Start racing at 3 years old?

[Mark]

One thing which was mentioned in the documentary last night was that Alonso said that although he's only 24, he's been racing for 21 years, as he started when he was 3 years old.

I can't help thinking that's a little sad, has he been denied a 'normal' childhood? But then again, what is normal?!

For Alonso the fame and considerable fortune and sucess are ample payback for those years, but how many other kids are pushed into sport (not just motorsport) at a very young age but don't have the kind of sucess Alonso has enjoyed?

[Dave B]

Alonso wasn't really pushed, don't forget. He just got in his sister's cart and off he went.

But I agree, there's a lot of "sporting parents" who strap their kids into a kart the second they can walk, or scream abuse from the touchline every Sunday, in order that they might live their failed dreams vicariously through their children.

Rest assured though, as soon as the as-yet-unconceived Brockman Jnr can walk, he'll be getting Buckmore Park gift vouchers for his birthday

[cos]

Oops, I thought this thread was about moving the start of GPs to 3pm! (well it does always get in the way of Sunday lunch...)

[BeansBeansBeans]

Rest assured though, as soon as the as-yet-unconceived Brockman Jnr can walk, he'll be getting Buckmore Park gift vouchers for his birthday.

Yes, I would like my daughter to be the first female F1 champion! I always think that if she wants to do karting, then great, but if she doesn't, I won't push her to do it. Mind, I might not even be able to afford it if she does!

I once read that Alonso started to drive a kart from aged 3, but didn't race until he was 8. That makes more sense, although it does appear to contradict what he said last night. Mind you, English isn't his first language.

[tinchote]

I can't help thinking that's a little sad, has he been denied a 'normal' childhood? But then again, what is normal?!

For Alonso the fame and considerable fortune and sucess are ample payback for those years, but how many other kids are pushed into sport (not just motorsport) at a very young age but don't have the kind of sucess Alonso has enjoyed?

It's really sad, as Dave also said. I've seen that a lot in Argentina with football: parents who want to be saved from poverty by their kids becoming the next star. Many of them abandon school to train, as early as 12 years old. I've even got to see a referee being attacked by parents in a 10-year-old football match.

Now, you would think that it happens because of poverty, but then you have these "hockey-parents" here in Canada (where football is a girls' thing ), and it's the same thing. I've also seen these girls in gymnastics, 12 years old and training at 7am before going to school. Maybe kids don't drop school, and maybe hockey/gymnastics will pay for their university, but I still think that the price to pay is too high

[ioan]

Maybe kids don't drop school, and maybe hockey/gymnastics will pay for their university, but I still think that the price to pay is too high

Hockey, even if in an inferior league, might pay for the university, but gymnastics don't, unless you are the next Nadia Comaneci and only with incredibly huge sacrifices.

[K-Pu]

And there are even worse things...

Here in Spain (and everywhere) there are parents who "sell" their sons only for their own profit. For example, they make them appear in who knows how many tv programs... at least Alonso managed to be World Champion.

But I think Alonso starting to race at 3 is not a strange thing. Look at another champions. Last week TVE (spanish tv) made their "special" for the start of the Moto GP championship, and there were a lot of pilots there. Rossi, Pedrosa, Barros, Hofmann, Elías, Hayden... Many of them were asked about when did they started racing, and ALL of them answered "at 3, more or less". And in F1 Schumacher was also racing since he was a kid....

I don´t see nothing too strange here. If I had sons and they wanted to race I´d try to help them to do it, but forcing them to do it... And if Alonso was happy racing instead of throwing stones at his friends when he was a kid, it´s ok. If you´re happy with your life, keep on that way. I´d be happier throwing stones (in fact that´s what I was doing when I was a kid ), but each person is an entire world.

[harsha]

isn't that the case with a lot of sportsperson's...