What
does it take to become a sporting hero?
By Christine Stanschus – CEO Little
Kickers, based in Toronto, Canada
My husband, Frank, and I were fortunate to
be able to attend a fundraising event in Toronto last week, which was organized
by the CAN Fund – Canadian Athletes Now.
I have to admit that until I went along to the event, I had little
understanding about the lives of athletes who are preparing for the Olympics,
and their motivations.
We had the opportunity to see presentations
by, and to meet, a number of ex-Olympic medal winners and to hear their stories
around their participation in sport.
I had always assumed that athletes who
achieve Olympic performance levels are probably born as naturally superior physical
beings to the rest of us, and that whilst a certain amount of effort is bound
to be involved, they are ultimately “made that way”. It’s possible for the chosen few to become
Olympians, but not for most “ordinary” people.
I assumed it would be obvious from the first time these talented
athletes picked up a hockey stick / kicked a football etc, that their gift
would shine through and they would be earmarked as a future Olympian and would
be set onto a training conveyor belt which would propel them effortlessly to
the Olympic Games.
Whilst many of the athletes who spoke at
the event described the buzz they got from competing in their chosen sport
right from day one, I was amazed at the way they described their ongoing
involvement. The effort involved in
forcing themselves to train when they really didn’t feel like it, the physical
discomfort which often bordered on pain, the “down” moments, when they felt
they were underachieving. There were,
however, certain characteristics the athletes shared, and messages which were
repeated over and over again throughout the presentations and
conversations. The first being the
overwhelming sense of pride they feel in representing their country. Also, the respect and admiration they felt
for their teammates and their determination to do their best for “the team”,
the dedication and hours of training required in order to achieve their
dreams…. Many of them had stories of
injuries, which should have resulted in an end to their Olympic careers –
serious joint injuries, serious accidents incurred while training etc. They all managed to overcome these, and to go
on to achieve greatness.
The other thing they all had in common was
the huge support they had received from their families. From instilling an early passion for their
sport and a drive to do their best, to more mundane things like getting up
early to drive them to practice and being a constant source of encouragement
when the going got tough. They were
unanimous in their views that without the support of their family they would
never have achieved their Olympic goals.
So whilst physical attributes obviously
contribute to the make-up of great athletes, the support of a strong family is
equally as important. So the next time
your Little Kicker wakes you up at 7am on a Saturday morning, asking you to
take them to football class, remember that all 11 spaces on the 2024 Olympic
football squad have yet to be filled…!
