CSCA Candid Conversations: From Pro Soccer to the NBA with Carl Bergstrom
Carl is a graduate of UBC in Vancouver and currently the Director of Performance for the San Francisco based Golden State Warriors (GSW) in the NBA. During this interview with CSCA Advisory Team member Scott Vass, he discusses his experience working in the private sector, amateur sport (Canadian Women’s Soccer Team) and professional soccer (Vancouver Whitecaps) that lead to his current role with the GSW. Topics also discussed in this interview are: - Career path from UBC undergrad to GSW - Importance of Mentorship and Networking for professional development & career advancement - Developing trust with athletes when entering a [...]
Call for Advisory Team Members
We would like to invite members of our strength and conditioning community to become an Advisory Team Member (ATM). An ATM will be called upon to assist in many tasks, including; promoting the CSCA through social media, contributing articles for our newsletters, serving on committees, assisting in our yearly conference planning, and general planning for the organization. The ATM will be asked to attend the Annual General Meeting and will have voting rights on motions and elections for the organization. The ATM is an individual currently immersed in the profession who feels they could contribute time and resources to assist [...]
Speed Training with Dennis Mitchell: Hosted by CSCA Advisory Team Member Joseph Dolcetti
Date & Time (check your time zone): Thursday, December 2nd, 2021, 1130 am (GMT-5) Join the live Q&A and we’ll even give a pair of calf sleeves away to a lucky winner! CLICK HERE to register “Join LILAs upcoming Speed Webinar with our newest LILA Partner - Legend Coach Dennis Mitchell @greenmachine, Nike elite coach, USAT&F Coach, Olympic champion as we explore EXOGEN wearable resistance for elite speed conditioning technique and mechanics and discuss our program for the coming 2022 off season with some of the very fastest speed demons in human history. “Speed Training with Dennis Mitchell” is targeted [...]
High Performance Facility Design to Opening: Lessons Learned While Creating a World Class Training Environment at McMaster University
Bahman Bahrami & Jonathan Brown The High Performance Area (HPA) is a training centre for athletes of all ages under the direction of the McMaster Performance unit in the Department of Athletics and Recreation at McMaster University. With a student centered and community involved model, the department’s strength and conditioning staff uses the HPA to service varsity student athletes, experiential learning opportunities, secondary school students, Olympic athletes, professional athletes, and community athletes and teams. A brand new space for the HPA recently finished construction after the design process started in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxzQ-KimaM0 Athlete touring the facility for the first time [...]
CSIO Sport Science Conference 2021
About this event The CSIO Sport Science Conference is a multidisciplinary conference that highlights the work of integrated support teams (ISTs) and practitioners who work with Canadian national team athletes and coaches. Learn how strength & conditioning, physiology, biomechanics, nutrition and allied sport therapy professionals integrate, collaborate and innovate to enhance the performance of high performance athletes as they prepare to compete on the world stage at Olympic and Paralympic Games. All sessions will be virtual with live Q&A. The sessions will be recorded for registered participants to view following. The conference sessions are Friday December 3rd (2pm -5pm EST), [...]
Tactical Strength and Conditioning and Law Enforcement Health and Wellness. S&C Coach Profile: Becky Swan
CSCA - You are in your 11th year with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) but prior to joining the department you worked primarily in sport. Can you tell us a bit about your professional experience prior to starting with the VPD? BS - When I was a student at Sheridan College, I worked as a student therapist for McMaster University’s men’s rugby and woman’s basketball, as well as with the Hamilton Tiger Cats. In 2007, I graduated from Sheridan College and started working as an Athletic Therapist with the Vancouver Whitecap’s Residency program and the Women’s National Soccer Teams (Senior [...]
CSCA CONFERENCE 2021
REGISTRATION CLOSES THURSDAY APRIL 29TH AT 12NOON EST / DATE: Saturday May 1st, 2021 WHERE: Virtual (Conference Link will be sent to participants the week leading up to the conference) Pre Conference Session and Introductions 10:40 - 11am EST BLOCK 1 12noon- 2:00 (AST), 11:00am- 1:00pm (EST), 8:00am- 10:00am (PST) Speakers: David Behm, Darren Steeves, Jonathon Fowles, Josh Nowlan, Ethan Rendell-Watson Moderator: Shauna Forsyth David Behm: Benefits of stretching for health: injury risk reduction and pain control Evidence for the effectiveness of acute and chronic stretching for improving range of motion (ROM) is extensive and strong. Improved flexibility can have positive [...]
