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Lethbridge, AB- The 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia were a wake-up call for the amount of support given to Canadian athletes. A total of 14 medals were brought home, forcing the nation’s sport academics to reflect upon how it could improve athlete performance for a better showing on the world stage.
Thus, a new long-term athlete development model was born and, after being a work in progress for the past two years, it arrived on the doorstep of athletes in the Lethbridge region this past spring to help them further reach their full potential.
Athletes across southwestern Alberta who are aiming to take their game to the next level are now going to benefit, thanks to the Alberta Sport Development Centre-Southwest.
The centre, which was unveiled last month, will operate out of facilities in the Lethbridge area and provide a range of athlete services, such as nutritional counselling, physiotherapy, psychological preparation and access to advanced coaching.
According to executive director Travis Grindle, the centre is fairly significant for the region to see that our athletes continue to get recognized on a provincial level and hopefully trickle to the national stage.
Southern Alberta has a rich tradition of sport, he added, and produces a fair number of top athletes already. The programs offered at the facility will only enhance that rich tradition and allow it to reach new heights.
“This centre is coming on board at the right time to help surge that along a little quicker,” said Grindle. “I like the fact we are part of a network of centres. We get together quite often and share ideas to talk about things that have worked well in other places. I think in many aspects we are ahead of the game and doing some things that some of the other centres have been doing for a while.”
The centre, which will soon be based out of the old courthouse in August, is made up of several different components that will be evolving to fit the athletes’ needs. One of the components is the Athlete Enhancement Program (AEP), which is an elite athlete support program aimed at providing high-quality sports science support to emerging high-performance athletes.
The athletes are selected through an application process twice a year, and are given an opportunity to access nutrition advice, specific exercise training and mental skills training to improve their sport performance.
So far, 13 athletes from a variety of sports in the region have been named to the Athlete Enhancement Program and took part in it from January to June. Grindle is hoping anywhere from 24 to 36 will be able to take part in it next year.
Aside from the Athlete Enhancement Program, education speaker series and strenth and conditioning programs are offered and have so far been well received. In the fall, Grindle plans to do some sessions on brain concussion and head trauma, and contact sports in general to help educate athletes, parents and coaches on certain topics.
The final component that will be getting underway is taking a greater role in developing the region’s coaches — something that is vital towards an athlete’s success.
“If your coaches aren’t trained at a high level, then you might have one or two athletes at the 10 or 11 age that are seen as phenoms. If you train the coaches properly, then hopefully, the result is maybe four or five of those athletes are at the point where they can fulfil their athletic potential,” said Grindle.
The Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation has established a network of Alberta Sport Development centres across the province, including Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Fort McMurray, Medicine Hat and the Edmonton Capital Region. Its main purpose is to co-ordinate and enhance services available to Alberta’s emerging athletes and coaches to allow them to develop and train at a high level without leaving home.
The Alberta Sport Development Centre-Southwest is an initiative through a partnership with the City of Lethbridge, the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge College and the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
The facility will work with the Canadian Sport Centre Calgary to provide services to Alberta athletes competing at a provincial or Canada Games level.
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