Women's game needs a "navigator" to help cause

  

There's no question that women's hockey is going to have to get creative and aggressive in trying to create more equality in the game.

The players acknowledged as much on the weekend at the Clarkson Cup Championship, their version of the Stanley Cup. (That's the Minnesota Whitecaps celebrating above after their 4-0 win over the Brampton Thunder. Photo: Rick Eglinton)

American veteran Jenny Potter is right when she says the International Ice Hockey Federation needs to step to the plate in aiding the cause. It's doubtful that IIHF boss Rene Fasel wants to hand out one less set of medals at the Winter Games.

The IIHF and the women might want to examine what one man has been trying to do in international speed skating to lift up the have-not nations.

Dutch entrepreneur Marnix Wieberdink and his company Sport Navigator.nl recently announced they'd hired Canadian speed skating great Jeremy Wotherspoon for an international speed skating academy that will open in spring of 2011 in Inzell, Germany.

This academy is just the latest step in Wieberdink's campaign to try to build speed skating beyond the traditional powers. Like women's hockey, the sport has a small power base. It includes the Dutch, Canadians, Americans and Germans.

There's a whole bunch of smaller speed skating nations that don't have a prayer and Wieberdink has been trying to help give them one by supplying equipment and other essentials. He also has a travelling bus in Europe that has a place for them to warm up and warm down and also just chill out.

Wotherspoon was one of the skaters signed up by Sport Navigator.nl for its roster of sponsored athletes. He agreed to take half the amount of money he could get elsewhere for one of the logo spots on his racing suit so that he could help support speed skating's third world countries.

The idea of the academy – Wieberdink is converting a hospital in Inzell – is that athletes from the fringe speed skating countries will be able to get the coaching, medical, pyschological and other means of support that their peers from the major speed skating nations get regularly.

Somehow, a similar navigator needs to be found for the struggling women's hockey nations.

Clarkson Cup this weekend features top women's hockey Olympians

Now that the smoke has blown over in that whole kerfuffle over the Canadian women's hockey team's post Olympic gold celebration, people are having some fun with it.

Many of the players went to a Cuban resort for a holiday afterwards and found vacationing Canadians there who were quick to offer up a Cuban cigar.

“It's kind of become a bit of a joke,” said veteran forward Jayna Hefford. “The way it came out in the media, it was a little bit unfair. Now, we've had so much support from people from that situation, especially Canadians who've had no problem with what happened. Now, it has become a bit of a joke and people like to come by with cigars and offer them up. But none of us are smokers.”

There's a great opportunity this weekend to see many of the Canadian Olympians in action this weekend at the Scotiabank Clarkson Cup Championship in Richmond Hill, including Gillian Apps, Jennifer Botterill, Caroline Ouellette, Marie-Philip Poulin and goalie Kim St. Pierre.

There will be a chance to see some Olympic gold medals and collect some autographs, as well as skate with some players from the Canadian Women's Hockey League before Sunday afternoon's final.

A sellout is expected Elgin Barrows Arena in Richmond Hill, which seats around 1,500 or so (See details below)

There will be a ceremony on Saturday celebrating the Olympic players, both Canadian and American.

“What I'm most excited about is we can honour the Olympians who put so much into our league like the Jayna Heffords and Jennifer Botterills and show them that their peers are really proud of what they have accomplished,” said former Olympian Sami Jo Small, goalie for the Mississauga Chiefs and a league organizer. “We can show the hockey community this is where they play, this is where they hone their skills for the three years between the Games.

“The thing about the league is we work together to make it what it is. Nobody complains. Everybody tries to make a difference and tries to make it the best it can possibly be. Ultimately, we want to play hockey.”

What: Scotiabank Clarkson Cup Championship

When: Saturday, March 27

12pm – Montreal Stars vs Brampton Thunder

4pm – Minnesota Whitecaps vs Mississauga Chiefs

Sunday, March 28

1pm – Skate with the Canadian Women's Hockey League

3pm – Championship Game

Where: Elgin Barrows Arena, 43 Church Street South, Richmond Hill

Tickets: Saturday $10, Sunday $15, both days $20 (tickets available at arena or email cwhled@owha.on.ca)

Clara Hughes: Retired but definitely not sitting around

No moss gathering under Clara Hughes' feet since she retired.

Maybe a bit of ice forming, though, especially on a recent trip to Nunavik where the speed skating legend visited former NHLer Joey Juneau's program to help Inuit kids, played a little shinny, and did some dogsledding. (The picture above is from Hughes' arrival at the airport)

Just before that, she'd flown from Vancouver to Moncton, N.B., at the last second to replace CBC's Rex Murphy as a keynote speaker at a fundraiser.

