With nowhere to go but sideways;
…if only Canadian kids had the opportunities of those spoiled beach boys growing up in North Korea – we too would have seven medals by now like they do.
With nowhere to go but sideways;
…if only Canadian kids had the opportunities of those spoiled beach boys growing up in North Korea – we too would have seven medals by now like they do.
dp
“””””You’re right. I do the same thing with my athletes sometimes. Maybe I need to be more focused on winning. “”””
actually, FUN should be first and formost in any sport. You then see who can perform past this “fun” and select them to achieve greater results, you as a coach have to instill in them the dream that they want to win, once you have them “wanting” to be the best, your job becomes easier, those others are now just there for fun, and you now focus on the prize student.
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.
Vince Lombardi
GYM- I’ve looked at this problem from a lot of different angles over the years. Winning vs fun. How do you strike a balance? It bothered me for years, but I eventually I settled on my present philosophy. That is, winning is fun, losing is not. If an athlete doesn’t want to train hard because it isn’t fun, then he should quit because losing in competition is about the worst feeling you can have. In boxing, it’s just short of losing your best friend.
My kids played soccer when they were about 6 years old, and the coach was all about having fun. He made sure every player got a shift. He never raised his voice. He often told the kids that winning wasn’t important. He never once asked a kid to do more than he was doing. That was 11 years ago, and my kids still hate soccer.
The same boys started boxing competitively one year ago, with me as their coach. I push them hard, and believe me sometimes it isn’t for the faint of heart. We have a great club, with some really happy kids. My son won a golden gloves tournament last spring, and I can say for sure that they like boxing.
Winning isn’t everything, but if you can’t win you shouldn’t play the game. Hanging in just for the travel and fellowship is just stupid.
Anybody who thinks carded athletes are rolling in dough is delusional. YOU try to get coaching and live off $1500/month.
Earl the Pearl,
Vince was given a team of tested athletes … and he is right.
I can’t help but believe, that the best diver, swimmer, soccer player, tennis player, etc that we have in Canada (or the world for that matter) has never dived, swimmed, kicked a soccer ball, been on a tennis court etc.
Does anyone really believe that because someones mom/dad/uncle/aunt/grandmother/grandfather/etc. … was a great ____ fill-in-the-blank, the relative will also be a great ____ fill-in-the-blank because of “natural talent”?
I find it tough to believe that Cuba has a disportionate of number of great baseball players because of the natural talent of Cubans for baseball.
ural- Cuba pretty well revolutionized amateur boxing in the 70’s. It had a lot to do with all the Soviet money that was available for sport. There’s no denying that Cubans are blessed with a genetic advantage for boxing, but the Soviets really pumped a lot of resources into the program. There’s not a training session I go through without using some jewel the Soviets dreamed up.
I have no idea why they’re such good ball players. Maybe it’s just tradition, like Canadians and hockey.
“Watch for the reporting from the Canadian media twits, it’ll get around to being Harper’s fault if there’s a poor showing.”
Absolutely NOT. EVERYONE knows its Bush’s fault!!
Maybe it’s just that Canadians are mature enough not to waste billions on a pointless dick-waving contest. My view of the importance of winning Olympic gold differs from that of Joseph Goebbels. I don’t need to prove the superiority of a master race, like the Third Reich did. You remember them? That’s the country that you can find on the map at… errr… ummm… forget it.
My view of the importance of winning Olympic gold differs from that of the leaders of East Germany. You remember that country, about Canada’s population, that was cranking out gold medals like crazy, and our media was whining about how badly we fared? I don’t need to prove the superiority of a political system at the Olympics, unlike East Germany. That’s the country that you can find on the map at… errr… ummm… forget it.
I don’t need to prove the superiority of a political system at the Olympics, unlike the USSR. That’s the country that you can find on the map at… errr… ummm… forget it.
Largs said: “Really though what does running 100 meters in less than ten seconds mean in the real world, those than can do it catch the bus we are running for and I have to wait for the next one?”
If the Liberals, NDP and the Greens get their way, it will be the only way you’ll get to work on time. That won’t be possible on crowded, underserviced urban transit and flea powered seasonal vehicles.
QS(what, no “Atheiste” – you find religion?) said: “Georgia and Russia are now playing against each others at Beach Volleyball.
You can see 4 hot girls in bikini playing sports instead of war. That’s the future of humanity.”
No, the future of humanity is the other reality between Russia and Georgia…
dp said: “…Winning vs fun. How do you strike a balance?…”
The Olympics were/are never about fun. They are entirely about raising athletic skill and national chest-beating, always have been. The “fun” part is the sop we always give the losers and also-rans who didn’t make the podium. The “fun” part is the perennial excuse Canadians come up with to excuse the feeble effort they’ve always made on behalf of their gifted children. Not just in sport, but in everything (check out Argentina’s music programs for kids), even as we spend horrific amounts on “professional” sports.
Canada has always been about individual triumphs, rather than group successes(the price of a small population base). And this is why a nanny state leftist ideology can only fail here. We pull together, but we don’t pull in the collective.
ET
I understand that in the most simplistic way your statement is correct WRT liberals and conservatives. As you have noted we don’t have an investor class, or any mentionable Canadian companies (Timmies excluded) that can be expected to sponsor Canadian athletes in the fashion that is required. That being said, IF WE WANT TO COMPETE we have to find other ways to cultivate our athletes. I am sure you would agree that an athlete who must work 40hrs a week isn’t going to fare well against those who can train full time. I personally believe that it is a good investment to invest in athletes and their futures, that is my “c”onservative spin. After all, these kids are the “best of us” in many ways. It seems more Liberal (IMO) to say “we can’t waste money on sports when their are starving people in the streets”. I think a good compromise would be to cull the teams that we do send to the Olympics. Perhaps then we could focus spending more efficiently(very conservative).
