Imagine winning the multi-million lottery prize and not collecting the winnings! Whoever would do that! It has actually happened on numerous occasions, it would appear, amazingly. It nearly happened in 2018 when the winner of the largest single-ticket jackpot in US history only claimed it just before the expiry deadline, five months after the draw. Equally amazing is that the winner only purchased the ticket after allowing another customer to cut in line ahead of him. He was clearly meant to have the money! There have been numerous other occasions when the winner has only come forward within hours of it expiring. It happens! The prize is there for the taking.

Surely when such a special opportunity falls in our lap with little input from ourselves, we will make the most of it. We cannot win the lottery if we do not enter it but equally, we cannot win it if we do not claim it. The principle can and should be applied to life in general and certainly to sport.

In that regard we may well state that Dominik Szoboszlai, the Hungarian professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Liverpool and captains the Hungary national team, has hit the jackpot this season. He has recently won the February Premier League Goal of the Month competition with a stunning goal from a free kick, while Mo Salah, a Liverpool colleague who has for years been described as one of the current great players, hailed Szoboszlai as “one of the best players in the world right now” and a real contender for the Player of the Season Award. His talent is huge.

In a recent article in which he was interviewed on the sports page of an online newspaper, we are informed that “On his forearm, Dominik Szoboszlai has a tattoo in Hungarian which reads ‘Talent is a divine blessing’.” That is a powerful statement. He realises and acknowledges that his talent is a gift, and something to be used, not left on a shelf (there is no point having an expensive car for it to be kept in the garage all day every day). While our talent to a large degree comes from our parents, Szoboszlai recognises that this gift is from God and therefore must be used even more fully. Furthermore, he understands that his talent is not just a gift but a blessing, not just for himself but also for others. He gets it!

In that regard he perhaps fully understands what we know as the Parable of the Talents shared by Jesus two thousand years ago, where we are told how a master gives five talents to one worker, two to another, one to another, “each according to their ability” and called on them to use them. Two of them did use them to great equal effect but the one who did nothing with his talent was dismissed. Let us be clear, therefore, with regard to sport: we all have talent, albeit it at different levels, and we should use them. They are gifts to us, a lottery ticket winning, that must be claimed and used. Not everyone wins the same amount in a lottery but all must claim what they can – and not waste it.

However, Szoboszlai’s statement did not end with him acknowledging that talent is a “divine blessing”; he added in the same sentence that “without incredible will and humility, it is worth nothing’.” We can have all the talent in the world but it is how we approach and use it that will count. And those two crucial ingredients that he mentions play a huge part, certainly in his own situation. Szoboszlai has shown great will by being willing to play this season as a central or attacking midfielder, wide midfielder or right-back. His Liverpool manager, Slot waxed lyrical after one game when he said that Szoboszlai’s “work rate is at another level, the intensity he presses with, that’s unbelievable.” Slot emphasises that Szoboszlai’s natural talent and will are worth a great deal.

At the same time, Szoboszlai showed his own humility when he acknowledged that talent is a gift, a “divine blessing”; it is not about himself and he happily gives the honour to God. We need to help our children not to point to the name on their shirt or to take the glory for themselves but help them understand they have been blessed with something special and must use it, humbly.

Talent is a gift that we all have. It is a blessing but also a privilege, a responsibility and an opportunity for us to maximise, whatever level our gift is. Each child has a sporting ability be it a five-star, two-star or one-star ability and our role is to help them to use it with the greatest will and humility. We must not let their talent go unclaimed but help them to use it. Tattoo that on their minds and hearts.