I think it is important for you to understand why I see a value in sport before I continue and pick it apart. Obesity rates are though the roof over the last ten years or so. It is now said that there is an obesity gene even ( I wonder where that gene was hiding the last hundred years before drive throughs were developed)! I don't want to split hairs here, as it is quite possible that there is such a gene and even if there is such a gene, where was it before this huge growth in obese people? As I have mentioned before, we are not nearly as active as we once were, couple this with poor diet and education with a sprinkle of laziness and you have yourself a fat sandwich. What does a fat gene have to do with sports you ask? Not much, I just like to go off on tangents....or wait....Is it possible if we encourage kids at a young age to be active theymay carry on with it later on in life? Activity can include mandatory physical education (in most elementary schools the kids get one to two hours of PE a week, [I've been in prisons with more options for physical education....just kidding, it wasn't physical education, it was just time in the yard] in secondary schools it is mandatory until grade ten and then it is an elective in the senior levels). It can include family ski, snowboard, hiking trips, anything! We live in the most beautiful city in the world and the kids spend so much time on facebook or texting that the lack of natural light may turn them into vampires. I will continue on with the PE curriculum in a future article and I promise no more tangents from here on...

Youth Sport (5-12 years old)

For most of us over the age of 30, we grew up on playgrounds and playing community soccer, swimming, hockey etc. There were not nearly as many options 15+ years ago as there are today. Kids are involved in soccer schools, mini rugby (go capilano's), hockey, swimming and diving, GSL football, Tae Kwon Do (this is a great development sport for discipline and coordination-If you want info on this, Tony Kook of North Shore Tae Kwon Do is an amazing instructor and motivator of kids), mini-wrestling and the list goes on and on. All of which are a great segway into high school or club level sport. As a coach, I have seen the development of skills increase exponentially in all sport over the last ten years because of these age graded programs. Canadian coaches have identified that as a country we need to have our athletes involved in sport at a young age to develop a fundamental skill set. Although we are on the right track for increasing the level of playing with other countries, we are still lacking in several key departments. The main concern I have asa coach and strength coach is that we are being held back by the bureaucracy of sport (I will touch on this later). Even at this age level I hear of teams being tarnished by coaches and administrators that are more concerned with elevating their levels in the chain of command than the kids and sports in general. This development level should be about one thing-FUNdamentals with an emphasis on fun. I can't tell you how many kids I have seen burn out on their sport because they have been pushed so hard by coaches and parents to succeed that they forget why they started playing the sport in the first place. A little side note-I have quitea few clients with children involved in sport at this level. The horror stories I here of parents backstabbing each other, other teams and their associations is atrocious! If you have your kid in sport at these ages and are thinking that competition is the most important aspect, you are about 5 years to early (if you are thinking your kid is going to become a professional athlete you are also way to early)! Don't forget, we are trying to develop these kids as good citizens as well as build a platform for a future in sport if they are gifted enough to pursue it at a higher level or at the very least build a base of building good habits such as exercising and taking care of yourself.

Teen Sport (like the deodorant-13-17 years old)

This is the age where kids start to compete at a level that actually resembles sport. The emphasis is still on FUNdamentals but there is more pressure on increasing skill and the competitive nature of it. Many of our young athletes are involved in several high school teams as well as several club teams in different sports. I think at this level, the kids must be encouraged to play at least two different sports for several reasons: they must socialize with other kids, most sport skills have transfer to their favorite sport (volleyball compliments basketball, track and wrestling compliment football and rugby etc) and most importantly we can help to avoid burnout. It is not possible for a kid to over train at this level unless they are spending more than 20+ hours a week on their sport, but the cumulative affect of playing a sport year round can lead to burnout (similar to over training, but not as harsh). During this age, we want to encourage the athletes to become involved with a basic strength and conditioning program that will aid in preventing injuries, develop base technique for more advanced movements, increase body awareness and athleticism and to help increase performance in all of their sports. The parental nightmare may continue at this level as well because there is more emphasis on winning by coaches and associations. The problem lies when a parent is mis-led by coaches or other parents telling them how great their child is. Please keep in mind-if your child is a successful athlete at the high-school level that does not guarantee a full ride scholarship or pro-contract! The best thing a parent can do is research a little about the sport before determining their kid is the best in the world. At one low point in my coaching career, our staff was forced to kick a kid off the football team because he was not showing up to practice and lacked the discipline needed to be on our team. The next day, his mother came in screaming to the head coach that this is unacceptable and her kid deserves a 73rd chance. Her biggest reasoning for enabling her kid to continue on being a failure was that we were jeopardizing her child's chance at becoming a pro athlete. Her kid was a 5′5", 120 lb linebacker on the junior football team. When I played in college, our smallest linebacker was 6′2", 230 lbs. Now, unless she knew her child was going to grow into a freak of nature, I'm pretty sure she was mis-informed as to her child's chances at playing football outside of high school.

