Athletics // Current TV

3 Quick & Easy Charts Of Tiger Woods' Ball Striking, Putting, And Accuracy Improvements Since 2009

Yippeee! Stats!

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The Daily Blender: Video Of Fan Falling To His Death Head First During Rangers and Athletics Baseball Game (VIDEO)

Fan dies trying to catch a foul ball that was tossed to him by Josh Hamilton of the... more

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14 Reasons for Opposing the Sochi 2014 Olympics

The Sochi Olympics of 2014 will be the 150th commemorative year of the Circassian... more

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Olympic City Critiques: a Birkbeck reading group

The Olympic Games literally and symbolically ‘take place’ in major cities.... more

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LOCOG facing legal action over re-sale of hotel packages

The London Olympics Committee off the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is facing... more

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Financial Times Reveals Welfare-to-Work Programme Chaos

The Welfare-to-Work Programme has been described as “set to fail” by Sir... more

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London 2012 marathon manager quits in row with LOCOG

Dave Bedford, the manager of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, has... more

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LOCOG to ban cameras from the Olympics

Amateur Photographer has reported that the London Organising Committee for the Olympic... more

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Olympics could have negative effects on sports participation

After London was announced as the host of the 2012 Olympic Games, Labour made a number... more

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Meet Oakland’s Other Billy: Six Questions for Exec Billy Owens

Director of Player Personnel Billy Owens has been with the A’s organization for... more

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The 10 Highest Paid Coaches in College Sports

Athletic departments don't hesitate to shell out millions upon millions of... more

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100 Delicious Dishes for Every Step of the Way

Here are 100 recipes that are perfect for runners, whether you’re in it for your... more

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The Regeneration Game

The signs of regeneration are all over Delhi. Billboards proclaim ‘DELHICIOUSLY... more

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British Olympic Association pretends Olympic budget is for regenerating East London

Olympic chiefs are having a luxurious beano in handily located Acapulco Mexico to hear... more

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1 year ago
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Olympic promises- fingers crossed

In their bid for the games London Olympic officials promised to keep an athletics... more

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Splash n Dash Oxnard Sports Film

www.venturasplashndash.com for more info by tonyd

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The new cover story in The New York Times Magazine, “How a Soccer Star is Made,” is a long and detailed article about the intense training that has grown up around youth soccer academies in Europe and what American soccer organizations can learn from their way of doing what has become very big business.

[Dutch soccer team] Ajax puts young players into a competitive caldron, a culture of constant improvement in which they either survive and advance or are discarded. It is not what most would regard as a child-friendly environment, but it is one that sorts out the real prodigies — those capable of playing at an elite international level — from the merely gifted.

From a very early age — sometimes even before a boy has even started school — these players’ careers are contracted, licensed and traded — or in the typical parlance of the sport, bought and sold.
As the New York Times reports:

No one pretends that its business is other than what it is. “We sold Wesley Sneijder for a ridiculous amount of money,” [trainer Olav] Versloot said. “We can go on for years based on what he was sold for.”
...
[British team] Fulham, like Ajax, is often a seller of talent. It recently sold a 20-year-old to Manchester United for seven million pounds, or more than $10 million. “It’s a little ugly talking about the financial terms,” [Coach Huw] Jennings said. “I don’t like to do it. It feels not too far off from the slave trade.”

With an estimated 10,000 boys being trained by clubs in England alone, the demand for young players — in quantity, at least — may be greater than the number of interested UK youth.

Jennings said that his scouts, in response to the “unsuitability of the indigenous population of Britain” — children who are too sedentary and spend their time with video games — were increasingly focused “on the inner city of London, among Africans, Eastern Europeans and Caribbeans.”

But the outreach extends beyond the immigrant communities of inner city London. European clubs have long been scouring the globe looking for the best talent. Six of the last ten FIFA World Players of the Year Awards, for instance, have gone to European club players who hail from either Argentina or Brazil. But increasingly, the sport’s fastest rising stars are coming from Africa.
Recently, I returned from the continent where a generation of kids drawing inspiration from the rags to riches stories of players like Didier Drogba, who was born in Ivory Coast but has since become an international superstar while playing for Chelsea in England.
Even Drogba’s injury, which may keep him out of the World Cup, won’t stop poor boys who grew up playing soccer in dirt fields from wanting to be like him.
For an upcoming episode of Vanguard, “Soccer’s Lost Boys," I travelled to Africa and Europe to examine the dark side of this growing network of recruitment, and to track down the ambitious young African players whose dreams make them an easy target for shady scouts. Unlike European academies where players pay very little to train, these kids’ families are bilked of their meager savings with promises that their boys could be the next Drogba.
What happens after that—boys abandoned along the way, often without any money, papers, or ability to return home to their families—is the tragic, ugly underbelly of the beautiful game.
Watch the trailer for “Soccer’s Lost Boys,” premiering on Current TV on Wednesday, June 16, at 10/9c, after the jump: The new cover story in The New York Times Magazine, “How a Soccer Star is... more

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10 PR Nightmares for Sports Agents

Here are 10 public relations nightmares that will haunt sports agents for years to... more

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2 years ago
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Athletics’ Dallas Braden Tosses Perfect Game…Last 3 Outs VIDEO…Plus A-Rod/Braden VIDEO

Athletics’ Dallas Braden throws perfect game against Tampa Bay Rays USA... more

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2 years ago
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Weird Fitness Trend: Kangoo Jumps

I try not to be too image conscious when I hit the gym — I am, after all, just... more

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2 years ago
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