Sport for Life Society – Olympic gold medallist Jean-Luc Brassard will be one of the keynote speakers at the 2020 Sport for Life Canadian Summit, where he will be championing a more inclusive approach to sport. He will speak about his time presenting to schools under the Ambassadors of Fair Play program, which focuses on inclusion and enjoyment of sport free from intimidation. Delegates will learn about what happens when you focus on participation rather than results.
“It seems like the time we live in right now, the only goal parents have is for their child to become a champion by age 10. We put way too much pressure on them,” he told Sport for Life.
“As a society we need to accept that even if we don’t produce world champions, that doesn’t matter at all. What the kids learn while doing sports will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The true spirit of sport is doing the best you can during an activity, and trying to reach a new level. And when you start thinking that way, everyone is a winner because you’ve increased your ability beyond what you could do before.”
Though Brassard’s claim to fame is his gold medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Games, he thinks the competition looms too large in the minds of most sport organizations. Really, he thinks there’s often too much emphasis on competition throughout the typical athlete’s long-term development, and he believes these organizations could broaden their mandates to include pathways with other aims in mind. For him, even when he was at the height of his training, skiing was fun. And he believes that’s a foundational element of any positive long-term engagement with sport and physical activity.
“For every single Olympic champion on TV, you also have 200 or 300 other athletes at the same level who just didn’t make the cut, and end up cast aside. They’re at the same level but nothing will happen to them. This is the down side of producing champions,” he said.
“We need to give up on the concept of getting medals at any price. What I really encourage kids to do is find their passion in life, and I’m not necessarily talking about sports. It could be theatre or art or math, it doesn’t matter. Very often when I’m asked how many hours did I train in my life I say ‘no idea, because it was my passion. It was not my job, it was something I wanted to do’.”
Brassard is one of the 9 keynotes who will be presenting at this year’s Summit, on the theme of Celebrating Success.
To check out the program or register, visit sportforlifesummit.ca. The early-bird registration rate is available until November 28. For more information contact organizer Claudine Gilbert at claudine@sportforlife.ca.