Is your child a sports star?

‘My boy’s going to play for England!’ beamed the proud dad on the touchline. His son had just scored a fantastic goal for the under-nines football team; faster, taller and stronger than everyone else on the pitch, the lad certainly looked a cut above the rest.

Dad’s pride was understandable, but needed to be laced with a strong dose of realism. Around two million people play football in the UK yet fewer than 4,000 make a living from the game – and only a tiny fraction go on to reach the level where salaries have seven digits.

After all, a nine-year-old who towers above his peers may not grow much more; as others catch up, the advantages that once made them exceptional will gradually disappear.

Whether or not your child has a significant talent for sport, an important aim of PE in primary schools is to nurture the physical ability of all pupils, as well as supporting those higher ability children to excel.

‘We want every child to get the right level of support to maximise their potential throughout their school life and beyond,’ says primary school sports expert Elaine Burgess. ‘If your child is involved in sport at a high level outside school, make sure this is recorded.’

That’s particularly important given the approach now taken to talent identification across many sports. Several members of Team GB’s Olympic handball squad who competed at London 2012 were recruited not from a search for world-class handball players, but from an initiative designed simply to find tall people with good all-round ability.

Meanwhile, Olympic skeleton bob gold medallist Lizzy Yarnold was originally destined for a career in equestrianism. 

‘Take pleasure in your child’s athletic success,’ says Burgess. 'Encourage them to be ambitious but, crucially, keep them playing as many sports as possible.’

There’s so much out there to enjoy – and, truth is, the gap between even the most starry-eyed 10-year-old footballer and that million-pound contract is unbelievably wide.