Anyway, thank you for coming.
A friend of mine I grew up with at the age of 12 picked up a badminton racket and very quickly was defeating kids three and four years older. There was this connection between him and the ability to play badminton that he naturally adapted to. He played it. He beat other kids. No one could really beat the guy and everybody wanted to be his partner. He was never recognized by someone who was a professional badminton coach. Would he have gone to the Olympics? I don't know, but he could have. He probably could have won a medal. But we lived in a rural area and there was nobody around that area.
I understand what you're saying about having a coach at a very early age sticking with individuals, whether it's a team or an individual. Where I come from, to make it to the big leagues.... We now have a female figure skater from a small town in Newfoundland, but she hasn't lived in Newfoundland for quite some time. She had to move away.
The question then becomes...in most of these places where I'm from, talent does not get recognized at the early level. How do you get around that?
I'll just add one quick point about the school system. Are phys. ed. teachers taught and do they have discussions about...? As a person who played professional soccer for so long, you have an eye for someone.
Coach Mackinnon obviously had an eye for you. He knew you had that talent.
Do phys. ed. teachers go through a process where they say, “If you see a kid who can kick a ball and has a natural ability, call this number?”