying my ideas were anything close to the show that ended up on BBC 2 but now with that in a prime time slot other channels aren’t going to be looking for something similar to it.

Its one thing believing in an idea but you have to make it happen, if you truly believe in an idea go out and make it happen don’t wait for someone else to get there before you. There are so many people in life with great ideas which could change the world or just merely entertain people but none of these great ideas ever see the light of day. If half of our good ideas were acted upon just imagine the world we would be living in.

Some ideas are harder to get off the ground than others but don’t let the difficulty to deter you as a good idea is a good idea regardless of how hard or difficult it is to make happen. Don’t waste your life wondering about what ifs or what could have been. By trying to make your ideas happen at least you know what would have happened and if you are successful it may change your life or if you aren’t successful you can move on to new ideas or new projects.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Can you put an age limit on talent?

2008-08-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

After my blog last week on the Olympics I want to follow it up with a blog which has a slight link to the Olympics. This weeks blog is about finding out at what age are young people ready to realise their full potential and talent in their area of expertise. We have youngsters in the Olympics at the age of fourteen, sixteen year old football stars and young actors & actresses on our screens but do we need to put more age boundaries in place to control at what age young people can compete and partake in certain things?

This argument was highlighted by Team GB’s youngest Olympian Tom Daley. In the year running up to the Olympics people were talking him up as a possible Gold Medal winner but when he made his debut in the synchronized dive he and his partner finished in eighth and last place. Tom has an individual dive event still to go at the time of writing this blog but if he isn’t successful in that then there is going to be much pressure on his young shoulders. After being talked up like he was he has had added pressure to perform and if he started believing the hype he will be very disappointed when he gets back home. This fourteen year old will also have to deal with any taunts from his jealous peers at school who may make fun of his achievements.

In sports if you are going to let young people compete you have to create an age requirement which is based upon giving them the best chance to compete physically with their competition. This has to be dependent on the sport in question as some sports are more or less physically demanding than others. This age bracket doesn’t mean everyone should compete when they get to that age or that they should compete it should just be there as a minimum.

Next you have to look at if the young person is emotionally strong enough and mature enough to deal with reaching that level with their talent. There is a difference to entering a sporting event for individuals than representing your county on the biggest stage like the Olympics. So you may be ready to perform at a national or international event which doesn’t have much press coverage and where you are only competing for yourself but that doesn’t mean you are ready for the Olympics. Your talent may be good enough but your ability to handle the situation may not be good enough.

This is the same in the arts as a young person maybe emotionally ready and mature enough to handle performing at a small local venue but not ready for a huge arena with lots of press coverage and thousands of fans. Young people may be to handle and understand their ability but may not be able to deal with the adoration of fans properly without it going to their head or changing the way they feel or act.

If you look at the English Premiership football league it puts this discussion under the microscope as some teams are ready to put their youngsters in the starting line up at sixteen where some will keep them on the bench and use them sparingly to build up their experience. Again there isn’t a one size fits all approach and each young people with talent needs to be handled individually as it may be that bringing someone on to early or late in their career could have a big negative effect on their long term success.

So in summing up yes I do feel that for some things there needs to be an age bracket but on the whole it needs to be looked at on a case by case basis. Although Tom Daley may not have been as successful as he hoped it could be this experience at this age which really sets him up for a long and successful career and without it his career may not have gone on to such future heights so this needs to be taken in to consideration as well. I think people need to stop expecting so much from young people with talent but instead give them the support they need to grow and develop.

We here at Talented Young People would love to know your thoughts on this. At what age should young people be allowed to compete at the Olympics? Can you put an age limit on talent? Join in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=534

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Olympics

2008-08-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

After much press and politics surrounding the Olympics it finally kicked off last Friday with another brilliant and interesting opening ceremony. In this blog I am going to be talking about my thoughts on the Olympics as a whole and not about the rights or wrongs of holding this years event in Beijing.

I have always been a fan of the Olympics because it is one of the very few sporting events left which is not about celebrities. Yes some people go on to fame after success in the Olympics but for the main they are hardworking everyday people who have dedicated themselves to their sport and sacrificed a lot to be there. These are people that the countries can really get behind and identify with.

The other reason I like the Olympics is because it brings sports that don’t get much media attention in to the spotlight, sports you wouldn’t normally see on a sports channel or featured on the back page of a newspaper like Canoeing or Badminton. On the flipside however I’m not a fan of them having sports like football and tennis in which feature professional athletes who get huge sums of money every year. To me the Olympics should be about putting the spotlight on those athletes that don’t get the chance to make much money or get much notoriety.

