Germany actually has quite a bit of rugby tradition. Many old clubs in Hannover and Heidelberg. Imagine South Africa England in Dortmund. I'd have games in Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Munich, Hannover, Hamburg, Dresden, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Freiburg, and Fürth
www.abc.net.au
Mate you realise that children in some of these Skandi countries, Russia, even Canada, are quite literally on skis every day of their lives for 8-9 months of the year if not more... Its NOT just a sport its their equivalent of walking.... not taking away from their approach to sport development, just adding a bit of context. I think it is much more impressive the Australia gets ANY gold medals in the Winter games considering our athletes can't usually, train at home, and even then its 1-2 months a year - usually 2-3 hours drive from home to even see snow.Even though Muz posted up about the $$ Norway pour in there's also from reading their approach towards youth development that makes sense.
This nation’s population is 60 times smaller than the USA. It topped the Olympic medal tally
Norway’s success at the Winter Olympics is astonishing given a population of 5.65 million, but it’s no accident they’ve topped the medal tally at Milano Cortina.www.smh.com.au
Unlike many nations, who identify talent early and shove the gifted into specialised programs or full-bore coaching as soon as decently possible, the Norwegians don’t push kids into competition.
“We try not to focus on winning too early,” Tore Oevreboe, Norway’s head of its Olympic delegation, told Reuters. “We should not create losers. We should create young small winners … The winning part is to be part of the sport and have joy.
“The point of doing sport in Norway is to lead a good life. So you start young and learn motor skills, social skills, and then you learn how to use your body in a physical setting.”
Children are encouraged to play multiple sports. Klaebo, taught by his grandfather to ski, played a variety of sports – much like Roger Federer – before settling on the field that he would conquer.
It was America's first gold medal in the men's hockey since the famous 1980 Miracle on Ice. Pretty unbelievable it's been 46 years between drinks for them.
Yeah that is pretty insane, especially since the US has the best league in the world. I enjoyed watching it, will have to go to some Ice Dogs games this season.
I remember as a kid enjoying the novelty of Europeans on nfl video games. I don't follow it and was blown away at how many Europeans play in North America now. It's made international hockey better.
*NHL but yeah I do agree. There’s actually an Aussie in the NHL too: Nathan Walker (born in Wales, raised in Australia and played ice hockey here), who was the first Aussie to play in the NHL. He currently plays for the St. Louis Blues. He’s 32 though so his career might be coming to a close in a few years.
I have been going on and off to Adrenaline games in the decade since I moved to SA.