Perhaps the most amazing performance of recent time came at a PGA Tour event in Hawaii from a 14-year-old girl who shot a two round total of par and narrowly missed making the cut. Let me repeat that; Michelle Wie, a 14-year-old girl shot par at a professional men's golf event. Most fourteen year olds are hard pressed to shoot par during a round of Tiger Woods Golf for PS2, let alone do it in real life. So how does a young girl shoot par? Well, she stands 6 ft tall and can drive the ball over 300 yards with regularity. To put that in perspective that's about 20 yards further than Masters Champion Mike Weir hits his drives.

Individual sports like golf have typically been the sports driving the trend of athletes competing in professional events at young age. Individual sports like tennis, figure skating and gymnastics are the sports equivalent of child acting, complete with obsessive parents trying to fulfill their dreams through their 13-year-old child. Where the most noticeable change has occurred is in team sports, led by the example of the NBA. What used to be a rarity is now commonplace; kids are forgoing the NCAA to join the NBA straight out of high school. Players like Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal and most recently LeBron James have spearheaded the infusion of youth into the game. Basketball is not alone; there are plenty of other examples:

Hockey: A look at the current NHL scoring leaders reads as a who's who of young talent taking the league by storm: Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, Pavel Datsyuk and Marian Hossa just to name a few. Don't forget there's also guys like Jason Spezza, Marian Gaborik, Dany Heatley and Marc-Andre Fleury who will continue to assert the trend for years to come.

	The oldest Heisman winner.

Football: Hasn't followed the trend but that may soon change with Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett's plea for early admittance as well as the argument that University of Pittsburgh sophomore WR Larry Fitzgerald won allowing him to enter this year's draft. The current NFL rule states that a draft eligible player must be out of high school for a minimum of 3 years. I guess Carolina Panthers backup QB Chris Weinke was extra cautious and waited until he was 28 to declare for the draft. I'm sorry but the only way you can justify that you're graduating university at 28 is if you're leaving with M.D. attached to your name.

Baseball: Tough to say with this sport. For instance one day Atlanta Braves All-Star SS Rafael Furcal is 18 and the next he's 23. A scan of MLB player bios reads like a stock market report full of fluctuations. And let us not forget about "little leaguer" Danny Almonte who entered the Little League World Series with a falsified birth certificate. Now, I'm not an expert but you would think league officials would have caught on a little quicker especially when the guy shows up to games with his wife and kids in toe and has a 5 o'clock shadow by the 4th inning of games.

	Man U is the perfect plot for an Old School 2.

Soccer: The sport takes recruiting players to the next step. Players are signed to contracts at an early age and work their way up through the junior squads until eventually landing on the top squad. For instance David Beckham signed a trainee contract with Manchester United at the age of 16 and played on the Man U junior squad and Man U reserve squad until finally reaching the roster that plays the games you see on TV, at the age of 20. Is it me or does anyone else think of a fake movie university run by men, when they hear Man U? Get Vince Vaughn, Will Farrell and Luke Wilson together again and you've got a script for Old School 2.

The growing trend of young athletes dominating their sports comes from a variety of factors. Improved strength training and off-season conditioning has not only helped prolong and increase the longevity of veterans careers, it has also helped the younger players develop the "pro body" necessary to handle the rigors of a long season. Of course the allure of financial gain at such a young age doesn't hurt the motivation needed to perform at a high level. Also affecting the trend is the growing amount of opportunities that athletes face in today's sports market. Individual sports like golf has seen a shift towards the globalization of the game leading to more playing opportunities and more tours to compete on. Team sports such as the Big 4 (hockey, basketball, football and baseball) have undergone a huge period of expansion boom over the past 10-15 years and that has resulted in an increasing number of roster spots a young player can compete for. Plus in team sports, employing a team full of youngsters without Free Agency status is a much cheaper root to building a team.

This trend of young athletes doesn't appear to be disappearing anytime soon and if anything, will continue to grow based on the success today's athletes are having. So get used to seeing stories about the 'next big thing' continue and expect to see some interesting interviews. You know how teenagers are: moody, temperamental and will say whatever's on their mind.