The Olympics also provides us with a great chance to get behind our home countries and brings the country together as the Olympics spills in to everyday conversation. If your country is doing well it also gives you the feel good factor which makes the country a nicer place to live in.

Above all the Olympics is inspirational. It exposes young people to new and different sports. If your country does well at a sport it encourages lots of people to take it up. For any young sportsmen and women there is nothing more inspiring than watching the Olympics with the opening parades, the support and podium ceremonies.

I hope this Olympics encourages more and more young people to get in to sport.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Summer Blockbuster Films

2008-08-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

The weather may not be the best here in the UK at the moment but at least there have been some great Blockbuster movies at the cinema to keep us happy. We have had the new Indiana Jones, Wall-E, Dark Knight, Prince Caspian, Hancock, Incredible Hulk and Kung-Fu Panda to keep us entertained with what seems like a must see film being released every week.

Now I haven’t seen all on that list but from friends of mine that go regularly to cinema tell me that there have been some gems in amongst that bunch. Last weekend I went to see the new Batman film The Dark Knight which I thought was brilliant and one of the best films I have seen this year. I would have gone to see more but the ridiculously high prices at my local cinema means I am choosier about what I see so out of the list in the top paragraph I have only seen Dark Knight and Prince Caspian.

The cinema may be an expensive past time and I for one am personally more in favour of young people enjoying the great outdoors over the summer but with the current weather as it is I hope young people have been enjoying these films. Watching films can help inspire young people and really help develop their creativity as well as giving them some escapism from problems they may be going through.

I am also loving the rise of Superhero films over the last few years with Spiderman, Superman and Batman all having major box office successes. In a world where we seem to have less role models and with the lines between good and bad getting blurred it is good to have films which really bring the ideals of character and the battle between good and bad to the forefront. Young people shouldn’t be inspired to copy or imitate the actions of superhero but be inspired by their character traits and how they act as it’s their courage, bravery, dedication and their good citizenship which are the skills which make them a true superhero not the amount of buildings they can jump off or what villains they can derail.

What have been your favourite summer blockbusters? We at Talented Young People want to know and you can share your thoughts by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=517

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Shaking up the Youth of Today

2008-07-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Do you ever think things need shaking up? Are you annoyed about things happening around you and want to see a change? Do you feel stuck in a rut and long for something different? If any of these are the case that means you are in the same boat as many others.

With the current situation of highly publicised youth crime never has been there a more important time for a shake up within the media and a shake up for young people. When we see things going wrong or things not working we can’t rely on the same old tired approaches we have to shake things up which includes shaking up our approach to dealing with situations.

I use the phrase “Shaking up the Youth of Today” because I have a hand tremor which means I shake a lot and what I do when I talk to young people is shake them up so it fits in nicely. It’s alright just helping and offering advice to young people but sometimes the only way to truly make a change is to shake them up. If a child is on a bad path I want to shake them off that path completely and redirect them. Shaking things up is about taking action, going in there and making changes.

Away from youth crime many people just go about their everyday lives doing the same thing day in and day out whilst not enjoying it. These people are stuck in a rut and want to get out of it but don’t have the confidence or ability to do something about it. These people need to be shaken up also as they need to know you only get one life to live and getting stuck in a rut is a waste of precious time. We need to help change these peoples mindsets and getting them to follow their dreams. Without being shaken up they aren’t going to unleash their full potential.

Young people are like all the fruit you put in to a blender to make a smoothie. They have all the different tools and equipment but to taste nice and put all their skills to use and bring them together you’ve got to switch the blender on. We need more people to act as blenders who bring together some great raw ability and turn it in to a brilliant end product who everybody would want to be around.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"
”Shaking up the Youth of Today”

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Dragons' Den

2008-07-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

I’ve been looking back over my blogs this week and realised I have never discussed the UK TV programme “Dragons’ Den.” The sixth series has just started on BBC 2 and for those unfamiliar with the concept the programme sees up and coming entrepreneurs and inventors pitching their ideas to a panel of rich investors in the hope of getting one or more of them to invest in to their idea.

I like this programme as it takes you the viewer through the process of pitching an idea and what the experience can be like. So as well as being entertaining it is also educational. It shows you how important your presentation skills are as it is not always the best business ideas that do well but the ones that are well presented normally fair well.