The next night, she and her fellow Olympians got feted by the Montreal Canadiens – looked good in a Habs' sweater, too.

“It was crazy,” said Hughes. “The crowd was just insane.”

Hughes was in town Tuesday, meeting with Right To Play founder Johan Olav Koss to talk about her future role with the charity and trying to drum up some publicity for their spring fundraising drive, where Mitsubishi is giving them $100 for every car that they sell in Canada through June. The campaign raised $1 million in its first two years.

It's clear the six-day trip to Nunavik has been the post-Games highlight so far for the six-time Olympic medalist. She struck up a friendship at the Olympics with Juneau, one of the assistant chef de missions for Canada.

“It was truly a remarkable experience,” she said. “It reminded me a lot of my trips to Africa with Right To Play. It was culturally so different and the people were so beautiful, just so much joie de vivre inside of them yet you know there are so many difficulties.”

Juneau's program incorporates all 14 villages in Nunavik and uses hockey as a tool to give them something positive. But the focus of the program is actually on school, as the kids need their grades at a certain level and a good attendance record to have the privilege of playing and practicing. The big carrot is an opportunity to compete in a tournament in Quebec City.

“When I was up there seeing how these programs are helping the communities and the young people, it's really powerful stuff,” said Hughes. “Joey is an amazing person. I feel really luck to call him my friend now. He's someone who's a visionary just like Johann Koss.”

There's also a neat tie-in moving forward. Right To Play has a pilot project planned for the fall with the Cree First Nation in Ontario, their first in Canada, which will also use hockey. The people putting the program together for Right To Play with be meeting with Juneau and Hughes in May.

Hughes is already in heavy demand as a public speaker and is looking to get some contract work, hopefully in broadcasting, so she's in a positive to be able to devote time to her causes.

“People keep saying 'You should do this. You should do that,'” she said. “I say 'You don't understand, I don't want a job.' I just want to have the time to be able to put energy into things that mean something to me. Right To Play's on the top of my list.”

Reliving the Olympics at the local barbershop

Speed skater Kristina Groves talked yesterday after winning a silver at the world allround championships about how it felt like the Olympics never happened, that she felt like she'd been through a Twilight Zone-like experience.

She's looking forward to getting back home to share her Olympic experiences with friends and family and school kids and the general public. But she also wants them to share their Olympic experiences with her, because she felt like she missed so much of it being in the competition bubble.

As a reporter covering the Games, I can certainly relate to that feeling. So it was nice to walk into the neighbourhood barbershop on the weekend have those Olympic memories come flooding back through some nice chats.

First, there was 10-year-old Jess in the barber's chair, having walked down to the shop by himself for the first time. A veritable sponge during the Games, this is a kid who actually reads the newspaper, though it's a bit disappointing to learn the newspaper of choice at home is the Globe and Mail. Hopefully, he becomes more discerning once he leaves home.

Jess admits to lamenting how Crosby wasn't producing enough one minute and then loving him the next when he scored the big goal. But he was absorbed a lot more than hockey. He became a fan of skeleton though couldn't fathom how Mellisa Hollingsworth could feel she let the country down.

“She was fourth, just one spot from the podium,” he said. “There were athletes who weren't even close or didn't make it to the Games.”

He was also enthralled with cross country skier Devon Kershaw's race in the men's 50 km, how he came so close to a medal in an exciting sprint at the end. He went on Kershaw's Facebook page to send him a note of encouragement, but was worried it might end up making him feel worse.

Then there's the barber, Mary Vinci, a real original and a true force of nature. Mary knows her hockey, is a huge Leaf fan – memorabilia is all over the shop -- and favours guys who play with an edge like her all-time favourites Doug Gilmour and Gary Roberts.

But it was the women's hockey team that won her heart in Vancouver. She had tears in her eyes talking about their victory. She said ti reminded her of when Ray Bourque finally got to carry the Stanley Cup. She bawled her eyes out then because she felt she was watching someone achieve their dream. She said she felt that same way watching the women.

She was upset about the fuss made about the champage and cigars.

“I don't care if they were smoking crack cocaine,” said Mary.

I suspect she would, but you get the strength of the feeling she has for that women's team.

Mary also gave a standing ovation in her living room during the opening ceremonies to every country that marched in with only one athlete. She thought that took remarkable courage. She mused on how it's a shame that wonderful feeling that existed during the Olympics couldn't last all year round. Amen to that.

Off for March break -- See you soon!

