Canada is NOT Norway and this is Why

At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano, Italy, Norway once again demonstrated its strength, winning a plethora of medals. Many recent articles have highlighted Norway’s effective sports structure, supportive youth sport legislation, and positive national attitude toward an active lifestyle in sport and recreation.

In reading these articles, from Canada, the U.S, and even Great Britain, one part that has been missed is the fact that sport is viewed from a completely different lens in Norway. The Norwegian sport system specifically caters to a wholistic healthy lifestyle for all its citizens. Sport is for everyone and is a part of the social fabric of daily life. Families participate together; results, scores, and standings are not kept in lower age groups prior to age 14. This gives participants the opportunity to enjoy sport for the fun and with the opportunity to develop their talents naturally without pressure.

This process oriented philosphy is the golden nugget takeaway of the Norwegian system. In North American sport, winning is valued over development. In simple terms, Norway embraces the process while in North America the result is the be all and end all.

Social Problem

The root problem of sport in North America is that it is transactional and results focused. Winning is more important than children having fun and developing in their own time. Coaches focus on winning a U10 championship rather than ensuring that the children have a great experience. The question should not be “Did you win a championship?” but rather, “How many of your players returned to play the next year?”

There is no such thing as an elite ten-year-old! Anyone who says so, has no understanding of child development. A ten-year-old has not even hit puberty or developed the physical skills and abilities to even assess their potential. The focus should be on athlete development through physical literacy, fundamental movement skills, sport skills, and most importantly FUN.

Legendary Basketball coach Jim Valvano was once asked by a parent at his summer camp what their child could do to get a scholarship. He asked how old their child was, the answer was ten. Valvano’s response: “Have him working on being eleven!”

I recently spoke to a friend who informed me that their ten-year-old was going to have to try out for a local neighbourhood house league baseball team. The shortage or lack of coaches was the reason given. House league is the most basic level of sport where fun and participation are the only measures that matter. The fact that there was no one willing to step up to coach thus eliminating try outs is a shame. There is no way of telling what kind of athlete a ten-year-old will be when they are fully grown, one thing that is certain, tryouts for ten-year-olds will most certainly lead to children quitting or never having the opportunity to someday reach their full potential.

In Norway, many facilities are open and available free of charge twenty-four hours a day. This was the case of Bryne, Norway, population forty-thousand, where Norwegian Football superstar, Erling Haaland grew up. Haaland and his childhood friends had access to an open space to practice and play amongst themselves anytime they wanted. This enabled them to play, learn and develop at their own pace. This environment produced six professional players out of the forty players born in 1999. Thirty-five of these forty are still participating as adults.

Big Business

Youth sport has become big business. Astronomical registration fees are forcing many parents to work extra jobs just to cover the cost. Funding rarely, if ever, reaches the end user making many sports out of the question for families. These fees are shared by multiple vendors from local, provincial and national organizations each taking a piece of the fees. Quite often parents do not know where their registration goes and what services they receive for these fees from these vendors. Each of these organizations are constantly looking to cover their costs and it is the end user who usually ends up footing the bill.  

In Canada, we do not have the same social structures as in Norway, so the pay to play model is the prevailing model. How then do families who need assistance so their children can participate in sport get it? Our Canadian Prime Minister recently announced a large influx of funds to be directed towards sport in Canada. The reality is that those funds will never reach the end user who needs it in the current sport system. It will go to NSO’s and PTSO’s who will use it for “programming” or "high-performance".

The only way for the end user to receive support is for families to have access to the funding from Sport Canada. Rather than distribute the money to the current organizations who routinely run deficit budgets, the money should be allocated to end users who really need it by way of a federal benefit program. The program would look similar the GST/HST credit that has now been replaced by the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGE Benefit). The Family Sport Credit (FSC) would work as follows:

1.   Families under a specified combined family income would be eligible.

2.   Parents would register their children in sport and keep the invoices and paid receipts.

3.  Parents then put this registration amount on that years tax form.

4.   Parents would be reimbursed up to a limit of $1000 per child per year.

5.   Payments would be quarterly, like the CGE Benefit.

This would ensure that the end user sees funding for their childs' sport participation.

In conclusion, there are many things that can be learned from the Norwegian system, but it is not a one size fits all and will not work for everywhere. It works in Norway because it fits their lifestyle and process-oriented approach. It’s geographical size does benefit its ability to bring people together more readily, but the overall focus on an active daily lifestyle is the primary reason for its success. Children are encouraged and given the opportunity to play freely with one another for the sake of play itself. Physical, emotional, and social development thrive in this environment when the focus is on fun and improvement rather than keeping score and winning championships. The goal should be to have more active healthy children in our world. Potential programs like the Family Sport Credit could benefit many families in need.