For those reading this outside the Australian landscape there is a Proffesional Athlete called Brent Harvey, famously nicknamed "Boomer" and plays in the Australian football Leaugue and just came off one of the best season of his career, on Saturday July of this year Boomer became the AFL games record holder with 428 games previously set by Michael Tuck of Hawthorn is 1991. The thing is Boomer didn't just break the record he seemed to Peak through it,

yet North Melbourne the team he has been playing for since 1995 decided to delist him before the final round of the year and not offer him a contract for 2017, this news hasn't gone down to well not just with North Melbourne Fans but AFL fans all around, and considering how good a season he has had and there reason was he's 38 and they don't see him apart of there future plans.

 

Let's put Harvey's stats for 2016 into perspective, in 22 games he has kicked 36 goals 12 more than last year and a career best, boomer has also averaged 21.6 Disposals, 12.4 Kicks, 9 Handballs, 4.3 Marks, 2.5 Tackles, 6 contested which are nearly all above his career average. A great season which included a career best 6 goal haul against Melbourne.

 

Boomer is also ranked 24th best player in the league stat's wise and 2nd best for North Melbourne in a team that are about to head into finals. If Boomer was 5 years younger with the stats he has he probably would be given a 2-3 year contract, In the real world Harvey is a very young man and if he was putting up similar stat's like this in competitions in the NFL, NBA or NHL in America or sports in Europe he would have probably been offered a 3 -5 year contract and that's now.

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                                        Boomers 2016 Highlights

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We are behind in the world of sports and even though players are playing at there peak in AFL longer than ever before some teams and coaches don't understand that in the last 10 years exercise science has gotten amazingly good. Unlike back in the days where players would go 1-2 season's too many unless they had amazing genes like Craig Bradley and Michael Tuck,

 

Players rarely go 1-2 seasons too many anymore as they either get a tap on the shoulder or they are smart enough to make the decision themselves but most retirments in AFL in the modern era are not because they are not physically capable of continuing but injuries have just taken there toll but that can happen at 22 as well as 42.

The one's that generally get delisted are more in the early-to mid 20's age bracket and were probably not up to the standard anyway. 

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Argurable more players are having career best seasons deeper into there 30's, Nick Riewoldt from St Kilda and Corey Enright from Geelong are again argurable having career best seasons at 34 and 35 respectivily. With Riewoldt dominating his career average in all stat's, while many more are continuing to have career best seaons or play at there peak than ever before. Age is nothing in Proffesional sport in 2016 and starting to become just another number in AFL except for a few negative people of the media who's knowledge is limited or are still living in the past.

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We have to understand the days when the media just presume that someone peaks at a certain age is all wrong and are living back in the 70's & 80's when life expentancy was in the 60's and people retired at 50. Younger is becoming 

older all the time while old is becoming older. And while we are waiting for the results from the latest census for 2016, As of 2014 the Average life expectancy was 83 (Men & Women) higher than ever.  

6 seperate Studies completed in 2015 say that 60 is the new middle age (Read one of the articles here) 

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Now back to Boomer and the reason I bought up this facts are that 38 is still extremly young and from all reports Boomer had one of his best Pre seasons ever beating marks previously set in the past. There are over 60% More professional athletes over 40 than there were 10 years ago and most are not just competing and making up the numbers but excelling and some even peaking. 

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                                   Best Proffesional Atheltes over 40 2016

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And while there hasn't been many to break the 40 year old Barrier in AFL (Only 3) yet play over 40 and excel, mainly because players are not given a chance as I think Robert Harvey would have if St Kilda had of let him continue.  But if anyone is going to continue to excel, provide onfield leadership and give you a couple a goals a game in the AFL over 40 Boomer is the one who is going to break that Barrier and prove to those that age is not the number and everyone's age is different. 

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The science of Athletes performing at there Peak longer or hitting there peak late has excelled over the last couple of years has excelled. 44 Year old Jaramir Jagr has shown that this year getting back to Career best form and best player, Leading scorer for the Florida Panthers while taking them all the way to the players offs and was in contention for League MVP.  “There’s no reason to quit,” Jagr said. “I love the game. If I can play in the NHL, why not keep going?”

while his coach Gerard Gallant agrees and doesn't see age as a number and know's 40's is the new youth said as proof, perhaps, consider this episode from a practice this past season. Jagr, embarrassed that Aaron Ekblad had stolen the puck by elevating Jagr’s stick, barged into the weight room afterward and declared, “Nobody will ever take the puck off my stick again.” So he and Strength and conditioning coach Tommy Powers grabbed one of Barkov’s sticks and attached it to a resistance machine, fashioning a contraption that allowed Jagr to fend off that lifting motion and something that would occasionally happen throughout his and everyone elses career hasn't happened since. 

Powers says "he just keeps getting better, his reactions times are better and he is still as quick as ever but the guy works his arse off to combat the brutal hit's of the game" 

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Jagr keeps a softball on the bench to rub over his hamstring and gluteal muscles to keep them loose between shifts. He has taken to dunking his head in a cold tub after each period. He immerses himself from the neck down in a Cryo Cabin, a recovery device cooled to minus-230 degrees Fahrenheit, after which he emerges, shivering and flexing.

His teammates howl and hate it, but they do the same things — well, some of them — Only because Jagr does. Players who once adhered to more traditional strength and conditioning regimens now shoot medicine balls or slip on weight vests or perform single-leg squats atop a box. Coach Gerard Gallant says "the influence Jagr has on his team mates is amazing, they all look up to him and try to emulate him, I would say say every team would love Jaramir on there team." 

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Jaramir Jagr 2016

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While two different sports, both high impact in there own right I think Boomer Harvey would give a club a similar advantage for as long as he can play to the level he is now. The impact he would have on the other players on commitment and off field conditioning would be second to none, though I think the best place for him would be a

premiership contender. And while North Melbourne would be extremly sad to see Harvey play at another club at the moment I don't think any North fan would blame him for heading to another club in the form he is in if North Melbourne don't want him. And while we are all confused by North's decison I think most AFL fan's do want to see him play for another club to prove North wrong. 

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While most Athletes, sports scientists and the general public know what the human body as an Athlete is capable off, there are still so many media personalistilies, and coaches like Brad Scott who are stuck in the past where decline in performace happened a'lot earlier due to injuries that couldn't be fixed diet and the science of the human body isn't as good as it is now. 

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What type of example are those who' have this negative view setting to our childrens generation that just because you reach a certain number you get pushed to the side for someone who isn't as good as you and hasn't earn't there spot. They are basically telling children that just because you reach a certain number you should stop following your dreams, Lucky for this generation of Athletes like Pablo Prigioni who at 36 made his NBA Debut in 2012 and has shown

and proven wrong so many people that it's not to late to follow your dreams. Prigioni who is still playing for the Houston Rockets said "if I had of listened to a whole heap of people who didn't know what they were talking about I would never have made it to the NBA"

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Pablo Prigioni in 2016

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Due to AFL being a very proffesional sport and the way boomer goes about everything I 100% believe Boomer would have made the decision to retire himself if he was performing at even 80% that he is now due to the fact he play's at such a high level. So for the sake of breaking such a stupid sterotype and proving those without the knowledge to know better please play on Boomer, even if North Melbourne and Brad Scott are stupid enough not to re-contract you there would be plenty of clubs that would be lucky to have a guy like yourself still perfoming at his peak, and from the look of it I don't see it stopping anytime soon. 

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Play on Boomer! 

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