Not at all surprised that my friend David posted this story. For those of us who have been watching the ongoing drama unfolding in our country for the past year or so, the comments in this article are neither surprising nor uplifting.
Let me state a few things for the record:
1. We live in a litigious society, so much so that National Sport Organizations (NSO’s) and governing bodies’ first response is always to close ranks and deny responsibility.
2. NSO’s in our country seem to have evolved to prioritize the elite stream over everything else. This of course is aided by programs that incentivize winning. (I am acutely aware of how many medals we won in the ’22 winter games vs. the ’88 games)
The fact that so many are playing the money card is disappointing if for no other reason than that monetizes athlete safety. Nobody denies change is necessary, but to excuse away responsibility because you can’t afford it isn’t a acceptable answer from a leader.
Our NSO leaders need to work at turning these challenges into opportunities. Maybe my friends Sheldon and Wayne from Respect Group should become partners with the federal government so that Respect in Sport and Respect in the Workplace is available to all and is a minimum standard for participation in sport. Is it a perfect plan or idea, I doubt it but at least it is an idea.
What do we expect from our sports managers when they have come up in a system that was really never asked hard questions and when they were, always chose to cover up and hide the truth. Hockey Canada is proof of that, they were convinced that they got to write the rules and weren’t accountable to anybody until they were.
How many real leaders do we have we had recently in sports? The answer is a lot actually, but they’re constantly in the shadow of those who have been protected by a system that constantly cries poor when it comes time to clean up its act.
Here is a simple test for your NSO leadership, what is their first reaction when hearing about an abuse complaint from an athlete?
A. Are they ok, how can we help them?
B. Have we talked to our lawyer yet?
My belief is 9/10 it’s B. Please refer back to my two points at the beginning of this post.
The system is broken and the first thing we worry about is the money, “How much is this scandal going to cost Hockey Canada in sponsorship dollars”?
Let’s start with leaders, you want to change the system then let’s prioritize leadership. Create them, train them, foster them, and then let them lead. Sometimes leaders are going to have to say and do things that we don’t like, but they don’t shrink from that responsibility.
Started talking about NSO’s and I will leave you with this if you go to https://nso.olympic.ca/ which is the National NSO Sharing Center you will see Governance as the #1 topic and Safe Sport #2. Rest my case.