The first episode of the new series also linked in to my many blogs regarding the changing scene of the music industry. The episode saw Peter Jones invest £75,000 in to a band called Hamfatter who had come on to the show looking for money to produce their new album in return for giving away 20% of future profits from music sales. It was brilliant to see a music group go on a business programme and show a different route to success in the music industry. With not even having to have a physical CD in the shops to get in to the top 40 gone are the days where you need a record label to achieve success. With a good product, good promotion and money behind you, you can achieve great things in the music world. Following on from the show Hamfatter have been getting interviews and press coverage everywhere so not only was it a good financial decision but also great for PR.

I enjoy the show as it is very inspiring to see people who have nothing but an idea and a desire to take that idea to the next level putting themselves out there to achieve the next level of success. I think there is an inventor and entrepreneur inside of us all and I love seeing what people from across the UK have come up with and designed. With wages not going up in line cost of living on the whole being an entrepreneur is a way of escaping low salary jobs but with the credit crunch hitting the business world some would argue it is even harder to be an entrepreneur in today’s climate.

Dragons’ Den is a great programme to watch if you are thinking of starting up a business as it will give you some basic ideas and knowledge. Dragons’ Den also provides many talking points which are discussed the next day in work places, schools and the media. It’s good to see what other people thought of ideas and businesses to see if there was something you overlooked. Getting people talking about investment, inventions and enterprise is great and a lot better than people talking about shows like Big Brother and Eastenders.

Do you watch Dragons Den? What do you like about the show? Ever tempted to apply to go on? We want to know and you can share your views by joining in our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=506

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Youth Manifesto

2008-07-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

This week saw the launch of one of our most important projects to date the Talented Young People – Youth Manifesto.

With teen crime making daily headline news and with many people at a loss to what to do to combat it we had to step in. We could no longer sit idly by waiting for someone else to try and solve the problem we had to act. No longer could we continue to debate the rights and wrongs of government policies or national laws. The time for debating is over the time for action is now.

This week the government seems to be focusing on what to do to punish and re-educate young people carrying or using knives. We however believe prevention is what is needed as if we keep on trying to cure the problem we may never solve the problem. The point of our Youth Manifesto is to encourage, inspire and motivate young people not to carry knives with them or feel the need to carry knives. We want to equip young people with the ability to achieve great things.

Another way in which our Youth Manifesto differs from others is that it’s not just aimed at young people it is aimed at all sectors of society with sections dedicated to many different sectors. For us to change this world we need to all work together and not leave it up to one sector to do all the work as this is not a problem that can be solved by one sector alone.

It’s not policies or funding which is going to solve the problem it’s everyday people working together, taking a stand and putting in action behind their words. If we all come together we can still have a huge impact on this earth we live on. It’s now our time to put the power back in our own hands.

To find out how you can get involved with the Youth Manifesto go to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/youthmanifesto

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Giving away music for free

2008-07-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

This month will see McFly trying to expand their fanbase by giving away their latest album for free through The Mail on Sunday through which they expect their album to reach three million homes in the UK. We have already seen the likes of Prince giving away his album through the Mail as well as Radiohead offering their album in exchange for a donation on the internet but it now looks like pop acts are getting in on the act.

As the way in which we consume music changes the industry needs to change with it so I am always interested to see what new and innovative ways companies and music acts are using to distribute music. However I feel that when a handful of acts start giving their music away for free and doing it in a mainstream way it affects the whole music industry. If one act can afford to give away their music for free then the general public start to think they should be able to get music from other acts for free and not paying for music becomes an acceptable activity.

Another problem which occurs when music is given away for free is that music becomes worthless. Music instead of being a saleable product it just becomes a form of advertising and promotion for a band to sell merchandise and tickets to live events. By making music worthless it becomes harder for the smaller acts to make money. The bigger acts benefit from doing it as they run live events at big indoor venues and make a lot of money from merchandise but small acts who only tour small venues need the income that record sales provide.

There needs to be systems and services put in place which can give people access to music at a reasonable price without having a negative affect on smaller acts. With the credit crunch how it is it is right for the music industry to react in a way that makes music more affordable but it is just a shame that crunch will probably affect how much money is invested in to new acts. I think new unsigned acts have to capitalise on their ability to produce music and promote it on the cheap thanks to new tools on the internet as record companies no longer have big budgets to establish artists with. That’s the one advantage for unsigned acts is that their music is cheaper to produce than a signed artist so they can afford to give away heir music more cheaply.

