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Winners and losers
Wednesday August 20 2008
 
Now that Canada has passed the powerhouse nations of Mongolia and Togo in the medal standings at the Beijing Olympics, we hope the national hand-wringing about the state of our amateur athletic program ceases.
At this writing, Canada had a total of 13 medals, which was good enough for 17th place. Four years ago in Athens the Canuck squad placed 21st with 12 medals (three gold, six silver and three bronze). With the potential of more medals to come, Beijing is not the disaster some were predicting earlier in the Games.
With Canada’s slow march to the medal podium, the airwaves were burning with various opinions about  amateur athletics in this country and how they are funded. Some pundits were questioning whether taxpayers should even continue to fund amateur athletics if our “personal best” times were only good enough for an 18th place finish. Others argued more money— much more— is needed for better results.
Certainly, with child obesity rates skyrocketing, supporting amateur athletes would seem to serve a higher social purpose.
However, perhaps a simple change in mindset for our athletes would also prove beneficial. A common refrain heard from Canadian athletes at these Games was their enjoyment at “just taking part” in the Olympics— no anger at finishing fourth, no disappointment that a personal best left them in 16th place.
Perhaps this “oh, well” attitude is a result of recent trends to not focus on winning and losing when it comes to minor sports. Minor soccer clubs and ball leagues often don’t even keep scores in games for their younger players so there are no “winners and losers”.
It’s a puzzling way of operating. Sports is about winning and losing— it is a competition. Young kids can, contrary to some people’s beliefs, deal with being on a team that lost to a better squad without suffering irreparable psychological damage.
A child’s psyche is very malleable at the age of six and a loss in a soccer game will be forgotten by the time the team goes for a post-game ice cream cone. In the meantime, that youngster will have learned an important life lesson— that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
Just like our Olympians.