Georgie Parker: Small sports and countries biggest losers from Commonwealth Games cull

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Georgie Parker: Small sports and countries biggest losers from Commonwealth Games cull

The next edition of the Commonwealth Games has been a talking point for years.

From the lack of bids for the 2026 Games due to costs, to Victoria pulling out, Glasgow kindly taking on the role and then last week the axing of multiple sports, including my sport of hockey, to just 10 events.

This obviously saddens me, not just as a Commonwealth champion myself where the experience of playing at the Games is one of such fondness, but on a larger scale of worry of what the they look like going forward and for the future of smaller sports — and the smaller nations.

The Commonwealth Games are known as the friendly games. They are obviously taken seriously, particularly by countries like ours which put a lot of money in to sport, but the experience in a Commonwealth Games is entirely different to the Olympics.

It is less pressure due to the countries involved (no USA or China for example), but it is also full of learning experiences.

There are the learning experiences of being a younger athlete getting a taste of a multi-sport event that sets you up for an Olympic Games. This experience is vital for success at the Olympics as it teaches you how to manage the external pressure and the village noise particularly.

Not only does it give the younger athletes an opportunity, it gives fringe athletes more chances to inspire them to be better.

Due to the qualification rules, there is the experiences of our *********** track and field athletes being able to compete on a large scale event and have a chance of being on the podium which can inspire their journey to Olympic success.

Nina Kennedy is the perfect example of this. Before being an Olympian, she was a bronze medalist in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Since then, she has gone on to become an Olympic champion.

There is the experience of being a smaller sport, one who needs the platform of something like the Commonwealth Games to have eyes on and to help the growth of their sport back home.

Hockey never used to be in this category, but with the growth of the AFLW and NRLW, I believe this is where it now sits, so for this platform to be taken away from my sport makes me worry for its future and I’m positive there are other sporting bodies who feel the same.

Further away from Australia, there are the experiences of being a country that would not meet qualification standards for an Olympic Games.

This, I believe is one of the critical points of the Commonwealth Games. The inspiring nature of what these events mean to these smaller nations shouldn’t be overlooked.

Camera IconTeam Australia celebrate after victory in the Women’s Hockey Semi-Final match between Team Australia and Team India on day eight of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Credit: Alex Davidson/Getty Images

We can be very entitled in Australia because we bat way above our average when it comes to sporting events, but that is because we are a country with money. These small nations, with little money and resources, need something to inspire them, and if it can’t be the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games is it.

The Commonwealth Games is a competition of course, and one we want to be our best and win, but it is also an opportunity and chance for countries to learn and be inspired.

Australia can teach some nations how to be competitive and we can learn the real meaning of why we all started playing sport — because it’s fun and brings us all together.

I do hope the Games legacy can continue moving forward, because wouldn’t it be a shame to lose something that has such good come from it.

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