Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 31, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba C m y k Page 3 Winnipeg repress. Com perspective Winnipeg free press sunday August 31, 2008 b3 nordic combined 0 total 35 source own the podium 2010 final report. Sept. 2004 Good lets look at what you can do better Lefebvre said. Speed Satin Gas shooting for 15 medals. Great How do we get to 20? Over the past 20 years with Access to world class facilities and a leadership team thatus taken a Long term development approach Speed skating Canada has built a sport machine. In Torino they captured 12 of Canadas 24 medals led by Cindy Klassen who won five medals one for every olympic ring. Jean Dupri director general of Speed skating Canada says top has made it possible for the organization to bring its High performance programs to the next level. The increased funding from top has made significant changes in the Way we support and prepare athletes. Where we use to share Many support staff now we have designated personnel at our two National training centres Dupri said. Wother spoons Success with Crowe is an example. But beneath the fanfare there Are rumblings of concern and discontent. Critics say there Are flaws in of pcs design and its execution has been far from problem free. On a cold blustery March Day in Winnipeg or. Cal Botterill had just finished lunch with Jennifer Jones the skip of the Canadian a omens Curling championship team. Joness team won the title while Botterill one of Canadas top sports psychologists was in Europe assisting Canadas bobs edders. Now having got up to Date with Jones he was giving a candid interview about of pcs challenges. The timing of your inquiry is uncanny because in my opinion i predicted some of these difficulties when stuff was coming Down a couple of years ago Botterill said. This season is Over theress a year and a half to go now. For me its really time to Start to simplify and get the groups together that have a Chance and let them go. Botterill has been to eight olympic games. He helped Speed skating superstars Catriona be May Doan and Susan Auch collect Gold and Silver in at the 1998 Nagano olympics. He worked with the new York rangers the season leading up to their 1994 Stanley cup Victory ending a 54 year drought. Now he is preparing Canadas Cross country skiers curlers bobs edders and Skeleton athletes for Vancouver. I think were 10 years behind Australia and were trying to do All the same things. And were trying to do them in too Little time to get them All working in time said Botterill. My opinion is that there Are some difficulties and some pressures being created that Are not producing Good psychological effects. For me the first mistake top made was making the projections unilaterally without the input from athletes. If you run a company if you re smart you do your goal setting with your employees Botterill said. You dont come in Here and say heres what were going to do do this do that. I think the athletes would have set pretty ambitious goals. Some of Canadas Best athletes Are already struggling with the expectations and demands of top including Veteran bobsled Pilot Pierre Lueders. Pierre Lueders basically came Home from the bobsled circuit burned out. It appeared and certainly what he reported was that it was All the extra pressure of Complex monitoring and evaluation and meeting All these criteria and what not that kind of produced an emotional pressure that exhausted him Botterill said. If you Are a Bobsleigh Driver you have one Job that is to read the course. And if you have anything on your mind other than that you re not going to perform Well he explained. Botterill also thinks top has too Many athletes listed As medal prospects. He warns there Are real risks to dubbing athletes medal contenders before they Are ready. As soon As Success becomes have to rather than want to athletes Are prone to fear failure. When you put people up As favourites before they Are ready its often problematic because they a vent Learned to be favourites. Wayne Gretzky Tiger Woods have Learned to be a favourites Botterill said. If we put All of our Young Amateur athletes in the same circumstances without the experience of being a Favourite and learning to do that were doing a disservice to them. Back in Calgary Dale Henwood president of the Canadian sport Centre was in his office putting the finishing touches on a presentation on the legacy of the Calgary olympics. If you go Back and look at the number of legacies from 88, in addition to facilities people Money infrastructure in the City i think its been tremendous Henwood said. Canadas produced a steady Stream of athletes Over the last two decades who have delivered Good performances internationally. That said its a Long term process. Its at least 10 years until you see the results of having facilities and having full time coaches with the athletes. T he former team Canada goal ending coach has been at the Helm of the sport Centre since its establishment