When Beckie Scott was a child growing up in Vermilion, Alta, she professes there were no flashes of athletic brilliance.
She tried ballet, swimming, triathlon and track. Her parents took her on backcountry ski and canoe trips on weekends. Scott says she was high on motivation, but low on skill.
“I liked sports, but I was not a natural athlete. I was less than average in as many sports as it gets,” Scott said.
There were constants in Scott’s childhood: fun and play were paramount, and there was next to no pressure to succeed from her parents. Now, as a parent with two children on the cusp of entering the sports community, she’s noticing those tenets are disappearing, and contributing to a significant drop in the number of active children.
“Often, we focus on the kids who show talent. I was middle or back of the pack. But all of my experiences from five to 18 built a foundation for success in elite sport,” Scott said.
Speaking at the Bow Valley Sports Summit on Friday (Sept. 18), the most successful cross-country skier in Canadian history stressed she values fun in sport over the Olympic medals she keeps in a drawer.
“The most important thing as a parent is to ensure sport is fun,” Scott said. “Early on, I learned about and stayed in sport because it was fun. For me, travelling in the van with my teammates was the best. When I retired at 31, after 11 years at the world cup, I was most proud I was having fun. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Coach, parent and sports psychologist Richard Monette says research backs up Scott’s wisdom. Inactivity and early specialization has created the ‘least active generation in history’,” Monette said.
“We’ve stopped moving over the past 30 years,” Monette said. “The problem is kids are born to play, but the nature of the games has changed.”
While the Bow Valley is an anomaly in that it’s full of active children, internationally, the numbers are grim. Physical education programs are disappearing from schools, and childhood obesity rates have never been higher in Canada, shooting up from five per cent in the late 1970s to 13 per cent. The U.S. rate is 17 per cent. While the 1976 Montreal Olympics saw a spike in activity levels, the 2014 Vancouver Games, Canada’s most successful, has not had the same result.
“Athlete role models are great, but not enough. As Canada wins more medals, kids are less active,” Monette said.
Pick-up neighbourhood games and unsupervised play is disappearing, replaced by more structured programs and technology. The culprits are many, Monette says, so a new way of increasing activity is required.
“Kids don’t learn to move. We are seeing kids with ailments like hypertension and type 2 diabetes, or injuries from specializing too early,” Monette said.
The solution, Monette said, is a focus on physical literacy and fun. By exposing athletes to a wide range of sports, they’re more likely to stay active for life. This changes the way parents and coaches approach sport.
“Placing an emphasis on physical literacy and long-term athlete development, while keeping the overall focus on fun, is the best way to avoid sport dropout,” Monette said.
Early sport specialization also contributes to lower activity levels, Monette said. On average, kids who specialize in one sport before puberty tend to have more injuries, have shorter sports careers and do not achieve as much success as those who are exposed to multi-sport. Studies also show if a child specializes in one sport, it’s likely that if they drop out, they won’t pick up another sport.
“There is no reason to specialize in sport early. But the culture of sport is like that,” Monette said.
While there are always outliers such as Usain Bolt, the vast, vast majority of athletes benefit from a multi-sport environment. The Bow Valley True Sport Council is working with local sports organizations to make that easier in the valley.
Some are already invested. Alpine ski teams are on the lookout for dryland training partnerships, while Canmore Nordic Ski Club and Rundle Mountain Cycling Club began sharing athletes last year.
Another concerning trend Scott sees is parental pressure to succeed. Athletes must take ownership of their sport choices.
“For my parents, it wasn’t their dream. They were at the finish line of all my races, and they were at the finish like of the Olympics, but I never felt the result mattered more to them than me,” Scott said. “There is a risk of pressure and expectation. If elite athletes don’t learn to be accountable to themselves, there is a problem. We now have parents lobbying for their kids to make Olympic teams. This is the wrong direction. It has to be from the child.”
Monette said specialization shouldn’t come until an athlete is 13 or 14 years old, and they should still have time for unstructured sport – no coaches, and no parents watching, which will lead to grassroots change. While some in the Bow Valley have bought into the idea, many others still need help. He has resources on his website activeforlife.com.
“It’s the quiet majority we must educate and change,” Monette said.
