Issue #255 How Young Is Too Young?
Written by John Campbell   
Tuesday, 06 October 2009
Marc Marquez, a factory rider for the Red Bull KTM MotoGP team might have won the ninth round of the 125 series, staged at Britain’s Donington Park in late July, had he not crashed on a rainy, slippery surface in the final lap. Too bad for Marquez and for the Red Bull team, but that he was even in the field may be appalling to some, encouraging to others. Marquez of Spain is only 16.
Which raises a question. How young is too young to compete professionally in a, frankly, dangerous sport where disastrous crashes, and even death, are not far removed attendants to even the most glittering careers?
Child labour laws were introduced more than 100 years ago to protect the young, and today top-flight pro sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA and NHL limit entry to their ranks to 18-year-olds. And even an 18-year-old entering The Bigs, regardless of his raw talent, requires tempering and seasoning for the foreseeable future. Though teams may have been drooling for years over prospects such as Sidney Crosby, and now John Tavares, the NHL’s collective thinking passed down through the decades has been that tossing a promising young talent into the fire too early would only serve to ruin the player at a critical time in his career.
Too bad it still happens that way, on occasion. Then it’s a case of short term gain for the team as it exploits a young package of dynamite’s box-office potential, long term pain for the player as he erodes under the pressure, and the physical punishment, of being the marquee element in a bad marketing plan.
It would seem the world of professional road racing is a good deal less squeamish than its pro sports brethren. Witness Royce McLean of Lethbridge, Alberta as he turns heads in the Parts Canada Superbike championship series, though he is just 14. Compared to McLean, Marquez is ready to collect a pension. Yet, here’s young Royce gridding against tough battle-hardened warriors such as Steve Crevier—and doing marvelously, it must be said.
Recruiting very young talent to race motorcycles professionally seems to be a trend these days and there’s no real telling where the cut-off point lies. It’s not at 16, we already know that. Nor at 14 either. So, how young is too young? Twelve? Nine? Seven? Presumably, whatever the age, they can race—so long as they have the prerequisite talent, and their feet can touch the pegs.
Pro racing seems unconcerned with such niceties as allowing a young person to develop in a timely fashion. No one can question the heart or the skill of these young boys, but if the future of a professional sport depends on the talent and the active participation of children competing against grown men, then is some self-inventory not required on the parts of race promoters and team managers everywhere?
A 14-year-old is a special human, but society at large has long ago ruled, and rightfully so, that making wise decisions is not part of a young teen’s skill set. Nor is it their prerogative in legal matters. Involvement in the professional ranks at this age is simply not in their best interests. Every other major sport agrees to this principle, so why not racing? The presence of underage competitors is a benefit only to those whose livelihoods depend on developing spectacle. Young roadracers may well have enough tools to compete against the pros, but until they reach the point of legally defined maturity, there’s a social contract—a code of ethics—that calls for the various race bodies to establish legislation restricting racers to competition only within their own age peer group. That’s basically how things are set up in the rest of the world.
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