BC Athletes share their voice through Athlete Community Forums...
Between mid-January and mid-February, 14 Community Engagement meetings will be held through-out the province to discuss community sport development and provincial sport development post-2010. The meetings are part of a provincial program planning process that is being undertaken to set direction in British Columbia for the 2010 through 2014 period.
BC Athlete Voice with the support of 2010 Legacies Now and the PacificSport Regional Centres have been working with athletes in regions around BC to ensure a strong, collective athlete voice is part of these process. Athlete Community Forums are now being held around the province in conjunction with the community engagement meetings and below you can read the feedback and perspective brought forward by athletes.
Six basic questions are being asked at the Athlete Community Forums, below is the feedback from athletes that have been involved in the process so far.
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What are the key strengths of sport in your community?
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What are the key weaknesses of sport in your community?
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Strong provincial sport organizations
Training facilities and opportunities
Focus on sport, healthy living and healthy eating
Competitive environment for athletes
Many opportunities to access extra services to help performance
A lot of motivated / excited people willing to help athletes
Sport is popular for spectators and also as a recreational opportunity for people
Great player development opportunities within individual sport associations
Good coaches
Better facilities being developed with 2010 coming
Growing size and participation base for sport
CSC-Pacific offers many great services
The Gymworks program is excellent!
Good coaches and coaching fundamentals
Strong and growing sport programs at all levels
Having coaches on salaries, coaching as a profession.
Support through BCAAP
Having the support of PacificSport – not just having these services in the Lower Mainland
The general sporting atmosphere and community support for sport.
Incredible opportunities for every athlete
Everyone does sports here, mass exposure as a kid.
Community support
People understand that good sport builds good people.
Athletes are starting to be attracted to come to our region making us all better.
Having facilities for all seasons
Great facilities
Elite Athletes are respected and looked up to by recreational athletes
Great climate / weather conditions – all year training
Some of the best coaches in the world are based in our region
PacificSport services
Having a great facility and being able to access this amazing facility
The many connections to physio / massage / medical / performance support services
The number of high quality athletes to train with in the region
High level of community support
Access to PacificSport services
Athletes are well recognized and have high level of involvement in the community
Well established provincial sport organizations and governing bodies
Olympics and Commonwealth Games have brought sport to the forefront
PacificSport staff
Athletes giving back to the community
Public awareness of sport
More knowledge leaders in sport starting to come forward
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US Scholarships take female athletes down South to schools – lack of athlete retention in Canada
No early talent identification for athletes
Not enough numbers of participants in some sports – especially for females in some sports
Athletes don’t know what is going on – no info is distributed at both an operational and high level. Therefore it’s hard to get involved
Lack of utilization of athletes to gain exposure, promotion and to recruit future athletes and support current athletes
Lack of awareness of the benefits of sport
Funding for future or development athletes isn’t there
Lack of local high level competition in some sports
Not enough grass roots programs to get younger athletes involved
Not enough qualified coaches to take athletes to the next level
Lack of specific facilities for athletes
No universal or multisport facilities
Not enough resources for coaches
Not enough money compared to how much competing in sport costs
Not enough Canadian Schools offer certain sports to support athlete development
Lack of coaches that are in it to develop the team and every athlete, not just their child or a select few of top athletes on the team
Lack of support for junior or development athletes.
Misconceptions around sport
Sports competing against each other for the same athletes
Opening up performance services to development athletes and smaller sports
Mismanagement of some facilities creating barriers for athletes to train and compete
Lack of funding at the grassroots level of sport and younger athletes
Not enough facilities – especially smaller, inexpensive facilities to hire
Lack of funding
Limited buy in from the school system in terms of the importance of sport and athlete development
PacificSport Food Stuff Program
Athletes having to work or invest a lot of energy into finding funding, takes away valuable time and energy from training and competing
Lack of access to facilities
Not enough coaches at all levels
Schools being inflexible with student athletes
More funding for early development sports
Need better coaching
Lack of communication between sports
Not many championship or provincial tournament in our region
Having to travel out of the region to compete
In some sports we lack the PSO support in our region
No flexible schooling – no sport academy model
Lack of good coaches
Poor communication between parents and coaches.
Uneducated parents playing a negative role in sport.
Lack of promotion for certain sports
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| What are the key threats sport in your community? |
What are the key opportunities for sport in your community?
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Not using facilities for sport and high performance sport after the 2010 Games.
Reductions in funding for sport
Lack of sport exposure in the community and media after 2010
Lack of funding
Taking the ice out of the Richmond Oval and the transition to community centres
So many ideas with what to do with venues after 2010, but is there a plan or strategy? Need to communicate with sport and athletes
Sports being with drawn from the Olympics
Lack of funding and resources causing a lack of development and growth in sport
Canada not having a strategy or funding to keep student athletes here
Lack of exposure in sport post the Games – especially in the community
Limiting use of facilities for high performance sport
Not enough new competitive athletes producing a negative training environment
Lack of information filtering through to athletes, no plan, no one knows what is going on
Lack of funding resulting in less resources for athlete development
Lack of sport education for parents
Coaches getting pulled into administrative duties, rather than coaching athletes
Decreasing funding for coaches
Lack of support for coaches from clubs and organizations.
