Adam Van Koeverden has paddled over 120,000 kilometres in his lifetime. He's a four-time Olympian, a multiple world champion, and one of the most decorated kayakers Canada has ever produced. He's also Canada's Secretary of State for Sport, and that may be where his biggest race is being run.In this conversation, Adam traces the full arc of a sporting life that began with a mom who needed somewhere for her kid to go after school. The Oakville canoe club was affordable, it was welcoming, it ran on volunteers, and it changed everything. Adam wants every Canadian kid to have access to that same kind of experience, and he's now in a position to do something about it. He talks candidly about the $755 million federal investment in sport recently announced, and what it's actually designed to do. As Adam puts it, every world champion Canada has ever produced started out splashing around in swimming lessons or kicking a ball at a community center, and the foundation for elite sport is an active society.He also weighs in on the issues sports parents know too well: early specialization, the pressure to travel at young ages, the cost of living squeezing family budgets, and the gap between what the research says about youth development and what's actually happening on the ground. He shares his honest view on what a good youth coach looks like, what his own parents did right, and why the Norwegian model keeps coming up as the gold standard. And he makes the case that physical activity and play are human rights.Chapters00:00 Opening01:34 Introducing Adam Van Koeverden03:16 Life as an MP04:09 What the $755M Investment Means for Your Community06:39 National Sport Organizations: Alignment and the Governance Gap10:42 Rebuilding Trust Across the Sport System11:52 The Future of Sport Commission13:56 What Parents Are Actually Telling Him17:25 Early Specialization19:22 Long-Term Athlete Development: Good Research, Patchy Delivery23:15 Not Enough Public Sport24:45 Sport Saves Kids25:00 The Canoe Club That Changed Everything26:07 Why Kayaking Took Root27:32 The Need for Physical Literacy29:45 Screens, Sedentary Lives and Analog Living31:47 Participation vs. Performance: A False Choice33:27 What Adam's Parents Did Right35:12 What Joy at 14 Has to Do With Winning at 2435:54 The Coaches Who Shaped Adam's Career36:54 The Foundation of Olympic Success: What It Actually Looks Like37:19 What Every Youth Coach Needs to Know38:48 Feedback, Respect and the Values Sport Teaches39:41 Coach Training43:50 Affordability and the Cost of Living Crisis in Youth Sport45:04 Measuring Success: Healthy Canadians, Not Just Gold Medals46:29 Safe Sport Progress47:50 Biggest Issue in Youth Sports48:46 Reasons for OptimismResources⁠Canada's $755M Investment⁠⁠Future of Sport in Canada Commission Report⁠⁠Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities

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