A New Way Forward for Sport in Alberta

Good afternoon SMG,

I'm posting from Calgary today as we launch the conversations about a New Way Forward for Sport in Alberta - see www.sportalberta.ca.

Will be at Canada Olympic Park with the Calgary Sport Council for a discussion over lunch about municipal policy and election strategies. Then off to Lethbridge where around 30 people are coming out tonight to talk about future directions, what's needed to get there, and what sport can do for Alberta.

More to follow later today.

Ian

Innovations in Sport from the past Decade - Part II

Good afternoon Sport Matters,

Happy New Year and I hope that 2010 has started off well for you and yours.

On to part two of my innovations in Sport from the past decade, with the focus being on VANOC, The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It was established on September 30, 2003. The Committee’s mandate is to support and promote the development of sport in Canada by planning, organizing, financing and staging the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

VANOC

How many other games organizing committees survive intact from start to finish? Simply put, it never happens, at least not until John Furlong came along and built a team and an organization to contest the notion that Games organizers are hired to be fired. Many highs and many lows later, the Games are on track, Vancouver-Whistler are transformed, and VANOC can make a credible claim to stimulating some big changes in how host organizers think about legacies now, partnerships, and execution.

All for now,

Ian