Decreasing government support and funding
Sports fighting over the same athletes
Sport will be cut after 2010
Declining number of coaches to meet the needs
Not having enough athletes in the region to provide a good practice and competition base
The current economic climate
Travel costs – both domestically and internationally
Increasing costs for athletes to participate and compete.
Lack of continuity of sport from elementary to post secondary.
Amateur sport versus professional sport, in terms of facilities, funding and media
Experienced athletes retiring before their peak creating a knowledge gap with younger athletes moving up
Continued lack of funding for athletes
Use and access to facilities
Losing funding and losing paid coaches
Needing money or to be rich to be involved in sport and be a high performance athlete
Volunteer burn out
Competition for the same athletes from different sports
Lack of development funding can end athlete careers prematurely
Lack of emphasis on sport after 2010
Health care taking priority over sport and athlete funding
Aging population leading to coach and volunteer burn out
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Working alongside of successful high performance athletes and leaders to achieve great success
Exposure from the 2010 Games
Achieving Gold Medals and raising the exposure, publicity and recognition of sport in Canada
Increasing money and space for facilities
Publicity – increasing recognition of amateur sport and a range of sports
Winning – sport putting itself in the spotlight through achievement
Advertise sport through demonstrations and drawing in the community
Government focus for increasing fitness will lead to a positive image for sport
Greater connection to schools and sports, creating a seamless pathway for athletes
Keeping knowledgeable people in the region and having them available to athletes
Working with schooling to determine new facilities and build partnerships with sport
Greater emphasis on coaching clinics and courses, especially for smaller sports
Opportunities to host training and performance camps with the great current facilities
Keeping the hype going after 2010 to ensure sport stays a priority in the community
Utilizing our great facility to it’s maximum potential
Strategies across sports to hire the best coaches in the world to provide a training environment for the best athletes in the world
Opportunity for programs to provide more support to younger coaches and linkages to experienced coaches to pass down their knowledge (mentoring).
Having more tournaments and opportunities for events and competitions.
Continuing to build our base of good coaches.
Investing in more of the support services to help athletes.
Utilizing our fantastic facilities and resources.
Having PacificSport continue to provide great opportunities.
Continued funding opportunities, bursaries, scholarships
Potential growth with sport academies, post secondary education
Building media awareness of all sports
Continuing growth in participation numbers
Selling sport as a part of a healthy lifestyle and essential to community development
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Recommendations from the Athlete Community Forums:
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Create a program that connects athletes to other athletes and the community: Mentorship / Education for Athletes in life skills / Role Model programs aligned
Strategy for educating coaches and linking them to the athletes that need them. Strategic approach
Program to attract athletes to BC and retain our high performance athletes by making training and competing here attractive
Increase funding for multisport facilities that are planned around the needs of athletes in the region and linked to grass roots to high performance programs
Succession Programs: Former Athletes into coaching / officiating / sport administration / performance services
Increase Exposure for Amateur Athletes and Sport – Amateur Sport Channel / Dedicated Website / Partnerships with Media / Plan and management from sport organizations
Strategy for connecting retired high performance athletes to coaching courses and roles and careers in sport to retain their knowledge and skills
Have an advocate or collective voice for sport on the development and management of facilities to ensure the best for sport and athletes.
A regional collective strategy for sport that puts everyone on the same page.
Constructing a Sport Leadership Council
Creating guidelines for operating sport at local level
Try to generate more support from local businesses through Adopt an Athlete programs, investing in Athletes, incentive programs for organizations / businesses to support sport.
Funding strategy and allocation all the way through for athletes – including opportunities for development level and early specialization sports.
Look at a strategy for recruiting and retaining coaches at all levels and promote an athlete Pathway into coaching
Top Facilities are attractive – using them as incentives to attract coaches and athletes
Ensuring Boards and Organizations are connected to athletes – understanding implications and at the user level. Board Members need to know what athletes want, voice of athletes, connection to what is really happening in sport
Creating a Communication Centre for all sports that link to media, lobbying and advocating, marketing and as well as operational functions
Accessing resources from outside sport to support it’s multiple benefits to the community
Create better support structures for coaches – education, links between organizations (PSOs and MSOs), certification, long term funding, coaches specializing at different stages of athlete development, grants to keep coaches in the region.
Consistent lobbying to Government on the benefits of sport. Having one campaign that captures it all.
Establishing meaningful benefits for sport volunteers – off sets, bonuses, honorariums, tax breaks, access to community facilities and/or service. Having an organization manage this.
Education and promotional campaign aimed to teach parents about supporting kids in sport in a positive way – How to be a good sports parent.
Sport Plan to ensure the key points of accessibility, no gaps, no financial barriers, succession planning, recruiting and maintaining volunteers, coaches and officials – bringing it all together in our region.
Bringing athletes together on a regular basis.
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