NOV 30 — One of the sure signs of growing up from youthful adolescence into responsible adulthood is when your favourite sports stars suddenly become younger than you are.

It’s something that happens when you reach your early twenties. After spending a childhood idolising sporting heroes as untouchable, almost mythical figures, it’s a little disconcerting to realise that you would have looked down upon your favourite players as little children if you had been at school together.

The next phase of life, perhaps, is growing old – a time of life when your favourite sports stars progress (or regress?) from merely being younger than you are to being actually young enough to be your children.

Indeed, they can often be the children of players whose sporting careers you remember very clearly. It still shocks me, for example, to think that Paul Ince has a son (Tom) playing in the Championship. How can either of them, or me, possibly be that old? Where did the time go?

If that’s how I feel, imagine what it’s like for Ryan Giggs.

The timeless Manchester United midfielder celebrated his fortieth birthday on Friday, although there might not have been too much celebrating for a milestone figure that many people attempt to ignore.

When Giggs made his debut for the Red Devils in 1991, Bryan Robson was the club’s captain, Sir Alex Ferguson was just plain Alex Ferguson and United hadn’t won even won their first English Premier League title under his management – the Premier League hadn’t even been invented, in fact.

Since then, Robson has retired and undergone various largely unsuccessful attempts to establish himself as a manager including a short-lived stint in charge of Thailand, Ferguson has won enough trophies to become regarded as the greatest British manager ever, and the Premier League has grown into a global phenomenon.

A lot has happened in the last 22 years, but Ryan Giggs keeps on going.

A short list of his achievements includes the most appearances for Manchester United, the most appearances in the Champions League, the oldest player to appear in the Olympic Games and being voted the greatest player in United’s history.

As a Bayer Leverkusen defender asked Wayne Rooney during Wednesday’s Champions League game, how on earth has he done it?

Although his exceptionally long career is hugely praiseworthy, it’s not a miracle. In addition to his obvious natural physical fitness and the personal dedication required to stay in top shape, I believe Giggs’ career has benefitted from two simple key factors.

Firstly, his decision to retire from international football six years ago has allowed him to enjoy regular extended breaks at times of the season when other players are flying thousands of miles to play for their countries.

Wales have missed Giggs, of course, but they were never going to qualify for a major tournament in any case, so his absence hasn’t made that much difference in the greater scheme of things.

Indeed, Wales’ failure to make a mark on the international scene, even during Giggs’ time in the squad, has made a tremendous long-term difference to the physical demands placed upon his body, allowing him to enjoy a full summer break every year – quite a contrast to the gruelling six weeks away from home endured every other summer by most major stars.

It’s no coincidence, I don’t think, that another United player who was able to enjoy a remarkably long career was Paul Scholes, who turned down the opportunity to play for England for the last nine years of his career and subsequently carried on playing until the ripe old age of 38.

Another crucial reason for Giggs’ longevity is the sensible management he received from Ferguson, who wisely realised long ago that he could not expect Giggs to play every week and therefore initiated a consistent policy of regularly leaving him on the sidelines.

Since 2005, Giggs has never played in more than 31 league games in a season, turning out for 25 or less in each of the last four campaigns.

This is a stark contrast to some other star players who are still called upon as often as ever, even after entering their thirties – a current example is Xavi, who has played more La Liga minutes than all but two outfield Barcelona players in the current campaign, and has made at least 30 league appearances every year since 2006.

So as we watch Giggs playing for Manchester United despite having reached his fifth decade on earth, we can reflect that part of his amazing durability is explained by his innate natural physical fitness. But another part is more straightforward: look after your body, and your body will look after you.

It’s a lesson a few more professional athletes, and their coaches who struggle to think beyond the short-term, would do well to absorb.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.