Hardest Profession: Ballet or Football?

[Scazle]

Hi All,

Recently I have given birth to twins, one girl (Naomi) and one boy (Mark).

 

The other day I was having a discussion with my husband (a football enthusiast) about future professions as he has a friend whose son has recently gained a place in a Premier League Development Squad. This is a great achievement towards his goal of becoming a professional football player.

My niece is a very technically strong and beautiful dancer, which is not only a bias comment made by her family members but also her dance teacher has commented on her potential. She is successful in terms of competitions and festivals but has unfortunately not been able to gain a place in any top ballet schools within this year's round of auditions.

They are both highly skilled at their hobbies but one was not as successful as the other.

 

This led my husband and I to question if some careers are harder to climb the ladder to becoming a professional than others.

 

 

Would it be harder for my daughter to become a professional dancer than it would be for my son to become a professional footballer?

 

 

[Two Pigeons]

Given the number of football clubs across 4 divisions, let alone the lower leagues, together with those in Scotland and Wales compared to the number of ballet schools I would have to say football has the edge. Admittedly there may well be more competition in football as it is an activity which is so universal.

 

Added to that the physical requirements for a female dancer are getting more and more prescriptive. Your niece is a lovely dancer I have no doubt but if she is not the type currently in vogue she may well lose out. Harsh though this sounds that is the way things are going.

 

One thing is clear though. If they both make it to professional level the footballer will make more money, even in the lower divisions.

 

I wish them both every success.

[alison]

Congratulations, Scazle, and welcome to the forum!

 

Like Two Pigeons, I think a footballer would have it easier.  And there have been various comparisons of fitness between, among others, (male) footballers and ballet dancers.  The dancers tended to come out on top.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

They are both as difficult as each other & for kids they are both as brutal.

 

My nephew was in a premiership club academy. (Our local club) They select children from the age of 6. He was dropped with no notice/explanation at the age of 7. He was then spotted & invited to Man U academy. At the end of the year out of around 12-14 children in his age group only two (he was one of them) were selected for further training.

 

They are selected not only on ability but size, physique etc etc (sound familiar)

 

My Ds is 11 & started playing football less than 2 years ago. He goes to a paid for football skills class & I'm astounded at his improvement. However he is desperate to join a local youth team. None will take him due to him being behind.

[SwissBalletFan]

A nice topic. Funny that it is a thought I have had for a while about ticket prices etc and the salaries that Ballet Dancers earn. Even in the best houses they would be paid very much Division Two salaries given what they go through.

 

As much as I hate Misty Copeland's paid promotion to be one of the most talked about dancers, and gets ballet talked about. (short of marrying Kanye West) 

 

So should ballet dancers get agents and get film rights to change the pay for the top dancers, very much like football was 20 years ago.

 

However as a parent, I would say I would prefer my daughter to be immersed in culture of classical music and discipline, rather than my son being anywhere the footballers of today.

[Picturesinthefirelight]

Musical theatre dancers have agents & apart from the very top ones their rates of pay are fairly low.

 

I recently paid £60 per ticket (with a slight child reduction) to go & take my son to watch Man City v Chelsea. Factoring in train fayre, overpriced food & merchandise (£60 for a football shirt with his favourite players name on) I reckon I could have gone to Covent Garden cheaper)

[hfbrew]

I once had a talented male Ballet student who was also football mad and was playing for a good local team.

 

It was my Dh who pointed out that thousands of young lads were at his level in terms of football but not many get a place to White Lodge! This lad, having reached an exceptional level in Ballet had more chance of reaching Upper School (which he did) than he would of just making the county football team.

 

I think it's harder physically to reach the level in Ballet required to become professional. But I am sure that the sheer numbers of lads playing football mean that the statistics of becoming professional are stacked against them.

[RuthE]

I rather suspect that if your son and daughter trained into the opposite professions - he as a dancer and she as a footballer - he'd still be at a potential advantage, assuming equal talent/hard work/quality of available training (whatever that means, in two very different fields!) unless there's a lot more money and opportunity in women's football than I imagine there is!  Money isn't the only measure of success, of course...

Edited September 1, 2015 by RuthE

[Lisa O`Brien]

My cousin was very talented as a youngster and teenager. Absolutely football mad,and so was his best friend. The two of them went for a trial or were seen by a coach or something ,for Leicester City. My cousin was given a place and his friend wasn`t. Within a few weeks,before his intensive training with Leicester had even begun ,my cousin quit football completely. He wanted to be a teenager,be a punk rocker,dye his hair green and have a normal life. They offered his place to their second choice; his best friend. His name was Alan Smith ,who for a few seasons in the late Eighties  was the leading goalscorer at Arsenal. I think nowadays he is a presenter on Sky Sports. A multimilionaire,of course. My Aunty Rita and Uncle Ken are still close friends with Alan Smith`s parents,who apparently are lovely,ordinary down to earth people,but as you can imagine,as so incredibly proud of all their son has achieved. My poor Uncle Ken never quite got over his son quitting football at the most crucial time. It absolutely broke his heart. My cousin has drifted from dead end job to dead end job his whole life. It makes no difference whether it`s football or ballet; you have to really want it more than anything else or else you haven`t got a hope in hell.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Lisa O`Brien

[Jan McNulty]

Very true Lisa.  I worked with a man who was signed as a goal keeper by Wrexham from school (many years ago).  He only stayed a couple of weeks.  When I asked him why he left he said that he didn't want the discipline required to be a player.  He still played football, but for fun.

[Guest]

In terms of physicality, there is no contest! ballet is way tougher than football. I still remember a post in my (then) local paper the Huddersfield Examiner, when a certain local boy made good gave the town football team the work out of their lives and nearly killed them. The young man in question was David Bintley. I think the article is still to be found on the internet.

[JulieW]

I was going to say similar to RuthE.

 

My son's the dancer and daughter's the rugby player (although not professionally in her case). I'm more than happy that neither of my sons (or daughter) were interested in playing football - I hate it ;-)