Improving CDN Distance running in the new decade

[saskatchewan]

Given the great discussion in 2009 on this board relating to the state of CDN competitive distance running, and the great initiatives already shown through new X-C and track opportunities launched by participants here, i thought i'd start a thread where we can specifically discuss practical ways we (excluding a handout from the government) can improve competitive distance running in Canada in the next decade.

So, if anyone is interested, i propose we begin (or perhaps more appropriately renew) the discussion. Hopefully we can get new members participating as well as the regulars.

For my part, my first proposal is that we seek greater local media attention by submitting articles on our local athletes to the local media (print, TV, on-line, etc). I fiirmly believe that a lack of self promotion is really hurting our sport. We have lots of great athletes, so lets get out there and promote them, rather then just complaining about the lack of coverage of the sport. In my experience, other sports such as mountain biking seem to do a much better job of self promotion and we can likely learn a lot from them.

There is my $.02.

[dman]

This will be an exciting decade for Canadian Distance Running when people throw their support behind initiatives, certain coaches and/or community leaders that consistently identify themselves as passionate about our sport.

Look for the coaches who are improving themselves and their programs, train with them. Look for events that are raising money or awareness, attend them. If you have a talent in writing or videography then USE it and help these causes...band together!

Look for Mr. Carson when he puts on events in Cambridge and Toronto, visit Speed River, or atleast their website, the Brooks Marathon Project, London Runner, and thank these people for their dedication.

When you are doing something good for track & field let others know about it, they will support you over time.

Here is a project we are building up in London
(shameless self promotion):
londondistancefund.wordpress.com/

Come to the event this year if you can, and don't miss 2011 to help us celebrate our 5th anniversary!! We hope to grow this in a BIG way over the next five to ten years. Look for updated info soon.

Thank you TNF members who have sent cheques in the past, they are greatly appreciated!

Dennis Mazajlo

[journeyman]

Jan 8, 2010 22:58:40 GMT -5 jeffarcher said:

Thats a great idea, I don't know much about it but it would be great to see the sport develop into something as competitive as hockey or soccer, I think Canada has real potential to have top of the line distance runners.
Since I don't know much about the topic this was more of a bump to get people going.

I think it is important to figure out what our goals are. The difference between hockey and running right now at a very basic level is that hockey is a spectator sport, and running is a participation sport. Spectator sports make money, participation sports do not, at least not for the participants. I guess another way to put it is hockey is a professional sport and running is an amateur sport. Whether or not Canada is successful as a hockey nation is related to professional success is another story. I suspect that the strong amateur segment of hockey is what fuels the top level success. Professional hockey players only started making a ton of money in the last, what, maybe 20 years? Prior to that, well, you can google the stories of pension plan fraud etc. Before you can professionalize you need a thriving, teeming, overflowing amateur system.

So it seems to me that the best way to achieve high level success is to put running back in the schools. It used to be that cross country and track were something every single school kid had to do (cross country at least). I don't know every provinces' education system but I'm pretty sure this is no longer the case. There needs to be a through-line through physical education. It needs to have some element of talent identification, but not too specific. The LTAD plan is a pretty good description of how it should go, I think. The problem is the numbers. If physical education programs are being cut, only the weird loner kids try out for cross country (if they have a team at all) and some of the kids who are naturally talented, who would be successful at anything, find success in other sports and don't look to running as an option.

I think the best thing we can do for the future of Canadian high level distance running is lobby governments and school boards to put phys ed higher on the priority list, and get volunteers "coaching" cross country in elementary schools and high schools. I put "coaching" in quotation marks because there doesn't need to be serious sport science people doing this. A good youth coach encourages fun and healthy living. That's the kind of coaching that will keep kids in the game.

I don't think we lack good coaches. I think coaches lack athletes. Why was my high school team dominant in the 70s-80s-90s? Because we had 70 boys on our team every year. Why is Canada so good at hockey? Because there are so many kids who play. It's all about numbers. That's also why the USA competes at pretty much every sport. Numbers.

We can talk about creating a spectacle, or professionalizing the sport, or trying to keep our high level coaches, or funding cross country national teams, or junior teams for that matter, but without the depth at the school level, we'll end up short. Force elite level support from the bottom up. Only after we have ingrained the principles of the sport in our young people can we justify supporting the top end.

So what can you do? Volunteer to coach at an elementary or high school. That is probably the best thing anyone can do to help promote our sport.