Coaches working for other countries

[trevster2k]

I was watching the documentary Murderball about quadrapeligic rugby and noticed a main storyline was the defection of a rugby player to go coach the archrivals of the US rugby team. I understand their were some sour grapes involved in the decision. But is it that big a deal for a coach from one country to go somewhere else to help others learn and excel at a particular sport?

In Canada, we have many people off coaching athetes in other countries in sports which we have some expertise like curling and ice hockey. I have no problem with it, it just increases the level of play and makes sport more competitive. I hope something similar happens in women's hockey so other nations can improve their women's programs too. A sport which only 1 or 2 countries dominates gets boring real quick.

We have Canadian athletes competing for other countries in Torino, a Canadian won the men's moguls gold for Australia last week. Another Canadian is competing in downhill skiing as the only representative for the country of Madagascar at the Winter Olympics. Personally, it doesn't bother me.


Any thoughts?

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

if i cared about the winter olympics, which i don't, it would bother me with athletes.

if you've lived in a country for a long time, despite not being born there, and want to compete for the country that you now live in? fine. patrick ewing playing for team USA is a good example. he was born in Jamaica but made his name and living in the USA, so he played for the USA in the Olympics... no problem whatsoever.

if you were born in one country but now make your living in another country and want to compete for your nation of birth? fine. dirk nowitzki is a good example. he made his name and makes his living in the USA, but still wants to compete for his native Germany in the Olympics... again, no problem whatsoever.

if you live in one country and compete for another because you have a relative from that country? not fine. mike piazza playing for italy in the world baseball classic... again, another event i could care less about, but he was born and raised in america, has lived here his entire life, and has only been in italy as a tourist. i don't care if he's got italian roots... he is an american, and should only be allowed to play for america. but seeing as no one gives a shit about the world baseball classic, no one cares.

as for coaches... coaches don't get medals at the olympics so i don't care. i'd find it sketchy if an american coach went and coached, oh i don't know, iran in the olympics. but anything short of something wacky like that, i could care less about what the coaches do.

 

[trevster2k]

Well, you just about covered all the bases, headache

Regarding playing in a country of your origin through parental ties, I don't think it is a problem for athletes who can't make their national teams but still want to compete at an event and can play for their country of origin, like the guy for Madagascar or the Canadians playing for the Italians in ice hockey, granted some of them have dual citizenship too. They aren't skilled enough to compete for Canada but are able to qualify for another country who needs they are able to fulfill. But if they can play for their own country and decide to go somewhere else, ok, now you're looking for a beating.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

if they have dual citizenship then i don't have a problem with it. if they aren't a citizen of a country and have never lived there for an extended period of time, they shouldn't be able to compete for them.

 

[Axver]

To compete for a country, citizenship should definitely be a pre-requisite unless there is a prohibition on dual citizenship. Personally, I question the allegiances of anyone who competes for a country that isn't the nation of their birth (though exceptions occur, like people born while their parents were on holiday or temporarily working overseas - New Zealand's Andrew Mehrtens is a Kiwi born to Kiwis but was actually born in South Africa).

And I don't like it when New Zealanders compete for other countries, especially for sports other than rugby (though I'm quite happy for us to poach ). In rugby, we have an abundance of players, enough for us to rank both #1 and #2 in the world, but for other sports, we really need to take what we can get. Being a rather patriotic Kiwi, I'd be a bit ticked if some New Zealand-born person went out and competed in, say, archery for another country and won an Olympic gold medal, especially if it were at the expense of someone competing for New Zealand.