Streamlining will be the challenge for new sports body

The “2010 and Beyond” report was relcased yesterday by sports minister Gary Lunn's office (The full report can be found here and here's a short story on it in today's Star.)

The panel definitely makes the right call in the main thrust of the report, that an independent organization modeled on Own The Podium should be formed to guide high performance sport in this country.

Own The Podium was a temporary structure for the 2010 Games so something is needed going forward. OTP demonstrated its worth not just with the 14 gold medals won, but even more in helping many of the sports federations take big leaps forward in the way they are being run and also holding them more accountable. Those federations still need a lot of help not just to stay there but get even better.

It's understandable that new Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut wants to bring it all under their umbrella, but there's a huge concern about interference if the COC has all the power. There seem to still be two camps regarding Aubut – those who see him as the best thing to happen in Olympic sport and those who see him potentially as the worst.

His heart does seem to be in the right place, though, and a guy with his clout should hopefully prove a huge asset in the long run.

There is a lot of talk in the panel report about streamlining things and that's going to be the real trick in terms of moving forward. They recommend that anything Sport Canada has to do with high performance sport should be absorbed by this new organization, but what if those parts don't fit in well with the direction OTP is taking? The new organization should have the power to put their own people in those positions.

It also recommends that the rest of Sport Canada should still exist but now concentrate on the broader population. Doesn't Particpaction already do that? What happened to the streamlining part?

Alpine Medals Aren't Cheap: Alpine Canada took a lot of heat for the lack of medals at the Olympics – and deservedly so.

But while a lot of the critics took aim at the fact Alpine Canada received more OTP funding than any federation leading to the Games, the reality is that ski racing is the most cost intensive sport.

And those that would pull the funding from the team based on its Olympic performance don't realize how close the margins are in the sport – evidenced by Erik Guay's near miss in Whistler and subsequent two victories that brought him the country's first Crystal Globe in nearly three decades as an overall World Cup champion in super-G.

Maybe Guay will help fund the program. One insider said his Crystal Globe win will be worth well over $200,000 in bonuses.

Erik Guay Proves Skiing is a Mental Game

If you needed any further proof that ski racing is more a mental sport than anything, Erik Guay has provided it in the last week.

After going three seasons without a victory, Guay has just capped an incredible week, winning twice in super-G to capture the overall Crystal Globe as the World Cup champion in the event Thursday to go along with a third-place finish a day earlier in downhill.

The key to the turnaround, as Guay has described it, has come between the ears.

He's finally put himself in a place where he was comfortable taking the risks needed to win rather than staying within his comfort zone to ensure he'd make it down the hill.

Rest assured, making that transition is not easy. Some skiers never make it. It can be a very fine line and ending up on the wrong side of it is not pretty. It can be career ending.

But these are the struggles skiers go through.

It's a big reason why the Canadian women's ski team has struggled so badly since their one big season in 2007-08. It's been more mental than anything else, especially after all the crashes in this Olympic campaign.

They had the confidence that one year to ski on the edge and reaped the benefits by hitting the podium in all but one race that year. They've battled since then to find that form again with only the very occasional success.

That will be Guay's task now, to maintain that ability to ski on the edge, to show up with it again at the first World Cup next season. It's what defines the great skiers.

Some Olympic "Soul Food" Served on CBC's Tapestry

To get further insight into why we as a nation we were so touched by the recently completed Winter Olympics, I'd like to recommend listening to an edition of the CBC Radio program Tapestry that aired just as the Games were just getting started.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should say off the top that I'm married to the host of Tapestry, Mary Hynes.

But that's not the reason I'm giving it props. Having just listened to the show featuring Phil Cousineau, author of The Olympic Odyssey, the feeling here is that it will really resonate for those who really enjoyed the Games and are perhaps still wondering why they had such a profound effect on the country.

Among the things addressed by Cousineau and Hynes:

* Cousineau talks about how an athletic performance can rekindle the spark within people, remind them of the life force out there and wake them from the sleep that dulls them to the beauty and escstasy of life.

* The phenomenon of the participation mystique is discussed, how when someone watching a wonderful play or reading or an athletic performance when it's done well, can slip inside that performance.

* Cousineau mentions how his friend, former basketball star Sarunas Marciulionis, told him that friends and family in his native Lithuania sold family heirlooms, homes and land to buy satellitle dishes to watch them compete in the 1992 Olympic Games against Russia after they achieved their independence. “We're in a country that hardly has any food, hardly has any vodka but we need soul food,” Cousineau quoted Marciulionis as saying. Cousineau added it doesn't just feed our pride to watch out athletes; it feeds our souls.