The internet has revolutionised the way in which we buy, watch and listen to music, TV and films we just need to make sure that the way in which we are consuming media is fair to the artists and the production companies. For some time I feel the industries have been to kind to the artists and not kind enough to the consumer in the way things have been priced and profits made but we need to make sure we don’t go in completely the other direction where it becomes unfair to the people creating media. As for us to have good quality entertainment we have to have people making it who are fairly paid.

What do you think about bands offering their music for free with newspapers or online? Does it make you less likely to pay for other music? And you think it is a positive thing for the music industry? Let us know by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=494

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Reality TV

2008-07-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

During my weekly media consuming I came across a new programme on a channel called “Fiver.” The programme was called “Living Lohan” which is a fly on the wall docu-soap / reality programme on Lindsay Lohan’s younger sister Ali. The programme follows Ali through her home life as she tries to make a career in the music business and this programme got me thinking for this week’s blog.

This is not the first programme of its kind and there have been many like it since the popularity of “The Osbournes” series. However when these shows were first used merely as entertainment c-list celebrities, washed up celebrities and relatives of celebrities are now appearing in their own reality programmes to promote an album or to try and get a career in an entertainment field. Music stars or wannabe music stars think instead of having to travel the country to promote themselves or an album they can just get a camera crew to follow their home life and it can be broadcast to the masses with little effort on their behalf.

The problem now comes that in order for a reality show to be successful and get a deal on a major network it has to be controversial and entertaining. This means that situations have to be created and aspects of their life manipulated in order to keep their audience happy which means they can start to lose control of their image and messages they are sending out in the hunt for TV ratings. This is where the lines of fiction and reality become blurred and where people who appear on these shows are left acting like they do when the cameras rolling when they aren’t. The pressure of a TV series which follows you around everyday has taken its toll on many families like the Hulk Hogan family from “Hogan Knows Best” I believe that if it wasn’t for their reality series then some of the problems and issues in their current lives could have been avoided.

I think these type of programmes are declining in popularity but because they are so cheap and easy to make there will be lots more to come especially on the random channels on Sky that seem to import anything from the US. I think viewers are now savvy to the ways in which these programmes are edited and filmed to make the show controversial and not a reflection of everyday life.

Now in balance there have been some fly on the wall programmes I have enjoyed which have followed by sporting teams, dance schools and other assorted groups. I just don’t enjoy programmes which over sensationalised and that are about celebrities or creating celebrities

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Is Second Best?

2008-06-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

I was at home the other day and for the first time in ages turned on daytime TV for some background noise and happened upon a chat show that was discussing: Is Second Best? The argument put forward was whether having to deal with defeat or finishing in second at an early stage of your career more helpful in the long term than instant success? This got me thinking so I wanted to share my thoughts with you on this subject.

Personally I feel instant success can be detrimental to long term success. There are exceptions to this rule but on the whole the quicker success is achieved the shorter the success lasts. Finishing in second place or losing out to others in things like competitions, job interviews and auditions is a test of character. It is at this time where we find out if the thing we are pursuing is truly what we want to do with our life. When this happens we can either accept it and say that we aren’t good at something or we can actually be proactive and tell ourselves we want to be the best and work even harder to become better than the competition. The one thing we can’t do is keep going in to competitions, job interviews and auditions thinking we are the best when we are getting knock back after knock back just hoping that one day we will win something, you have to earn the right to call yourself the best and you do that by working hard and delivering the good when it matters.

Having to go through a period of finishing second makes us appreciate it more when we finally win as we know what it has taken to get there and we know the experience of finishing second all to well. It is also good to start by finishing second and then finishing first as it shows your development and progress whereas if you have finished first from the start it has harder to see how you have improved. To succeed in this world it’s not just your talent that will get you to the top as you also need a strong character to make it happen.

Without a strong work ethic and support success can be taken away as quickly as it is gained. Take TV talent contest winners like Hearsay, David Sneddon, Steve Brookstein etc All these guys were thrust in to the limelight after winning singing competitions just for them to have short term success followed by a fall from fame within a very short space of time. If you compare Hearsay to Liberty X who finished second in the Popstars series who went on to have more chart success or David Sneddon who finished first in Fame Academy and Lemar who finished third who again went on to achieve more chart success. Its not about the position you finish in it is what you do after the result that counts.