in 1994. Hen Woods got More than 25 years of combined experience As a coach and administrator. The role of sport centres within the system is a partner an important partner but a partner. No one in this system has enough Money to do everything on their own Henwood said. What our role in my mind is is to provide world leading programs and services physiology biomechanics for the athletes and coaches. Like Botterill Henwood has some concerns. Although he supports philosophically the creation of an Independent High performance technically based expert driven unit like top he worries it has led to confusion and duplication in an already fragmented and bureaucratic sport system. I think we would have been better off to expand the mandate of existing organizations or expand responsibilities of existing people As opposed to create another organization Henwood said. In Canada there Are Many players sport Canada the Canadian olympic committee the coaching association of Canada National sport federations the sport centres top among others. In a business when you re this fragmented shareholders say merge consolidate. Were not doing it in sport Henwood said. I think theress at times a superficial willingness to work together. We say we will but when it comes to a crunch ism not sure we do. Theress still some protectionism there and need for profile need for credit. There Are a lot of reasons Why he said. Part of the problem with top he says is that the games were the incentive for the investment. Thatus part of the concern i have with the focus of top or the focus on Vancouver at times. When you make Short term decisions meaning decisions that Are maybe going to give you an Impact in two years they Are at Odds with where we should be going Lon term Henwood said. Yes i want a great result in 2010, but i want a result in 2012, 14, 16, and 18. Ism very concerned certainly in the eyes of some we Are just trying to get a result of 35 medals in 2010 and i think weave failed if thatus All that happens. Davis the australian hired gun was interviewed in Calgary. He had just returned from Vancouver where he spent a weekend meeting with coaches and sport administrators. Now he had a cup of Coffee in one hand a cellphone in the other and a tired look in his eyes. Its just Beautiful out there Davis says. Calgary left a huge legacy for Canada. Just this facility referring to Canada olympic Park. Vancouver will do the same. Davis and the top staff Are working to ensure the sports and teams have Good support staff and in the right mix. He says the coaches Massage therapists physiotherapists nutritionists need to become integrated and work like a pit Crew. Its the biggest thing Canada can do in the Short term in his View to make a difference. Its been the biggest struggle. Some sports just a vent got it. Most of the coaches understand they the support staff should be out there somewhere but they dont want them too involved Davis said. Davis says its critical for coaches to meet regularly with doctors psychologists and Massage therapists to discuss Progress achievements and shortfalls because the support staff collects a huge amount of information from talking to the athletes. If the coach does not capture any of it they cant integrate it. Things can fall through the cracks. Suddenly the athlete has a shoulder injury and the doctor knows but the strength Guy does not know and in the meantime prescribes an exercise thatus inappropriate for his shoulder injury. So you lose two or three weeks and if you would have talked to each other you have lost that time Davis explains. He too is irritated by Canadas fragmented sport system. Whether its the olympic committee sport Canada sport centres or other agencies its All Over the place Davis says. They have the same problem in great Britain. They have multiple organizations that keep bumping into each other. If we can simplify the system Here that will be a huge breakthrough but ism not confident. Its just too difficult. Davis also chafes at of pcs having to make funding decisions on government budget timelines. The government rigmarole he says slows processes Down. A lot of our funding decisions the timelines Are totally screwed up because were on the government financed budget timing. It puts the whole thing completely out of whack for a number of reasons. To me thatus a huge problem. For example Davis says top completed annual reviews for sports and made funding decisions before some of the sports finished their season had a Chance to debrief and come up with a strategic plan for the following year. Were asking them to present a plan before doing those three important things. Those things could change possibly in a month and yet weave already made a decision. Its not far wrong but its enough wrong to make a difference. And he says canadians need a killer instinct. Youve got to have this sense of belief were going to get that medal. Canada does not have it but they Are starting to. A year ago when i came there was this belief that we