News on Montreal 2005 World Aquatic Championships

The 2005 FINA Championships are now over and it was quite a success. Yes they are announcing a preliminary loss of 4 millions dollars with 160 000 tickets sold out of the 210 000. But we should consider that on January 19 of this year, the original organization was going nowhere and FINA removed the games from Montreal and was considering giving them to Barcelona, Athens, or Munich. People involved in the organization were closed to the actual Canadian government and all the corruption that was going on with this government and these people didn't have any experience in organizing a major event like this. The director of the committee even killed himself a few days later leaving a note saying: "One day, you will know who the real persons who caused this fiasco". So needless to say that everything was in deep sh... Local athletes like Alexandre Despaties who were training for months in the expectation of this one-in-a-lifetime chance of performing in front of their home crowd were discouraged about this news.

But Montreal's mayor, Gerald Tremblay, didn't say his last word. He fought back and convinced the FINA that Montreal 2005 will be a success and finally recovered the organization. Some say he could have step up sooner but, you know, late is better than never. At this point, there was only 4 months left before the championships and everything to do. So he put in place a new committee with big names on top like Normand Legault, president of the Formula One race in Montreal, and Rene Guimond from the late baseball team Montreal Expos who are now the Washington Nationals, thanks the SOBs that run the MLB (but that's another story ;-D).

Anyway, the rest is history. The organizing committee did a miracle and mayor Tremblay got a standing ovation in the opening and closing ceremonies which is very rare for a politician who usually get booed or, at the best, ignored ;-)

Canada did very well with a history record of 10 medals (3 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze) and a 5th place behind USA,Australia, China and Russia. They did very well because honestly I was only expecting 3 medals: 2 from Alexandre Despaties and the other from Emily Heymans. Alexandre Despaties did his job brilliantly by winning gold in both 1m and 3m boards and becoming the first diver in history to win world championships in the 3 events as he was already the world champion in the 10m platform. He didn't compete in the 10m this year because of a back injury... luckily for his opponents ;-)

It didn't go that well for Emily Heymans who finished 4th at the 3m board. Which brings me to talk about home crowd advantage... or disadvantage. While Despaties admitted that the cheering of the crowd pushed him to give a little more, did Heymans suffered from this pressure? Looks like it. Athletes can hardly tell how they would react in front of 8000 or 10000 people cheering for them because that is a thing they never practice. But looking at these championships, I have to admit that most of the 10 Canadian medals were won... by the crowd. Yeah, of course, the athletes did the job but they were energized by these thousands of people cheering for them during and between events. They had the help of a legal steroid: cheers ;-)

Let's take for example the biggest love affair of these championships: the women water-polo team. There first game was against Italy, the Athens Olympic champions. They won this game in front of a sell-out crowd. Later, in quarter-finals against Greece, they were loosing by 4 goals but, again, with the energy of the crowd, they came back and finally won in overtime. They would hardly be able to do that if the game was played in another country. Finally, there only lost happened in the semi-finals against the eventual champions, Hungary, and they ended up with the bronze medal.

And what about these guys from the swiming relay teams who showed up at the pool with a Montreal Canadiens hockey jersey, driving the crowd crazy, 'en route' to 2 silver medals in front of... the Australian swimmers????

Having people believing in them is a great motivation for athletes and it sure is the same thing for your own kid. Think about that. Some might choke under the pressure but most will perform. You can never practice your reaction in front of a home crowd of thousands but family and friends at the soccer field is a good start ;-)

4 millions dollars of deficit? I think it is rather an investment in our youth. In the next weeks, there will be hundreds of young boys in the Montreal region enrolling in the diving clubs to be like Alexandre. There will be hundreds of young girls enrolling in water-polo clubs to be like Anne Dow and Johanne Begin. Now the next challenge for mayor Tremblay will be to keep alive the heritage of these games. We lost almost all the sports installations of the '76 Olympic Games; don't let it happen to these installations. If they succeed to do that, then the 4 millions dollars will be a great investment in our youth. 4 millions dollars is 1/10 of 1% of the overall budget of Montreal... but it is a lot of money for our kids.