If you ask most successful people they will tell you tales of times where they didn’t get the part or win the competition. Just because you only see someone on the telly when they are famous don’t assume that happened over night and they won everything on the way to getting there.

So in summing up to me finishing second is best when you are developing your talent as it can teach you much more than winning ever can and when you are developing your talent it’s not success that is important, its learning which is the important part.

What do you think? Do you agree? Have you experienced finishing second? And has finishing second motivated you on to better things? Let us know by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=479

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The Global Credit Crunch

2008-06-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

The credit crunch is hitting the world hard. Prices of everyday items are going up, prices for petrol are rising and so on and so on. I don’t want to look at this from the affect this has on the economy or the general public, I want to look at this from the affect that it has on young people achieving their dreams.

When there is a global credit crunch the government have less money to invest in youth related projects. A big source of income for the government is based on the spending of the general public and when they aren’t spending it hurts the economy which the government have to support. Unfortunately funding and spending on youth projects is way down the list of priorities when governments do budgets so this means that youth projects supported by the government or by other funding bodies disappear or run a smaller service due to the lack of money. These youth services could be anything from art to sport projects.

Then we have youth charities which rely on donations to keep running. During a global credit crunch the public have less money so their income from donations dwindles and again affects the way in which they can operate. Similar to this we have youth organisations which require their members or the families of their members to pay a fee or a subscription to keep the organisation going. Because these organisations rely so heavily on subscriptions the inability of just a couple of families to pay fees could make a huge difference to the service they provide. The costs of running youth organisations are going up but because of the situation of their members many youth organisations can’t raise their fees.

We also have to look closer to home. If the family budget is tighter with more money spent on everyday things it means there is less money for parents to spend to help their children reach their dreams. This could be anything like buying a new pair of football boots, taking a child to an audition or paying for a child to attend a club.

In these times it is stories like that of George Sampson who won ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ become more common place. George performed dance routines on the streets of Manchester to raise money to put petrol in his parents car to get to shows and auditions because his family couldn’t afford to take him otherwise. Then in one night his life changed as he won £100,000 to help his mum pay her mortgage.

George wasn’t the first person to fight through financial adversity to achieve their dreams and won’t be the last. Young people and their families need to now be more creative with their thoughts and ideas and need to do more research on how they can help their young child to achieve their dreams on a shoestring budget as believe you me there are ways and it can be easily done. Buying someone the best guitar doesn’t make them the best guitarist. If you have talent and can find a way of showcasing it then you have a great chance of achieving greatness no matter what your financial situation is.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Londoncentric Thinking

2008-06-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Many countries across Europe are currently enjoying following their national football teams in Euro 2008 where us English people have to watch other countries enjoying the party whilst wishing we were there as every game gets screened live on terrestrial TV.

When England failed to qualify the national board the FA promised a what they were calling a root and branch investigation to get to the bottom of our nation’s failures over recent years to compete on the worldwide stage as well as the current lack of English born players currently plying their trade in the Premier League.

As many of you are aware I am actively involved in youth football in my local area so I was interested to see what changes if any were going to be made at grassroot level. So now months on from that investigation and I receive some news via local channels on new rulings from the national FA board.

For year’s professional football clubs and county organisations have ran academies. This is where they select the best players from the area to get trained by them and use their facilities whilst competing in a fixture programme against other academies. For girls football it use to be that girls could play for an academy side whilst still playing for their local youth side but now the FA are soon to either vote on or pass a regulation saying that if they play for an academy they can no longer player for their local youth side.

Now this may work in big cities where they have a wealth of players but when you are in a small region which is only just emerging with a handful of local youth teams with some of those teams struggling to get enough players for a full side an academy could kill the development of girls football dead in that area. The fifteen or so girls you have in the academy could turn in to great players but after they have gone through their will be no other players coming through as there will be no leagues for them to play in. To improve girls football there has to be access for all.

Instead of taking the easy option of just working with a select group of players if county organisations and professional teams could invest time in setting up good local leagues for girls it will give more players access to football and a lot better in the long term. Having a competitive league of ten teams would see a minimum of seventy girls playing football on a weekly basis which is nearly five times the amount that would be catered for by the academy.

If local youth teams get their best talent cherrypicked by academies then are they going to bother continuing without them? If this is the case what if that player gets let go by the academy half way through the season and she comes back and she has no club to play for? By taking one player from a team could spoil football for many girls. Young people become better players by playing with and against good football players.

