If you run a sport in Canada, Thursday was a good day and Friday should be a busy one.
asserted
Friday → run → Canada
In June, national sports organizations across the country made wish lists and plans for new funding.
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organizations → make → funding
Thursday, they found out what they received.
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they → find → what
In a year that is reshaping Canada’s sports system, the federal government added $60 million to the $90 million of core funding for sports organizations.
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government → reshape → organizations
That $90 million had been frozen since before the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, had been eroded by inflation, and had been getting sliced thinner and thinner as more and more sports became eligible for the pie.
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sports → freeze → pie
Thursday, the word transformational was thrown around a lot.
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word → throw → ?
“It’s a little bit like asking somebody that’s been eating a half a baked potato for the last two years if they want to have a steak,” said Nathan Bombrys, the CEO of Rugby Canada, which went from $2.16 million to nearly $5 million.
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which → ’ → million
“It’s great.
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It → ’ → ?
In the scheme of like global sport ... it’s not going to solve every problem.
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it → go → problem
“(But) we were really, really finding it difficult to put the Canadian national team on a field in a way that is appropriate.
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that → find → way
We use an analogy, gold-silver-bronze, and we’ve pretty much been operating in bronze.”
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we → use → bronze
Small sports largely got proportionately larger increases: surfing (up 335 per cent to $435,000), pentathlon (up 156 per cent to $320,500), and handball (up a sport-leading 552 per cent to $521,500), among others.
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sports → get → others
“You give us opportunity, you give me a shoelace, and I’ll turn it into a belt if I have to,” said Adam Higgins, the interim executive director and head coach of Canada Skateboard, which went from $297,000 to $1.12 million.
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which → give → million
“That’s how resourceful we are.
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we → ’ → ?
I’ve been trying to service and run an entire sport organization with one and a half people.
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I → try → people
The opportunity to actually enact our vision, and our dreams are becoming more of a reality.”
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dreams → enact → reality
Alpine skiing, snowboard — the biggest increase, at $2.84 million — basketball, soccer, rugby, canoe/kayak, and speed skating all got increases of over $2 million.
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skiing → get → million
Swimming — one of the two biggest federations, along with athletics — received just a 16 per cent bump to $7.8 million, the lowest percentage increase of any sport, but could ask for more in the future.
uncertain
Swimming → receive → future
“It is very positive, both from what it signals about the priority of sport in Canada, and for what it will actually do for NSOs,” said Kevin Blue, the CEO of Canada Soccer, who had not received an official confirmation of his sport’s funding increase as of Thursday afternoon.
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who → signal → afternoon
Different sports asked for different things, and not everyone got everything they asked for.
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they → ask → everything
But this was a rising tide, lifting all boats.
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this → rise → boats
“These were dream aspirations; what we would do if we had access to more money, finally,” said secretary of state Adam van Koeverden in an interview.
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Koeverden → do → interview
“You really saw the ambition of these organizations shine through in those applications.”
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ambition → see → applications
If Canada overindexed on high-performance sport in the 15 years post-2010 — by the Milan Olympics, three-quarters of Canada’s Olympians were 30 or older — the most difficult part of Canada’s Playground To Podium approach will be the goal of increasing low-cost sport participation, which is now a key part of NSO application criteria.
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which → overindexe → criteria
It’s critical, however, to the idea that an elite sports system can both co-exist and be bolstered by a healthier overall system.
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system → ’ → system
The Canadian Olympic Committee issued its urgent call for more funding in February at the close of the Milan Olympics,
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Committee → issue → Olympics
In March, the Future of Sport in Canada Commission was delivered by former Ontario chief justice Lise Maisonneuve.
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Commission → deliver → Maisonneuve
In April, van Koeverden announced a $755-million investment over five years, plus $118 million per year, on top of the then-annual budget of $210 million.
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Koeverden → announce → million
Monthly payments to the approximately 1,900 federally funded high-performance athletes were increased.
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payments → fund → athletes
National sports federations and organizations were asked to reapply for increased federal funding in June.
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federations → ask → June
Now, every NSO in the country can start planning expanded operations.
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NSO → start → operations
Infrastructure and hosting will be a part of the picture, and there needs to be accountability for how the money is spent.
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money → need → picture
The federal government hopes that more robust funding will de-risk sports and encourage more corporate support, as well.
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funding → hop → support
After years of creativity, austerity, and gradual decline, there is no excuse for the Canadian sports system not to feel energized right now.
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system → be → creativity
When asked what gaps the organization had been filling before — high performance, or grassroots participation, or junior teams, etc. — Bombrys said, simply, “everything.”
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Bombrys → ask → everything
Then, he named his goals: to get more kids inspired and playing, to improve the sports experience at all levels, to make Canada proud on the international stage.
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Canada → name → stage
“This is not the end; this is the start of that journey,” said Bombrys.
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Bombrys → say → journey
“And I think that’s good for the country.”
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that → think → country
The Aporia
