by Chris Wodskou CBC Sports Online "Implementation is going to be the key," says Alex Baumann. It's also the sticking point with the Summit on Sport and whatever lasting impact it has on amateur sports in Canada from the community swimming pools to Morgan Knabe's performance in the breaststroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Secretary of State for Amateur Sport Denis Coderre envisions the Summit as the last stage in a process that will lead to the introduction of new sports legislation in the fall that will "create through law the national sports system for the next 10 years." The legislation will address the abiding concerns of improving the performance of Canada's elite amateur athletes and strengthening the national infrastructure at the grassroots and development levels. There's little doubt that Canadians see the value in amateur sports. Getting the Canadian public and governments enthusiastic about paying for it is not a given, particularly in these times when spending cuts and tax-cutting have taken on the dimensions of a moral crusade. Coderre best sums up the crossroads at which Canadian amateur sport finds itself when he says that Canadians now have to decide whether "Olympic participation is an investment or an expense."

Stelio DeRocco is the head coach of the national men's volleyball team. A former member of the Canadian national team, DeRocco also played and coached professionally in Division 1 of the Italian League, widely considered the highest calibre in the world. Most recently, he was head coach of the Australian men's national team.

Patricia Straker manages the Royal Bank's event marketing portfolio, in addition to being a board member of the Sports Celebrities Festival for Special Olympics and a B member of the Canadian Olympic Association. She helped develop sponsorships for the Canadian Figure Skating Championships and 2001 World Track and Field Championships in Edmonton.

Roger Jackson became one of Canada's greatest Olympic stories when he an George Hungerford staged a huge upset to win the men's coxless pairs rowing gold in 1964. An Officer of the Order of Canada, and a three-term former president of the COA, Jackson is now the director of the Sport Medicine Centre at the University of Calgary.

Tom Hainey coached the Canadian Paralympic swim team to its best-ever performance at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. He also coaches at the Manta Swim Club in Winnipeg and won a number of Paralympic medals as a competitor from 1984 to 1992.

Therese Brisson is the captain of one of Canada's top sports dynasties, the women's national hockey team. Brisson has won a number of world championships with the team and anchors the defence. She demonstrated her commitment to the team by leaving her post as assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of New Brunswick to pursue the 2002 Olympic gold medal.

Randy Starkman is a two-time National Newspaper Award winner specializing in amateur sports for the Toronto Star. Starkman is the author of three books and has worked as a sports journalist for 20 years.