http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2007-07-29-JanSilva_N.htmCould this 5-year-old be the future of tennis?
By Douglas Robson, Special for USA TODAY
THIVERVAL-GRIGNON, France — It's a hot June afternoon, and Jan Silva is doing things on a tennis court few his age ever have.
At one point, he laces a one-handed, topspin cross-court shot against his hitting partner, who lunges in vain. Jan curls his arm to punctuate the winner with — what else? — a fist pump.
"He's really playing to win," beams his father, Scott Silva. "There's ice cream on the line."
Jan, or "Jani" as his parents call him, is 5.
He also is the central player in an experiment that goes well beyond what most families would risk to build their child into a sports champion. Last August, the Silvas sold their house and two cars in Rancho Cordova, Calif., near Sacramento, and moved to France with their two other children so Jan could live and train full time — with all the family's expenses paid — at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy near Paris.
"Sold our home with everything in it," says Scott, a 38-year-old social worker who played basketball at Southern Oregon University. "We're getting Jani ready for something much bigger."
In doing so, the Silvas embarked on a potentially perilous path that families of tennis prodigies have taken with a few spectacular successes (such as Andre Agassi), some brief successes who flamed out (such as Jennifer Capriati before her comeback at age 20) and many more who never came close to being the champions their families envisioned.
plus the news about the new rooney MUFC just signed..
do you think we should start our kids this young?
and do you think in SNG, we have the infrastructure to "build" a Tiger, Jordan or Rooney if there is one??
