Business of Sport:    How to make money from your kids - the sporting way: "Great tennis players aren't only born; they can be made," says Nick Bollettieri.

The kids are grown up, working in good jobs, have stayed away from drugs and religious cults and reflect well on your parenthood; only one snag: the oldest is hitting 30 and there's no sign of him/her moving out and making good on his/her own.

Now, though, your dearly beloved are pleading for you to remortgage the house to let them get their foot on the property ladder. There goes any chance of early retirement. Forget about the cruiser on the Shannon or the round-the-world trip you had planned. Whatever happened to the dream of the kids striking it rich and looking after you in old age, buying you a condo in Florida for the Irish winters?

Forget about the kids. If they haven't made it now they never will. Concentrate instead on the grandkids. And put them into sport. In just 17 years' time you, too, could have a Wimbledon champion, or, in just nine, have them signed up to IMG.

Stocks and shares were the investment boom in the 1980s and 1990s. In the 2000s property has been the new pension scheme. But with interest rates on the rise in the US and a cool down in the Irish property market surely imminent, sports kids are set to be the new investment. The risks may be high, and the potential for success low, but for those who do make it in the professional world of sport, the rewards are getting higher and higher.

And as the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy says, these kids can be made (see page 7)- so if the kid has enough discipline, enough skill and the right attitude then they might just make it. While the eldest may be hitting 40 and still around the house, just hold on in there for your little grandchild who could be on the way to professional stardom.

Welcome to IMG Academies where, over 190 acres in Bradenton, Florida, is the world's largest and most successful network of multi-sport training facilities with academies in tennis, golf, soccer, basketball and baseball. Over 500 students take part in the full-time academy semester programs, a snip at $60,000, with the elite five per cent on full scholarships.

However, is it just marketing and brand extension gone mad? Of the 500 that attend full time every year, 95 per cent are the children of over zealous, wealthy parents who want to see little Johnny or little Mary become a sports star - at whatever cost. As well as buying a place for their children at the academy, they buy into the "Bollettieri creed". No, he's not quite God but in the of world professional sport academies, he's the next best thing. Discipline, responsibility and effort are at the heart of the Bollettieri creed system, "the best way to predict the future is to create it" runs the ethos.

And it could all be coming to a tennis centre near you pretty soon. Already, IMG Academies have announced plans for setting up in Hyderabad, India. The first of its kind outside the United States, the complex will be ready by 2006 at a cost of $130m and the aim is to make Hyderabad the centre of Asian sports with a total of 1,200 full-time students coming through their doors - twice the capacity of the venue of Florida.

There's money in them kids and IMG cottoned onto this fact very quickly. Sharapova winning Wimbledon and newspaper reports of her becoming the richest sportswoman ever are the ultimate selling point for their brand. With Asia going to have an IMG Academy of its own, Europe can't be too far off their sights and Bollettieri has admitted he wants to establish his own brand of schooling in Ireland.

Could we be seeing a future tennis champion coming out of an Irish Nick Bollettieri Academy? Probably not - the odds in America for your child to make it are as high as winning the lottery - of the 5.1 million playing at junior, collegiate and pro level, only 14 are in the world's top 50 - but it won't stop parents with too much money to send their kids to learn the Bollettieri way and it won't stop struggling parents seeing it as a get rich scheme.

So if you're thinking about your kids or grandkids as a sports investment, just remember that while the returns may be greater than stocks and property, the odds are much higher. And besides, do you really want to wait 17 years before little Johnny or little Mary can move out and buy a house of their own? Maybe it's time to take that early retirement and catch the cruiser on the Shannon.

Also this week Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour must pay his ex-wife more than a third of his future income in a historic legal ruling after the Court of Appeal in London said Karen Parlour's existing award of £250,000-a-year personal maintenance should be increased to £406,500.

This was based on the ruling in January that found Ms Parlour played a major part in persuading him to "grow up" and drop the hard-drinking "laddish" culture that existed. Ms Parlour, a former optician's assistant from Romford, Essex, will receive the increased maintenance on top of two mortgage-free houses worth more than £1 million, a £250,000 lump sum and the £12,500 a year that her ex-husband is paying for each of their three children, aged eight, six and four.

Ray Parlour earns £1.2 million a year.

£29.50 - Jacques Santini's arrival at White Hart Lane pushes Tottenham's share price up - but only from £28.31 last week.

$3 billion - Expected figure for the International Olympic Council for TV sales of the current round of bidding for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games

TV viewing figures for RTÉ's European Championships have grown for the third successive tournament. On average, 265,000 viewers tuned into their Euro 2004 coverage with 470,000 watching the Portugal-England quarter-final. The final, between Portugal and Greece, attracted 460,000 peaking at 649,000 viewers.

GAA counties have been bemoaning the potential loss of revenue from the All-Ireland qualifier games that have been scheduled for neutral venues. Limerick estimate up to a100,000 has been lost due to the decision by the GAA to play the Tipperary-Cork qualifier in Killarney. The GAA cited traffic problems in Limerick as the reason, which has been rubbished by Limerick County Board Chairman Pat Fitzgerald. Longford are also disappointed their clash with Dublin didn't go ahead in Pearse Park.

Meanwhile, Cork's Colin Corkery has escaped any punishment from the GAA over the emblazoning of the Suzuki logo on the tongue of his football boots while playing against Clare last weekend.

The English Football League has revealed how much it paid in agents' fees in the last six months and has challenged the Premiership to do the same. Football League clubs paid out a total of £1.4 million to agents in the past six months, representing 12 per cent of the 963 deals in that period.

"We're delivering new standards of transparency and good governance to the football industry," said Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney.

Cubic Expressions, major shareholders in Manchester United and owned by JP McManus and John Magnier, had called for similar transparency and good governance from Man United in their transfer dealings.

ListentoLombardi - "Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit."