Thanks very much for allowing me the opportunity to talk today.
My experience is a little more limited than the two gentlemen you just heard from, but maybe it will be a bit of a different perspective.
I'd like to applaud the continued investment in winter sports throughout the last quadrennial by the federal government, with the goal of being the best in Sochi. I'd also like to encourage the continuation of that investment to help ensure success in 2018 and beyond. Without continued investment from the federal government, Canada cannot compete on the world stage. There was a great sense of pride that was instilled after the success in Vancouver, which has not faded, and return on that investment cannot be measured.
Specifically, for Ski Jumping Canada and our preparations for the games, we are a small sport. We are limited at the moment only to Calgary, with a club starting in B.C. next year, and we're hoping to grow that through the next four years. For an NSO that consistently produces Olympians, we rely on public funding to be competitive and to produce athletes capable of competing on the world stage.
The investment into women's ski jumping after the sport's acceptance into the Olympics for 2014 was encouraging. However, that support has decreased as we have progressed through the quadrennial. Even with that level of decreased support, the level of the program and the professionalism of the program have definitely increased.
We have made great strides in some of the areas that the other two gentlemen also mentioned, in integrated support teams, technology, increased collaboration with other sports, and also partnerships with the Canadian Sport Institute.
Canada was the big proponent, along with the U.S., of getting women's ski jumping into the Olympics, and we need to continue that support to help us be the best at that sport. For Canada to be the best at the Olympics, we need to ensure we invest in sports that can increase medal potential, and in ski jumping, in Canada's case, that is very cost-effective.
Ski Jumping Canada has built some good partnerships with private supporters in the past few years to fill in holes in public funding. However, our capacity to do so is limited. We're mostly a volunteer organization, and once again, we rely on public funding to sustain a level of competitiveness.
Currently we're a volunteer-run organization. We rely on the Olympic legacy coaching fund to pay most of our coaches. We also relied on Sport Canada grants this year to keep our program actually running. With sustained funding over a quadrennial, Ski Jumping Canada can improve all facets of our organization—high performance, grassroots—and the goal in mind is to consistently contribute to the success of Canada at the winter Olympics.
Thank you.