My thoughts on training Olympic Weightlifters

First let me say that there are some good weightlifting coaches in the US.  They are good guys, good coaches and very knowledgeable about programming and teaching proper techniques of the Olympic Lifts.  However there is one area that I think we as Olympic Weightlifting coaches fail miserably.  That is in preparing our athletes to BE weightlifters.  Before you go crazy and call me all kinds of vile names, hear me out.
Like most, I have taken a kid who can squat or whatever and made him a lifter or at least taught him the lifts.  Most from day 1.  As I look back now I can see how wrong this was.
First off, we need to learn from some of the "new breed" of strength coaches.  Guys like Mike Robertson, Bill Hartman, and Eric Cressey, just to name a few.  Sure they don't train OL's, but they do an outstanding job of assessing an individual and finding and correcting his problem areas.  Things such as hip, shoulder and core stability, proper breathing and so forth.  With the inactivity of so many kids today (that's another topic for another day) there are many imbalances that are created due to their sedentary lifestyle.  Then we get them and we expect them to do very complicated movements that get them into unfamiliar positions that they aren't strong enough to hold which just serves to complicate the problem even more.  Instead of fixing the problem in the beginning, we just add to to it and the kid never reaches his potential and/or he winds up hurt and loses training time or worse.
Instead of rushing these young kids into competition or make the next team or qualifying total we need to take our time in development.  In the words of Joe Kenn, we need to "slow cook 'em."  Remember , it takes 8-12 years to develop an elite athlete.
In my opinion, one of the best ways to identify problems is thru using Bill Hartman and Mike Robertson's "Assess and Correct" video and manual (http://www.assessandcorrect.com/).  This product does a really good job of identifying problems throughout the whole body.  In identifying and correcting these problems, I think it makes the lifts much easier to teach and learn and also will help to keep your athletes healthy and in the training hall.  Think about it and I would be interested in your thoughts.