How can we
encourage diversity in sports and make sure that national teams are made of the
talented rather than the privileged?
Should state resources be devoted to equalizing chances like they are in
New Zealand or China, say, for young hockey players in Slovakia?
After reading this article I thought. Is hockey in Slovakia really affordable for everybody? Then I started counting how much does hockey equipment cost. I counted helmet, hockey stick, gloves and other the vital instruments. And I got to enormous number. It was around 450 euro. For many of the Slovaks, it is their salary for month. Therefore a huge number of people with hockey talent cannot play it because it is impossible for their parents to afford it.
ReplyDeleteAs it was mentioned in the article, most of the players who are going to attempt the world cup in rugby are from specialized schools. Parents of these people could afford it even though their children might not have the talent for it. And like the author of this article mentioned that the colour of your skin does not determine your ability and aptitude to do some sport, neither your financial situation should not. The sport equipment and the school fees should not be paid by parents of the children but by the state government. Furthermore, the children should be accepted to these specialized sport schools by an aptitude test. This would be more fair for them and national teams might increase their quality and the number of achievements.
In conclusion, I would say that in Slovakia we still need some time to enable young, talented and not so wealthy children to play hockey. Our national team would increase its quality and young boys should move from street games to hockey schools and ice rinks.
First of all, Tomas is right about the fact that sport is many times not affordable for the families which do not have enough money at all, and this is something which should be changed. Unfortunately, I think that those are the children who should really get an opportunity to be a part of some prestige sport club. From psychological point of view, for child being raised in a poor family, such an opportunity would be a very precious thing. Wealthy children are more or less stuck up and do not appreciate opportunities. For them, it is a routine, a part of every day life.
DeleteOn the other hand, I am not familiar with the statement "...and the school fees should not be paid by parents of the children but by the state government." We do not want to lie to each other however, to tell the truth, our government would NEVER take part in paying anything for athletes. We live in a country called Slovakia which means, every time the word "money" is said, wondrously, our government disappears from the Earth's surface.
So, I suggest all equipment for rugby players and athletes should be paid by the sport club. From my personal experience, good sport clubs have enough money, sponsors and contacts to make sure every player has what is needed. And, obviously, athletes representing our country or special club would be chosen according to strong will and skills.
Firstly, I have to say that I agree with the fact that there is a huge inequality in opportunities for wealthy children and poor children. As Tomas mentioned the example about hockey equipment we can see that not everybody could afford such cost and Tomas has forgotten that parents have to pay also for the fee of being able to play or at least attend and be a part of the club. However it is a bit different in the cities and in the villages. On the one hand you have also no sponsors who would support your village club, but on the other hand, we do not have to pay anything to belong to the club. So the only thing we have to buy is equipment, as for us, football players, are only shoes and shin guards. We are given everything else - socks, shorts, and jersey. I know that we cannot compare the equipment of football players, yet we can see that there is a difference between opportunities in the village and in the city. Moreover, there is a lower competitiveness between players as there is usually lack of players. On the contrary, if you have a real talent, agents from bigger club will definitely notice you and you might become one of the best.
DeleteAs Tomas written, your financial situation SHOULD NOT determine your ability to do some sport, nevertheless it does not work this way in the world. In past, when ice hockey was played by players who had talent, we were able to win the World championship. It has changed and plenty of sports are played or done just by those who have money. If it goes this way in the future, I am skeptical about our possibilities of winning and achieving the world trophies.
Furthermore, we should support mainly young players and talents as they are our future, not the old one. Of course we need the old and the experienced, however we should be more focused on the youth and give them more opportunities. I was pretty sad when I saw that Vujtek sent Reway home from the championship, even though I know he did not attend trainings and so on, but I think if we have talent like Reway is, we should appreciate it. Obviously, he needs to learn to be more responsible, yet we missed him during the championship.
We should try to decrease the inequality so the talented play.
I need to say I quite don´t agree with some arguments Tomas stated. To begin with, the statement that “ in Slovakia we still need some time to enable talented and not so wealthy children to play hockey“ is not true. In Slovakia, there are at least 2 special talent schools for children coming from a poor background that are financed either by celebrities or state. A good example of these are Stars for Stars or Gaborik´s Hockey School. In these sport organization these children are given the equipment and ,in addition, they don´t have to pay for the trainings. The point of this is to pick the most talented youngsters and build a good team. The bad side is that those not talented have to leave the team, but at least they had the chance to play the sport for few years. Moreover, I feel the problem that our national team consists of players coming from rich families lies in the management of hockey in Slovakia. Most of the authorities that lead the hockey association now are corrupted people. Their main goal is to have as much money on a bank account as possible and not the achievments of our national hockey team. Just as example I would like to bring up the case of Andrej Stastny, the son of Peter Stastny. During communism they lived in the United States, but in the 90´s Andrej, a talented hockey player, suggested he would move back and play for Slovak national team. His offer was refused. After few years his father, Peter, claimed they were rejected because they were reluctant to pay money to the authorities. Now Andrej plays for the USA national hockey team and we lost a skillful player because of bribery.
Delete“Our sports should be representative of the nation.” The first thing that I thought about when I read this sentence was Canada and ice hockey. They as a country put so much effort in it. They don’t have any problem to put together a team for World Championship. They have many good players and it’s even hard to choose who will represent the country. In Slovakia, we don’t have that problem. On the contrary, we always end up putting in players that aren’t as good as is needed, but we don’t have another choice, because we simply don’t have anybody else. Part of the problem is the fact that our good players aren’t so enthusiastic to represent our country and they always find some excuses. But that’s just a small part. The biggest difference between our and Canadian hockey is the approach.
ReplyDeleteAs is mention all over the article: ..” resources and money are needed to make the sport work.” , children from not so rich family background have it a lot harder to play some specific sport. When there is needed a lot of expensive equipment in order to be able to play some sport, lot of kids end up doing something else, just because they can’t afford it. That’s the reason why we lose so many talented hockey players. In our country, people who are in management of Slovak ice hockey federation don’t care about this. We give preference to rich people and people with influential relations. On the other hand, in Canada, they know how important it is to raise talented players in order to have great players in the future. They don’t want to miss any potential hockey star and that’s why they have a huge amount of programs for kids who want to play hockey. They put into those programs huge effort and a lot of money. Unfortunately, we aren’t on that level yet.
However, I have to say that we are going forward. Our players, who didn’t forget about how hard it was to afford to play hockey in Slovakia, support youth teams in their hometowns. They donate money, their old equipment and fully cooperate and support the club. Also I believe that after the elections for a new president of our federation there will be even better conditions for our young hockey players.
Rebeka Zanechalova, 3.A
First of all, I must admit that I definitely agree with Rebeka. Slovakia cannot be compared with Canada. Our country is smaller and economically less effective. But I really like the fact that older players help to grow new talents. Donating money and equipment is an amazing idea but a moral support is also very important. Because you need to feel supported to become successful. On the other hand, it is still not enough and there must be help of government too. Because money does not grow on a tree.
DeleteAs it is mentioned in the article, you simply need money to make the sport work. For example in Slovakia, we have about 80 ice rinks but in Switzerland, they have over 180 of them. They made a great team just by supporting ice hockey and young players financially. It is a good example of using money to develop a successful team.