can do it and we should do it Davis said. Theress nothing wrong with being aggressive and doing what you need to do in Legal Bounds. Thatus starting to change but it takes a while. It took Australia years. When Canada announced its goal of winning 35 medals in 2005, Many inside the sport system and outside of it snickered. At the time the Best Canada had Ever done at a Winter olympic games was 17 medals in Salt Lake City. Three years later the Outlook is a Little different. What seemed unrealistic in 2005 is now at least possible. Top has hit bumps since its inception and More will come. If there is too much pressure in the system in the months leading up to the olympics and at the games athletes could under perform in Vancouver. Jackson says the biggest obstacle preventing Canada from hitting its target is that the rate of change is still too slow. We still have organizations that dont plan effectively. We still have athletes who Are not training As world class athletes. We still have new relationships with coaches and new people that have to integrate said Jackson. Having said that All of these types of things we Are worried about we have seen enormous Progress in every single sport. Regardless of the challenges both supporters and critics of top support the Cash infusion. The big concern is that the funding will drop after the games. After the 2000 games in Sydney Australia Cut spending on its olympic athlete program and that Hurt on the podium. In the aftermath Australia lost a lot of expertise including Davis to other countries. Australians medal count dropped from a High of 58 in Sydney to 41 in Athens in 2004. Australia has since boosted its investment but it has taken time to rebuild. Canada could end up on a similar path. Davis says it is critical Canada build after 2010 on the Progress made to Date. But hers concerned that wont happen and Vancouver will just be a one off Deal. As it stands Roger Jackson is scrambling to come up with a plan. Hers persuaded the Federal government to maintain the $ 11 million a year it contributes. However he admits there Are no guarantees of corporate funding which should equal the government investment. They will not in their own Way make decisions about whether they want to continue until they evaluate what has happened Jackson said. Thatus the dilemma. The funding never would have materialized without the event. It was Only because Vancouver won the bid that the debate about whether to embark on such an initiative even got started. The Canadian Public Only pays attention two weeks every two years said Alex Gardiner the senior director of olympic programmes at the Canadian olympic committee. Two weeks in the Winter two weeks in the summer. In 2010, it will Likely be More of the same. Teary eyed canadians will watch the television screen with Pride when the Host country is team marches in. The displays of athleticism will inspire old and Young. Canadians will cheer for athletes they ave never heard of who Are wearing the Maple Leaf. Jackson not surprisingly says he is anxious to demonstrate to the corporate Community the value in maintaining their investment. How he will do that remains to be seen. Top has also exposed the extent to which Canadas fragmented sport system needs an overhaul. Some improvements can be undertaken without a whack of new Money. Jackson Davis and Henwood All suggest the provinces need to increase their financing and enhance their High performance programming. The bold own the podium mantra Marks a shift in Canadian sport culture. Canada has a Long tradition of emphasizing participation rather than Victory. It will be interesting to see if the were no. 1 attitude is something that rests comfortably on the shoulders of Canadian athletes. I want to do Well regardless said Winnipeg Gas Speed skater Shannon Rempel. I want to win a medal whether or not they want me to or not. I dont want to disappoint myself. I would be More upset if i disappointed my coach because she helps train me Sheds the one who knows what ism capable of doing so thatus More important than anything. Vancouver 2010 brings Canada to a Crossroads. Canadian athletic Success at the games May prove to be the catalyst for Long term change and sustained International Success or it could turn out to be a false Start on the much anticipated course of Reform. Selena. Hinds free press. My. Ca tier three targeted athletes Bobsleigh 1 luge 1 Skeleton 1 ski jumping 0 snowboarding 2 Cross country skiing 1 b l biathlon 1 i predicted some of these difficulties when stuff was coming Down a couple of years ago. Cal Botterill sports psychologist youve got to have this sense of belief were going to get that medal. Canada does not have it but they Are starting to. Peter Davis of pcs director of sport science Medicine and technology in a business when you re this fragmented shareholders say merge consolidate. Were not doing it in sport. Dale Henwood president of the Canadian sports Centre Calgary a 03_ aug 31 08. Ind b3 8/ 30/ 08 6 34 53 pm ;