Monday, 14 May 2007

Don't pluck Lewis before he has flowered

There is no doubt that Lewis Hamilton has had one of the best starts of any of the F1 drivers this country has produced. He has immense talent but there is a serious of danger of piling too much pressure on him.

The F1 season is only a few races old and already there is talk of Hamilton becoming a world champion in his first season. It's not that it is not possible, it could happen, but it is both unfair and dangerous to put so much pressure and weight of expectation on the youngster.
It is something that tends to happen whenever there is any promising British talent. When Wayne Rooney burst into the Everton first team he was compared with Pele and now the nations hopes sit squarely and unfairly on his shoulders. Andy Murray probably understands what he is going through.

The most sensible thing to do would be not to over hype and add to the pressure that these talented young men feel but to support them.

They media must make them feel like losing is a complete failure and for sportsmen so young it is all part of a steep learning curve.

Let's not to do to Lewis what we did to Jenson.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Greetings,

I would like to speak with you about publishing some of your future articles about sports.

Cheers,
michelle@sportingo.com

Roland Bensted said...

I agree. Lewis Hamilton is an amazing talent and has made a superb start. But the media must not put too much pressure on him by demanding instant success. The same goes for Andy Murray in tennis. Hamilton is only 22; Murray is 20. Putting on pressure through unrealistic expectations will not help them.