Why Alphonso Davies is the athlete Canadians need right now - Sportsnet.ca

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Alphonso Davies is the athlete Canadians need right now, and this moment – his moment – should matter to all of us, writes SNJeffBlair.

What makes Davies so special at this time is his back story. Davies was born in a refugee camp in Ghana to parents who fled civil war in their native Liberia. The family then moved to Edmonton. His initial foray into organized sports is owed to an organization that Sportsnet colleague Mark Spector is heavily involved with: Sport Central, which supplies almost 10,000 kids per year with free sports equipment and a bike. Both Alphonso and his brother received bikes … and soccer balls.

Canadian men’s soccer hasn’t really had that transcendent personality, let alone moment. Indeed, you can argue that if it wasn’t for Davies, the dominant personality would be Herdman, who has now taken the reins. In truth, the men’s national program has spent much of its existence getting in its own way, beset by regional bickering and a lack of central planning that for the longest time served to effectively stunt advancement.

The old rules will need changing – and while we’re here, credit to Chief Operating Officer Scott Smith and the people at Hockey Canada for spending as much time as they have developing grass-roots financial models for minor-hockey organizations to help them come out of this, for talking about perhaps increasing a focus on local skills development as opposed to games or tournament travel this winter, while also admitting that, at least initially, their emphasis might have to be on retaining kids...

 

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