Believe
“There is a certain pressure knowing that Canadians everywhere will be watching, but I have to see it the other way. It is more like Canada will be supporting me, proud of how hard I’ve worked and my journey.” Justine Dufour-Lapointe
Canada provides us with a good example of this in their article later on in this issue where they describe their competition review process and how it resulted in a restructuring of the schedule to keep more young athletes playing throughout the entire season (see page 20). Jennifer Heil also believes in a system that allows athletes to grow through sport. Whatever their development pathway, sport should be available to athletes regardless of age or stage. When it comes to athletes entering the competitive stages, her advice to the sport system is to find ways of maintaining the joy and excitement of the sport, especially as the competition gets more intense and the
F R AFNRÇAANI ÇS A I S
challenges get greater. As developing athletes move from the participant to the competitor it is up to the system and the programming to enable them not to lose the joy in sport that inspired them to start up in the first place. As Jennifer Heil says in a interview with the National Post, she says, for athletes “it’s a very fine line between managing the outcome and managing your performance”.
help our athletes achieve the success they dream of. In the words of our Olympic gold medalist, Justine DufourLapointe: “There is a certain pressure knowing that Canadians everywhere will be watching, but I have to see it the other way. It is more like Canada will be supporting me, proud of how hard I’ve worked and my journey.” u
In the end it up to all of us – the coaches, the family and friends, the sport programming – to support our athletes in achieving their goals. At a time when medals are often the measure of success, using the framework of support through programming, skill development and goal setting will
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