So there you go that’s my rant of the week have you guys experienced situations like this where national organisations have passed down rulings which don’t help at local level? We want to know and you can share your views by going to our topic of the week:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=470

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Flava Have Got Talent

2008-06-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

Did you stay in all last week to watch Britain’s Got talent? If you have been watching the series then you will already know about some of the amazing talented youngsters we have in this country. However this week I am not dedicating the blog to the winner George Sampson who I personally thought was amazing but an act that made me proud to be Cornish that being beaten Semi Finalists the dance act known as Flava.

In a society that puts young people across as a group of self obsessed wannabes who want to have everything but not put in the hard work to get it Flava were a breath of fresh air. As everyone else on Britain’s got Talent were pushing stories of personal hardship, pleading for votes or support and then getting upset about any negative comments or crying when they found out they hadn’t made it Flava stood out as a shining example of how young people should behave.

When young people are trying to make it in the world of sport and entertainment they are normally pushed to be as competitive as possible, to only care about themselves and to beat all competition at any costs. Flava showed that to get to the top you don’t need any of these characteristics, you just need to be dedicated to your talent and they showed that being a good role model can get you further than trying to stomp on all the competition to get to the top.

In a self obsessed world it was great to see them celebrate with “The Cheeky Monkeys” the young children that the judges put through ahead of them and to then lend their support to acts like “Signature.” When you are in the public eye like they have been they have showed that getting ahead in life is not all about winning competitions as I know they have now had many offers to go and perform for and work with many different organisations because of their performance on the shows. If you compare their behaviour to fellow semi finalist act ‘Per Diem’ who basically threw a tantrum after receiving negative feedback and then you start thinking “I bet they didn’t get many offers for work after the show.” This thought wasn’t based on their performance as they were both talented musicians but it was a prime example of how not to act when receiving feedback and to do that on national TV is career suicide.

When young people enter shows like this they have to remember that only one act can win so if it isn’t them that win they have to make sure that they get the best out of their appearance and put themselves in the best position to get work out of their appearance. Young people also need to be aware of the lives that their performances and actions on TV shows like this can have on young viewers and the power they have to inspire and motivate young viewers.

I wished that Flava were given the chance to perform in the final but by losing in the semi-finals it gave them a chance to show the world how inspirational they are as young people in the way they took defeat and they showed how you can turn defeat in to victory.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Flava.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Does Anything Really Change?

2008-05-28T14:53:00.001-07:00

Does anything really change? Last week it was discussed in the news whether funding for youth related projects and schemes had actually made a noticeable or quantifiable improvement to the lives of young people or not.

It is hard when you read the headlines over the weekend of murdered teenagers to actually imagine that funding is helping but how do you gauge the national and overall success of a project when you have stories like this to contend with?

No matter how much good is done the news outlets will always highlight sensational and extreme news of the minority of young people committing crime. This will in turn lead people in to thinking that this is what young people are up to across the country.

Although we all hate figures, statistics and having to measure success I think in some cases it is needed. If you as a government are going to invest millions of taxpayers pounds they have to know they are getting a return for their money. It is hard to stop extreme cases like we have seen on the weekend but what needs to be done is to make sure that these stay isolated and minority events, it is when these incidents become the norm is when we have failed. One teenager dieing is far too many but you can’t stop wanting to better or to improve things as we only lose when we stop trying

These events need to remind us that no young person is safe and we all need to be doing are all to make sure every young person leads a safe life. We can’t rely on funding or education to solve the problems we all need to take an active role within our communities to make sure we are all safe.

When every young person has the same access to funding, education and support is when we will be able to judge change properly and see real change on a national basis. Success with young people is only temporary and we can never afford to forget it. That is why we need continual funding and continual monitoring for the improvement of young lives in the UK. Just because a project has been successful for a young person and changed their life it doesn’t necessarily mean that if support was pulled away that they would continue to be a success.

It may seem like nothing changes but it is a much better world than if funding and support was to be taken away from youth projects and programmes. Just remember that just because you may be reading the same headlines every year it doesn’t mean change isn’t being made or happening.