* We also hear about the first ipod: How the Greeks hired musicians to play while the athletes trained and performed. The flutes and lyres were played right next to the wrestlers and runners and throwers, because it was believed what they shared in common was rhythm.

Anyway, this really doesn't do the show justice. It really is worth a listen and can be found here.

2015 Pan Am Games Should Focus on Kids

What kind of city do we want to live in and how should we get there? To start a dialogue, we've asked dozens of people from across the region to offer ideas on how to make our community more livable, more successful and more just. They are posting suggestions on the Your City, My City blog. Join the debate.

Let's face it as sporting spectacles go, hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto isn't going to stack up with the just completed 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Not even close.

But then that's not the point – nor should it be – of staging the Pan Ams. It is an event that has the potential to help transform this city in creating sports opportunities for kids in Toronto.

That should be THE mission of these Games.

Let's hope that Games organizers don't waste their time trying to convince us the Pan Am Games are something that they're not. There will be some good competition to be sure, but for most athletes it's a 'B' or 'C' listed event on their competition calendar.

But that's not an issue for youth in this city. What the 2015 Pan Am Games could to represent them is greater opportunity to participate than ever before.

That should be the uppermost question whenever a decision is made regarding the 2015 Pan Am Games: What's best for the kids?

This isn't at all just about the infrastructure that will be created – and we all know how desperately that is needed – but about the opportunity to create and inspire more sports programs for kids, particularly for kids at risk, those who wouldn't get these chances otherwise.

There are experts in these areas with better ideas than mine I am sure, but what about starting a program that sees “Pan Am Games Leagues” in schools across the city. Maybe people with expertise in certain Pan Am Sports – they are mostly the traditional Summer Olympic sports with some unique differences – could help start clubs or teams at the schools.

That way, when the Games are here, kids might be more excited than they would be otherwise because they've had exposure to these sports. Triathlon or badminton or even water polo wouldn't be something foreign to them.

Kids could have “Pan Am Passports” where every time that they try a sport that's part of the Games for a certan period they get a sticker or a stamp.

They could have programs in the schools where they “adopt a country,” learning in their class about another nation and maybe representing that nation in a Pan Am Games in their own school.

It's a program that could definitely have a national application if the feds wanted to try to capitalize on some of the momentum from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It's going to be a tough thing for organizers of the 2015 Pan Am Games to convince the rest of the country this isn't just about Toronto. The Vancouver Olympic organizers had that struggle right up until the Games started.

Organizers of pre Pan Am Games events in Toronto – and there will be plenty of those – also need to align with schools across the city in ensuring they don't have an empty seat at their events. That's a big problem in Toronto. On those occasions where Olympic athletes compete, no one shows up but parents and relatives. The atmosphere is sterile.

You can't tell me that busloads of kids, educated a little bit on what they're about to watch, would not be pumped about going out and cheering on Canadian athletes. Plus, they get a day – or part of a day – off school. Even better would be for them to get a chance to try the sport leading up the to the event.

There are so many positives that can be created out of the Pan Am Games experience with the kids as the focus.

The Flat Stanley Chronicles: Striking Gold in 2010

Like the Canadian Olympic team at the 2010 Winter Games, Flat Stanley was golden. The highlight for the Flat Man was likely this exclusive one-on-one interview with speed skating legend Clara Hughes.

The kids in Vicki Steele's Grade 2 class at Allenby Public School in Toronto (see below) entrusted me with their Flat Stanley during the Olympics. (If you're unfamiliar with Flat Stanley, check out flatstanleyproject.com)

Here are some of Flat Stanley's Olympic adventures. Flat Stanley at the opening ceremonies ...

Flat Stanley at opening news conference with me, aerialist Kyle Nissen, sport psych Penny Werther. The Flat Stanley on the left is from Mrs. Sutherland's Grade 2 class at Mount Albert Public School. He also accompanied us at the Games.

Flat Stanleys with those crazy Dutch speed skating fans ... No beer for the Stan Man!!!

Flat Stanleys with Clara Hughes after her incredible bronze medal ...

Riding the sushi boat in downtown Vancouver was a real thrill ...

And meeting a Russian Santa! Flat Stanley got his wish -- a win over Ovechkin and the boys!

Flat Stanley's most emotional moment of Games ... Reuniting with his Dad, Flat Stanley Sr.

And his brothers, Flat Dorny (L) and Flat Gibby (R) ...

Hob nobbing with  gold medal winners ... Olympic rower Malcolm Howard ...

and snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson shortly after he won Olympic gold.

Thanks to everyone who made it such a great adventure for Flat Stanley!  Dude needs a rest!

But he's already looking forward to London 2012!!!