Post Secondary Sport (18-23 years old)

By this time, the athlete has most likely chosen a path for sport that they will focus on over the next 4-10 years plus. Athletes may become involved with club teams, college and university teams or fast tracked into a national program (most involve school). At this age the athlete should be training a minimum of 20+ hours per week (including practice, skill sessions, meetings, therapy, strength and conditioning and competitions). As a university football player, I could count on a minimum of 30+ hours per week (not including school) during the season and about 15-20 during the off-season. This may seem like a lot, but this is what it takes to compete at a high level of sport. Unfortunately, in Canada, many of our national level athletes do not have enough funding to train this much. For the most part, our carded athletes receive $1500 per month which is what they are expected to live off (carding will also pay for most of their schooling and it can be retroactive). For many, this doesn't include the freebies I had and the access I had to strength and conditioning, team doctors and surgeons, physio and massage therapy etc. Most of our national programs do not have the ability to fund the athletes any more than this. I will give you the case of Mandy (my ex and best friend). She is a carded athlete and represents two Canadian national teams (both 15 and 7 a side rugby). Even though she is on two teams, she only receives one carding cheque, but gets the benefit of paying to play for two teams (sarcasm). Paying? What? Weird? Not only has she represented Canada at two world cups, she has had to pay her way for the majority of it. Because Canada is such a large land mass, it is not cheap for any of our national programs to train as a team very often. On average she travels 2 months per year and 3-5 months per year on world cup year. Because of the travel, many of these athletes are unable to hold a professional job or attend school. So not only do some of them pay their way, they lose wages or miss out on school as well. Most employers are not too keen on having an employee that must come and go for their country to succeed in sport. For those of you that are unaware of the dedication of some of these athletes I will put Mandy's schedule into perspective (it could be any of our elite athletes for that matter, but I know this one well). Work as a landscaper Monday to Friday (very physical), go home and eat, go to the gym 3 times per week, train with club or provincial team 2-3 times per week with one game on weekends, condition and field work 3 times per week, tours all summer long with one in November plus weekend camps all year round. As glamourous as it seems for the huge pay cheque-it becomes tough to be competitive at this level when your competition does not have to hold a job and is paid to train all year round (and both our women's rugby teams still manage to stay competitive and are top 4 in the world!) So when people complain why Canada sucks at the Olympics and world championships in certain sports, you might think twice about what these athletes are going through. Now, don't get me wrong, not all of our national programs are like this. Funding varies from sport to sport-this is where the bureaucracy comes in. Sport Canada funds athletes via the carding system-this is not much-but it's better than nothing. Unfortunately though, there is not the same pressure on all teams/athletes to train as Mandy and some of her team mates do. Some of our athletes don't put near the effort she or many of our other athletes put in. Some athletes are even carded by default! Each sport has a number of cards allowable. In some of the individual sports, athletes get carding based on their national ranking and world ranking. I don't mind this, but we are carding athletes that are ranked 50th+ in the world and second in Canada because there is only two people in their sport. At this level, it is important to have fun (for your sanity), but it is about winning-nothing else! It is great that we give equal opportunity to certain sports, but does an athlete that does nothing to better themselves deserve the same money as one that trains and dedicates their life to their sport? I say a NOOOOOOOOOOO! I look at what I did to my body for my scholarship and I was just representing my university. Some of these national team athletes put their bodies through similar things I did for their country, but the difference was-if I got injured on Saturday and needed to see a surgeon-I was in surgery the next morning. I know of many national team athletes that are waiting or have waited to see specialists and surgeons just as you or I would. Now, if our goal is just to be mediocre at sport, this is fine-but for those of you that complain about results-keep in mind that a university athlete will be in and out of medical situation and playing before some of our athletes even get an appointment.

So how do we as a country further elite athletes? To start-we set a common goal that we want to win and will have a support system that can facilitate this. One of the most amazing things about playing in the States was the support from the community and university. Every trip that we travelled there would be 55 athletes, 10 coaches, 6 medical staff, 2 strength coaches, 2 PR people, the athletic director, 4 video techs and about 40-50 more boosters of the program. There wasn't one person on the plane or in the city for that matter that didn't support the team fully. As athletes, we also knew the boosters first names, what they did and how they supported us. I work with several national programs and don't know anyone other than the athletes, the coaches and maybe the therapists. Some programs are better than others, but we still have a long way to go. We also have to support these athletes financially. I have no problem with the carding system, but we need outside help from communities to raise funds for athletes. One of the coolest things I have seen was the support from Port Alberni for Travis Cross (Olympic Wrestler), the community worked together to raise funds for him, his co-workers at the fire hall covered shifts for him so he could get paid, the local wrestling club paid for a training partner to move there so he had a partner to train with and it goes on. I know one of the toughest things Mandy has faced is trying to get sponsorship so she can train full time or close to it without having to do slave labor. How does an adult ask for money so they can represent their country? It's not like a high school kid going on a sport trip doing a manure drive! I think we need to have major corporations help with jobs (some already do) and we need to find people passionate about a particular sport or sport in general that would like to sponsor these athletes either with a job or financially. In the states, the athletes make a living (some quite a good living) or they work for a major corporation that pays them to work 20 hours per week and they are showcased so that patrons may offer help for them as well. I apologize for the length of this, but I think it's important for people to know some of the sacrifices some of our athletes make to wear the maple leaf on their chest. If you have any questions about anything from the development level (where to go to get your child involved) to the elite level (how you can help). Please email me at jmccullum@level10fitness.ca. I know of some great coaches in the area and I know a great landscaper/gardener that is available (most of these athletes have a work ethic like you have never seen).

My final thoughts: Sport is my passion and I feel it is one of the best possible ways to keep kids off the streets, instill discipline, socialization, improve fitness levels and drop obesity rates. For sport to succeed in Canada, we need support from everyone. It doesn't have to be monetary donations. Any support helps when nothing is really in place, being a fan, watching their competitions, offering employment, businesses offering product etc. I get comments daily from clients about how much they love watching these athletes train in the same facility. These athletes bring an energy that is not seen at other gyms. Next time you work out at the same time our elite athletes are in, say hi, tell them you are proud that they are working so hard to represent their country. I know they would appreciate any support, even if it's as simple as saying "Great work"!

I am off to Japan for the U-20 World Championships of rugby at the end of the week. This will be the topic of my next blog. I am looking forward to the trip and our boys have been training hard for it. When it is all said and done, they will have been away from their families for 7 weeks out of the last 3 months.
GO CANADA!!!!

Yours in Strength,
Joe McCullum