Here We Are Again - Canada Games   2007!  

       Another year begins. What to write about as we start on this latest annual adventure? There were several topics that arose in December that I shunted aside in order to compose Christmas Greetings and New Year's wishes, and, as is so often the case, old topics are dead topics - or at least ones that no longer have the resonance that they seemed to have when they first came up for consideration. No doubt, some of them will come up again, but, for the moment, I am content to let them rest.  

       At the time that I am writing this (which is actually in late December) I am caught up in the selection process for the latest Canada Winter Games. We have had three selection races, with a fourth to come, and while I cannot even speculate on the names of the athletes who will make the team (in order to appear to be completely objective), I can say that this is the most impressive group ever of young athletes to have competed for positions on the provincial biathlon team. There have been upwards of fifteen serious candidates for the eight team positions right to the final selections; a year ago, we were considering more than twenty. More impressively, I think, many of these candidates, including a couple of whom I expect will make this year's team, are young enough that they will still be eligible in 2011 - when the Games will be in Nova Scotia.  

       At a time when many social observers lament the general physical capabilities of our young people, these athletes are the exceptions. Locally, we (fellow coaches Line Beatty and Phil Nadeau, and I) have been out supervising training sessions with nearly a dozen young people three times a week since late May of last year. That is approaching 100 training sessions, in addition to at least that many more that they are responsible for doing on their own.These kids know the meaning of commitment. They are also in extraordinarily good condition physically. I, for one, will never subscribe to the lament about overfed, lazy, under-motivated young people so long as I am around athletes like these.  

       That is, in part, why I shake my head when I hear of parents complaining about legislation restricting young people's privileges in driving ATV's. To my mind, these kids should be out on skis, or snowshoes, or skates in the wintertime - and never mind the machinery. It is a sad commentary on some people's perspective of what constitutes recreation when they can only think about charging around the countryside on things that make noise, cause pollution, and tear up trees, footpaths, and back property lines. it is even sadder when they pass these values along to their kids, rather than encouraging them to get outside and enjoy the winter in a way that will also encourage a healthy lifestyle.  

       To return, in closing, to the athletes who will be travelling to the Winter Games, and to those others, in all sports, who tried but didn't qualify this time around, I would like to pass a thought along. Take a look around you when you return to school. See how may of your peers who are sadly out of shape, and realize that your commitment to your sport is one that will continue to pay dividends long after you decide on a career. To parents, coaches, teachers, and anyone who is involved with these young athletes, I would like to say simply, "Encourage them in every way you can. They are the best we have - we should be very proud of them."

    Yours sincerely,

Mike Lushington, Dalhousie