Posted by: Walter Dnes at August 13, 2008 4:06 AM
How about adding this one to your list.
Afghanistan saw no need for dick waving. They converted their soccer stadium into a cultural center. Now that’s maturity.
I think it’s American/Canadian Idol, instant gratification, Gen Y puffballs praised since childhood by over-protective, over- indulgent boomer parents just for showing up who lack the focus, intensity and desire to make a mark against REAL competition from places like China, the USA and even Australia…masked steroid use aside.
They seem as a generation to feel that they’ve “hit a triple by simply being born on third base”.
No rigour. End products of the left-Liberal Trudeaupian nanny state.
God help us in Canada when this generation starts attempting run things as they mature.
Monty66
You think Canada is the only country with kids who grew up under tose conditions? Why are American kids still winning medals?
This generation will probably be able to run things as well as the last bunch. We’re in for some rough times ahead, and I don’t envy the task this generation is facing. And I wouldn’t be too quick to call these kids puff balls. A lot of them are stepping up to go overseas to fight the hordes. They understand the enemy a lot better than we did.
Canada is having a technical glitch with its amateur sport programs. Once that’s fixed, we’ll see medals again.
My dad was never into sports, I played a lil football, baseball, basketball, even tried swimming and diving, played horseshoes, throwed darts, shot pool, tried poker, booray, hearts even pitched pennies against the wall, because you see it really didn’t matter to me, I like to win, and if I couldn’t win in one sport I moved on to the next one, it was about winning. I simply hated loosing. My 2nd wife never understood that either, you don’t play to play you frigin play to win.
Why be your opponents fodder to victory that’s just bad thinking.
But, I admire you Conservative thinking Canadians and at the risk of loosing a few medals I say; Go You Damn Canadians Go !!!
,
Read the comments by Alex Baumann as he has returned from 15 years in Australia working with their swim team. He left Canada because of the bureaucracy of Sports Canada and as many of you have noted their sucking of our sports dollars for their trips and expensive get-togethers. He has come back to revitalize our swim teams as Ken Read did with our alpine skiers.
My son has just returned from living in Australia and told me many times of the hundreds of kids in swim and sports clubs and as he swam at Bonzi Beach each day kids of all ages were swimming like little fish and having lots of fun doing it.
How many olympic pools are available for year round training here in Toronto, maybe 1 and other facilities – almost non existent.
We have an excellent grassed schoolyard that sits unused all summer on the next street as the kids don’t play sports unless an adult organizes it, really sad.
Hockey is so expensive that most families can’t afford it but sports like soccer are cheap and great exercise. Several friends are in the dragon boats which has really expanded in the last few years.
Unless there is a well-funded, no frills, no parasites national program with the best coaches and following a rigid format like Australia we will continue to be a mediocre country. I would far rather my tax dollars be spent on sport than pissed away on feel-good lefty social programs.
ET:
The best comparison, in terms of population size, history etc is Australia. They have ten medals; Canada has none.
Um, Australia is a company that consists of a thin ribbon of population around its perimeter. The climate ranges from tropical to sub-tropical. With the exception of a few mountains, they don’t even have snow.
so it doesn’t surprise me at all that the Aussies kick our butt at the Summer Olympics. They live in summer all year.
Let’s count up Australia’s Winter Olympics medals; they have been at every one since 1936, with the exception of 1948. Their total medal count is 6; 3 gold, and 3 bronze.
I won’t count Canada’s medals from 1924-32, or the ’48 games, as Australia wasn’t there. Our medal count is 106 – including over 30 golds, and 30 silvers. And our best count ever was at the last Winter games. In fact, in the last four games, our medal count has gone 13-15-17-24. It’s not at all fair to compare summer games results between a country which lives in eternal summer, and one which spends half the year in winter, just as it’s not fair to do the reverse. Apples and oranges, old boy.
Of course, Australia is a country, not a company. I was watching business news as I typed the post. Sorry.
kevin b – Canadians live, more than 90% of them, in a thin line along the US border.
As for the winter/summer games – I’m unaware that swimming competitions, which take place indoors in all countries, have much to do with the outside weather. Same with other sports, such as boxing, weightlifting, fencing, etc and etc.
Equally, I’m aware that other countries in the Winter games – cold countries – didn’t win a medal or many medals.
So, I don’t think it has much to do with the weather. The Winter Games have a paucity of disciplines. Yes, skating, skiing, curling, bobsledding are weather dependent, but – is that all Canadians can do? That’s all the disciplines there are in the Winter Games.
Oh, and snow and ice are around for only about 5 months of the year. What about the rest of the year?
In the summer games – what about diving, swimming, water polo. And archery, badminton, basketball, fencing, trampoline, judo, shooting, indoor volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling. All indoor sports. All sports that we could participate in without snow and ice.
Then, in our summer – there’s rowing, track and field, baseball, canoing, sailing.
So, the Summer Games, which have even more indoor than outdoor sports – aren’t that dependent on the weather. So, I suggest that your ‘causal factor’ is invalid.
if you don’t play to win stay the hell home.