Do you think anything is changing in regards to the success of support for youth related projects and programme? We here at Talented Young People would love to know your views and you can share them by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=457

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

The benefits of travelling

2008-05-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

As you are all aware there was no blog last week because I was away on my travels to work in Israel for the week. Hope it has been a productive fortnight for you since my last blog. My experiences over the last week are the topic of this week’s blog and the topic is what travelling can do for your personal development.

In a world which is getting smaller and smaller by the minute where we have the ability to interact with, do business with and find out about people from other countries we can’t afford to lose our want to travel. You can learn a lot from your bedroom but the most important learning comes from experience which you can only get from actually going to another country.

By visiting another country you can find out about how people of a similar age to you act and behave. You can also find out about their attitudes and the standard of their education. It is interesting to see how young people who have more or less opportunities and support than you do cope with their own personal development. You can take bit from their approach to life which you can bring back home with you and sew in to your life to improve your self development.

One thing I noticed from my trip to Israel was that a high percentage of the population spoke both the native language of Hebrew as well as English fluently whereas in England there is only a small percentage of the population can speak two or more languages fluently.

By visiting foreign countries we have never been to or by going to countries in which we don’t speak the native language it gives us a sense of adventure. Putting ourselves in these situations challenges our problem solving skills which is a good skill to test but if you do plan on doing something like this be sure to do your research and to keep safe. To succeed in life we need to encourage our adventurous side.

Visiting other countries can give you inspiration. Seeing a famous landmark, beautiful scenery or experiencing something different that you can’t do or see back at home can be very inspirational. It can spark the inspiration to try something new when you get back home or to do better in things you already do.

And finally an important thing travelling does is build memories. Memories are a strong emotional factor which can help you achieve great things. The way you create memories is by trying new things and experiencing things you never normally would in a regular day.

So if you get the chance to broaden your horizons and go and experience new places you never know where it could lead.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com

Pushy Parents

2008-05-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

In this week’s blog I wanted to address a topic that I haven’t addressed yet but a topic I find myself discussing on a regular basis which is ‘Pushy Parents.’ With the financial rewards for success getting even bigger and bigger and with more young people in the media spotlight is it creating more pushy parents?

For many years pushy parents have been associated with child models and child actors but now it seems there are Pushy Parents who are pushing their children to success in all manner of activities. Not only now is there great financial reward for success but social kudos for parents for having successful children and in some cases stigma around parents whose children don’t succeed as we as a society become more interested in what everyone else is doing and keeping up with the Jones.

With the media interrogation in to the lives of young celebrities their parents are becoming publicly known for their position as the parent of and have their lives interrogated. This has been highlighted by TV series like True Hollywood Stories and the tabloid press who need a story like a pushy parent to get viewers and even young celebrities are now getting in on the act by selling stories on their own parents to get media attention.

I think Pushy Parents still exist today but I also feel that now because young people are getting exposed to media earlier and because their interaction with media is more intense that they are pushing for stardom and success themselves and not because of their parents. Young people see programmes like Hannah Montana and High School Musical and see the popularity that the actors and actresses have and want that for themselves. Young people are now also more aware than ever before of the levels of income these young people make.

I feel that parents should encourage, motivate and push their children to succeed but in areas that their children want to succeed in not the areas they want their children to go in to. Children need the freedom to find their own dream and then the support of their family to make it a reality. Regardless of how high or low the financial reward for their dream job would be parents need to worry about how happy their child is going to be in later life not how much money they are going to earn. Too many parents try and live their dreams through their children using them as if they were puppets instead of loving them for the individual that they are. Helping your child to live their dreams and not to live yours is an achievement to be proud of which means a million times more than them living out your dreams.

So be a Pushy Parent but not in the way we think of when we think of Pushy Parents. Push your children to be as happy and fulfilled as they can be. Give them belief, give them strength and give them support to achieve their dreams as you the parent have such an important part to play in your child’s development and hard work now can help secure happiness and fulfilment for your child for life. Don’t let your chance to create a great life for your child go to waste. Being a Pushy Parent in the old sense of the term can do so much damage to your child that may never be repaired. Just because they may be seen as successful or a celebrity by the general public or just because they have lots of money it doesn’t mean they are happy or fulfilled. Some of the most so called successful people in the world are some of the most unhappiest. So help your child to be the most happiest and fulfilled they can be as to me that is the mark of success.

Have you got an opinion on ‘Pushy Parents’? Then you can share your views by joining in our topic of the week by going to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=443

Just as a heads up there will be no blog this week so our next blog will be published on the 21st of May.

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.blogspot.com