Blockchain Decentralization: Successful Sporting Families — Is talent in their blood?
From the moment a child can walk, talk, run and catch, they embark on a journey of finding themselves. For many, this is the start of their beautiful relationship with sports that will stay with them until they die. A lot of people’s childhoods are filled with precious memories of playing different sports with their friends and also with their families. In this article, we are going to look at the world’s most famous sporting families, their successes and explore whether the talent is something that is hereditary or something that is nurtured. From the conclusion, we can see the impact that blockchain decentralization could potentially have on sports and sporting families.
There have been many sporting families in many different sports from all over the world. All tennis fans have been thoroughly excited over the last two decades with the rise of two of the greatest tennis players to have ever lived. Venus and Serena Williams are arguably the two most famous sporting sisters in the world, they have dominated the sport with their grand slam wins and successes in recent years. Anyone who gets the opportunity to watch them at Wimbledon, the US Open or any other tournament will notice something impeccable about them — there is a genuine close family bond between them and all other members of their family. It would be hard to miss a Williams match without seeing sisters, father, mother, cousins et al watching in the crowd and celebrating at the likely Venus or Serena victory.
Their successes are down to their family and in particular, their father Richard. Richard Williams saw the future ability in their children when they were a very young age, he knew that he had to encourage, teach, discipline and work hard to help his young daughters fulfil their potential. The decision was even made to home-school both girls so that they could be educated while spending the most of their time at the court and enjoying their favourite sport.
Richard Williams’s dedication to his children’s early tennis interest paid off and he has managed to see both his daughters compete against each other in Grand Slam matches a total of 29 times. This figure includes finals and the sisters even competed against each other in four consecutive open era grand slam finals with Serena usually getting the better of her older sister. When you learn of the complex dedication and many sacrifices Richard Williams made to give his children this opportunity, you might feel that this talent and success was nurtured by him and not something they were both born with. On the contrary, one could argue that their early interest in the sport was a sign that they were always going to be the superstars that they are today.
The Williams sisters are not an anomaly, looking at modern day tennis, several different families have made it to professional status. The Williams sisters are top of the modern day women’s game but the current men’s game is also dominated by a set of brothers. Andy Murray has won grand slams and even managed to become world number 1 in 2016 while his brother Jamie has spent several years as world number 1 in doubles tennis. Tennis is currently dominated in both sides of the games by two different sets of siblings.
One argument as to why this isn’t as rare as you may think is due to the amount of money needed to become a professional tennis player. The Williams and the Murrays would have invested an enormous amount of money into their children to allow them to compete in the ATP tours and enable them to get to the top of their game. Only the select few have this privilege of being able to raise the funds to make it professional in tennis and therefore it is no shock to find out that members of the same family end up at the top of the game. It is not a new trend, if you are reading this and thinking “YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!”, then just look way back to the 1970s to see that John McEnroe was joined by his brother Patrick in becoming successful tennis players.
Tennis is not the only sport, in fact, every sport seems to have a pair of siblings, a father and son, daughter and mother, cousins and more relatives at the top of the game. If we look at racing, one of the most expensive sports to become a professional — you see a massive trend of famous families. Formula 1 has produced some incredibly famous names and all of them seem to have family members in the same sport.
Michael Schumacher dominated Formula 1 throughout the 1990s and 2000s — everyone remembers as he would push his Ferrari to limits no other driver had done before. Any followers of the sport will always remember that throughout this time, he was competing against his brother Ralf. If you look at Formula 1 throughout the years, these are not the only set of family members to compete at the top. Damon Hill was UK’s greatest racing talent of the 1990’s and many will remember that his father Graham was the UK’s greatest racing talent of the 1960’s and 70’s. Other racing families include The Stewarts, The Rosbergs, The Buttons and The Hamiltons to name a few.
Is racing cars to this level due to natural talent that runs through their blood?
Highly likely, no — the main reason as to why so many successful racing families have existed over the last century is due to the rising cost and enormous level of money needed to make it to the level of Formula 1. It is so hard for many people to afford to get to this level — it comes to no surprise that the same families are consistently popping up generation after generation within the sport. The amount of money needed is so high, that the families who have already raised it before, find it much easier to find the funds for their offspring than others would.
This is the case for so many sports, the English Premier League has seen the Ferdinand’s, Lampard-Redknapp family, Schmeichels and most famously the Nevilles to name a few.
The Neville’s seem to be the perfect sporting family, Neville Neville was a semi professional footballer, Gary Neville spent his whole career at Manchester United, Phil Neville also played with his brother for Manchester United and England as well as captaining Everton and was even an incredibly gifted cricket player in his youth and their sister Tracy was England’s greatest ever netball player.
Is sporting talent in their blood?
Were they always going to make it professional?
When you look at all sports, the same pattern exists and it is hard to say that talent is the sole reason to getting it to professional status. Gary Neville would argue that he did not have the natural ability and it was hard work and dedication that allowed him to captain his club and country. Diligence and dedication comes into it — having siblings or family members who are in the same position helps — they can motivate and compete against each other to a level that no one else would ever be able to reach.
Along with the hard work, dedication, passion and some ability, the financial aspect comes into play. The reason we see so many sporting families is highly likely down to the rising costs incurred to become professional in your chosen sport. If one family is able to provide the funding for one child, they will be in a position to do it for another. These opportunities are for the select few and not for the many — many talented sports people have the same ability as these ‘sporting families’ but are unable to get to the same level due to economic issues.
Blockchain decentralization can change this — companies such as Globatalent have arrived to change the sports industry forever. They will provide an equal opportunity for all and allow sports funding to be raised for athletes regardless of their economic situation. This means that more athletes than ever will be able to compete and make it to professional status. This also means that we could see many different types of athletes and sports people come through that we could never have imagined before. We could also see a rise of different sporting families whose support network currently could not raise the investment to take them to the highest level of their chosen sport.
Another beautiful element of the Globatalent project and blockchain decentralization within the sports industry is the ability to allow the supporters and fans, who are so passionate about their favourite sport, invest directly in these athletes. A passionate tennis fan can invest in their favourite young tennis athlete and allow them to reach the top of the game with their financial and emotional support.
The prospects are exciting and blockchain decentralization will allow more athletes than ever before reach the top of the sport. It will make all sports more competitive as more talented athletes will get to the top than ever before and it will provide a connection for players and supporters that has never occurred previously. It also creates a world where sport is full of fair play and equality — making the games even more beautiful than they already are.
Blockchain decentralization will give the true conclusion as to whether sporting talent is hereditary or sporting families exist due to common financial interests. The impact is coming to sport quickly so we will not have long to find out the answer.
By Rob Spitz
For more information, please see www.globatalent.com
Press Contact: Rob Spitz (rob@globatalent.com)
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