Great job Mayor Tremblay!

 

Montreal: host of the XI FINA World Championships

My hometown, Montreal, is hosting the world championships of aquatic sports. 5 sports: diving, swimming, synchronized swimming, water polo, and wild water swimming. This is the biggest sport event here since the 1976 Olympic Games. I am saying this because I just witnessed the incredibly great opening ceremonies and I said to myself "Wow, this is material for my blog readers" :-)

The opening ceremonies were presented by Le Cirque du Soleil. Couldn't be any other way since Le Cirque IS Montreal. But what was even greater is that they used, for this show, over 260 young athletes from swimming, diving, water polo and synchronizing swimming clubs of the region. What a thrill of a lifetime it was for these kids. They trained between 50 and 110 hours with Le Cirque trainers, coaches, producers for this one-time show. 99% of them will probably never make it to the world championships as athletes but they will remember forever the day they did this show.

Very often we hear people complaining about the costs of these major sporting events. Heck, people are still complaining about the costs of the Olympic Games... 30 years after. But you know what? At the time of these games, I was 13 and I remember every day like if it was yesterday. Every morning, I remember sitting with my father, looking at the day's events and choosing which one we were going to see. The greatest time I had with my father. And I hope the FINA World Championships will have the same effect on kids today. I will certainly bring my daughters to some events.

Yes, we can argue that the money might be better used in healthcare. But sometimes, as a society, we need to look further than just the plus and minus column of the budget spreadsheet. We need to look at the positive effect that this kind of event has on people. $1 invested in sports today will save $10 in healthcare in the future.

Stay tuned as I will keep you informed on what will happen during these championships.

 

When to start a sport?

Your young daughter is doing cartwheels in her room and already broke 3 lamps?

She's using your new sofa as a trampoline?

Your young boy is kicking the soccer ball on the house wall and it cost you a bay window?

Or you are just a parent who thinks that sport is a good thing for young children?

Whatever the reason is, you are now faced with helping your daughter or son make some important decisions. Which sport is the right sport for my child? Is my child too young to become involved in competitive sports? Which program or coach in my community will provide the best possible experience for my child? There are no simple answers to these questions because each child is unique and the decisions must match the child. Let me try to give you some guidelines.

It's not easy to determine how early to start in organized sports. Children of the same age vary considerably in their physical and psychological maturation, and there is no practical method of measuring maturity. Assuming the child has shown interest, three or four is generally a good age for organized sports. Of course, it depends of the sport. While swimming lessons can be taken at 3 months old, kayaking needs a little more maturity ;-)

At the early ages participation should be limited to sports that involve a lot of physical activity and encourage the development of major motor muscles. Sports like gymnastic, soccer, swimming are good examples. Contact/collision sports are not a good choice for young children.

Children benefit most from games that are modified to meet their needs and abilities. Play and fun are more important to this age group than highly structured sports that emphasize the outcome rather than the process. Parents and coaches are usually the ones concerned about winning and losing. When helping your child select a sport, keep balance in mind. Encourage your children to try many sports and activities when young and not to think of specializing or playing competitively until they reach middle school. Make sure a balance also occurs between adult organized activities and free playtime. Children need time to just be kids and to play with other kids without a set of rules or adult involvement.

The most important decisions to make, are which youth sports organizations and which coaches are best for your child. Make sure that you take the time to find out about the organization, its leaders and coaches. Ask them to describe the philosophy that guides their program. For example, is it win-loss focused or skill learning focused. What is the experience and training background of the coaches? Go visit the facilities, watch a training session and/or a game. Good organizations will always be happy to answer your questions and they can even offer you a free session with no obligation.

Participating in sports is a healthy way, both physically and socially, for your children to channel their youthful energy in a positive direction. Make sure your children's first experience encourages them to begin a lifelong interest in physical activities and good health.