Quote:
Originally Posted by Dollarmansteve
I think by using the word "program" I'm implying some government program. What I mean is, it doesn't take alot of money to support amateur sport. Kids in this country are so sheltered and are underexposed to sport in general. We don't have manadatory participation in our public schools and we are so blinded by "the big 3" - hockey in the winter and soccer/baseball in the summer - that we miss out on opportunities.
By Olympic "program" I mean creating a culture in this Country that supports amateur sports. I believe the best way to achieve this would be through the education system. Exposure to the whole spectrum of amateur sport should happen in our public schools. From there, the "funding" comes from parents, just like it does for hockey. Who do you think pays for the "traning" of our elite NHL hockey players?? Their parents/family.
Does it take hundreds of millions of dollars to simple educate and inspire kids at a young age about how great amateur sports can be??
As I mentioned before, there may in fact be a net BENEFIT if there was some cost for this education. We publicly fund our healthcare system and more children participating in more sports means a healthier population in the future. Healthier population means lower healthcare costs.
In this Country if you don't excel at hockey, soccer or baseball, you are pretty much discouraged from participating in sports. Hence all the anti-sport attitude you see from Canadians in general.. they can't relate.
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Good post and the only thing I disagree with is the anti-sports attitude. I don't think there's an anti-sports attitude at all. Most people I know or associate are very much pro sports. But you're right in the sense that we don't read up on the latest statistics of the local fencing finals. That's not having any interest in it, not being anti-sports. By introducing them to children in school they may have an interest in some of those sports in the future, sure. But you're still gonna find most kids interested in the sports you mentioned plus football and basketball, just because it's not reasonable to expect the neighborhood kids to get together and play archery together.
As much as I'm for children participaction MY big problem, and it may have been something you were somewhat alluding to, is our schools eliminating competition. When I was growing up, you actually got first, second, third and honorable mention ribbons. TODAY, all kids get ribbons of participation out of nothing more than fear of hurting a child's feeling. That to me is ridiculous and does in fact hurt potentially great athletes from improving. If my son joined a peewee football team, I'd expect him to play because I bloody well paid for him to play and not sit on the sidelines all the time. If my son didn't play as MUCH as another kid who was better, I'd tell my son to suck it up and improve. Most parents will just complain that their kid should get equal time just because. THAT eliminates the competition and desire to improve.