The problem is that any initiatives like this have to deal with the administrators/politicians at some point. Very frustrating cos they really are just bricks in the road... Hmm' date=' fair enough, but I just think you are all just a tad too far down the road already. We dont have a large pool of elite gymnasts, rowers, runners, cyclists, field and track athletes, whatever swimming around at the bottom of the pyramid, its more like a tiny goldfish bowl, and thats not going to carry through for long. No Sir, we need to get the kids interested again in sport, thats where the Olympians of the future will come from, and thats not just rugby, cricket and soccer, its a whole spectrum of sports, when I was in school, we had a swim team,a rowing team a gymnastics team, a field and track team a long distance running team IN ADDITION TO a rugby, cricket and soccer team. Gee, man we even had a band and a few pretty girls shouting for us. Get the kids out of the malls and onto the track, into the pool out on the bike and then you will see the future. Its here, its just not been nourished. [/quote'] Porky, I agree with you. But I believe that you are refering to a bygone era, sadly. The world has moved on and trying to change the patterns of modern living is going to be almost impossible. Kids still do sport at school, but these days there's also a variety of other activities outside of schools. And in this era of specialisation, many kids do most of their sport at club level (swimming, athletics, cycling, soccer, rugby, cricket, hockey, golf etc). I am constantly impressed by the high numbers of youngsters (primary school level) that I see participating in various sports at club level. Just one example is the large number of juniors/youth that compete in road and MTB events. This may just be in my community (greater Joburg) though and not a reflection of the overall trend. I grew up in small towns where the only sport I had access to was through school. It's up to the parents to make sure the kids are given the opportunities to participate in sport as well as manage their diets. It's then up to the kids as to whether or not they wish to continue as they grow older. And that is where incentive is needed. Like it or not, we live in an era of professional sport and instant gratification. For a young sportsman/woman to see an Olympic medal as the ultimate reward is not quite as common as it used to be. I still maintain that the sports administrators are where the problem is. If they managed their sports properly, they'd be constantly on the hunt for talent at schools and finding funding from the corporate sector to support youth programmes. And it's from that pool where our Olympic medallist should emerge.
