It's an interesting debate. Should we focus on the elite and then that drags everybody else up to that level because it gives them something to aspire to? I don't personally believe that's necessary, and I think you're going to have a lot of opposition to that as well.
Ultimately, what is your goal in all of this? You're studying the state of coaching at the amateur level in Canada. You obviously want to improve the standard. Is that for elite players, or is that for everyone?
By improving the standards for everyone, your elite players will find a way through the system. I grew up in Appin, Ontario, on a dirt road. There is no high-performance soccer program there. I found my way to the highest level because I was able to wind my way through the system.
A clearly defined development pathway for all of the sports in our country, I think, is very important, as are standards for each one of those levels.
What does it mean to be a recreational youth soccer coach in our country? Right now all it means is you volunteer your time. Clubs are begging parents. No soccer experience is necessary. They are just begging them to coach kids because they don't have enough.
This is the analogy I use. I go back to the education system a lot because I believe there are a lot of parallels with sport and education. Would you trust the education of your child to a parent volunteer who has no training as a teacher? I would never do that, and yet we do it in sport. We certainly do it in soccer. I can't speak for other sports, but we definitely do it in soccer, and that's having a negative impact on our ability to produce elite athletes, and our ability to teach kids the skills they need to stay in the game even at a recreational level for the rest of their lives, and that is having a negative impact on their well-being.