International Hockey Performance Summit 2021
The International Hockey Performance Summit is back again as a virtual event in 2021. We are gathering the best minds in hockey performance in one place on the internet over 2.5 days. The Summit starts on Friday, June 11th with an opening presentation by Matt Nichol on how “The Relationship is Everything” followed by a fun virtual Hot Stove social event. Then two days of powerful content on June 12th and 13th, featuring names like Boyle, Prentiss, O’Brien, Takahashi, Goodman, Douglas, Donskov, Fitzgerald, Potenza, Price, and many more. We hope to be back in 2022 with a LIVE event, but [...]
CSCA Candid Conversations: Derek Hansen
Derek Hansen is an international sports performance consultant and educator. He has worked for over 30 years as a sprint coach and has been consulting with professional teams (NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, MLB), national team organizations and collegiate athletic programs for over 20 years. He specializes in speed development, strategic performance planning, return-to-play protocols and electrical stimulation technologies. He offers consulting services through SprintCoach.com and educational courses via RunningMechanics.com. https://youtu.be/nFem3MGF8go
Take Safe Sport Training
The Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) is a wonderful organization, with a rich history of supporting coaches in our great country. The CSCA has connected with the CAC about our desire to encourage ALL S&C Coaches, regardless of focus or experience, to take the CAC's Safe Sport Training Course. It will take roughly 90mins to complete, if you don't have a locker room account with the CAC you can set one up for free, and take the course for free. Please take the time to complete the training. It is an important step in your journey as a professional. CLICK [...]
CSCA Interview with Dr. Stuart McGill
Dr. Stuart McGill is an excellent example of a Canadian researcher who has influenced S&C coaches globally with is work. We are extremely fortunate to have such an approachable, knowledgable, and personable, person to learn from. The CSCA was able to catch up with Dr. McGill regarding items such as what his focus was as an undergraduate student, to his current venture. CSCA: What was your motivation to focus your career on back health / research? SM: My answer may disappoint you. I went to University more interested in playing sport than for academics - the football coach suggested I [...]
Part 1 – Return to High Performance Sport: Progress and Suggestions in the Midst of COVID-19
The objectives of this article are to share the processes, challenges, and successes of reopening facilities dedicated to high performance sport in Canada. In so doing, specifics are shared related to one case study. Additionally, in being open and transparent, practices outlined here within may be appropriate and applicable, for facility owners and operators, during reopening phases in the public and private sectors. Each Canadian Provincial and Territorial government links, for specific guidance, are included at the end of this article. Note, the comment/blog reply posting feature is activated for this article. We encourage you to post your feedback, replies, [...]
Part 2 – Return to Training Guidelines for Collegiate Athletes Following the COVID-19 Shut Down
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant restructuring of the way in which Canadians work and live, with sporting activities worldwide being significantly impacted. Sport in most academic settings has been cancelled for the fall 2020 semester resulting in a 10 month withdrawal from most competitions, and in some cases, practice settings. As a result, there exists some uncertainty as to appropriate practices for maintaining athlete preparedness during the shutdown. It is important at this time to continue to support athletes in their development and to recognize the role that the S&C coach can play managing their wellness and [...]
International Hockey Performance Summit 2020 – Goes Virtual
The International Hockey Performance Summit has gone completely virtual due to the circumstances of COVID. We have retained all the amazing content, reformatted the schedule, and will be adding some content on the Friday evening as well! We are recording the entire event, so if you are registered, even if you miss some sessions, you’ll have access to all this amazing content after the event ends. We hope to see you on Zoom in a few months when all of hockey’s great performance minds come together! https://reconditioninghq.com/ihps/ click HERE to register
Webinar – Detraining and Performance Residuals: Minimal Effective Dose?
This Webinar is an excellent resource during the COVID-19 challenges in working with athletes. Posted with permission from the speakers, and Canadian Sport Institute Pacific CLICK HERE
Remote Coaching Part 1: What to Use to Connect with Athletes?
As a coach, I have used multiple methods to track training programs and stay connected with the athletes I work with. When I first started coaching, remote coaching involved using either a phone or a fax machine. My business partner and I recognized the challenge of programming and coaching for the athletes we worked with and approached a grad student at U of T to help design a program that enabled us to create, monitor and track programs electronically. There were challenges, glitches, and growing pains, especially for our athletes who lived and raced in different countries. Although there were [...]
Using Basic Physics to Overcome Equipment and Space Restrictions
Given the global situation, and with many provinces under varying degrees of lockdown, we are presently faced with finding strategies for remote programming that continue to meet the needs of athletes who do not currently have access to facilities. In particular, a major challenge we face is providing an adequate training stimulus with minimal equipment and space, to ensure strength and power qualities are maintained, rather than solely providing conditioning with body weight circuits. Whilst we might be limited on external loading, the more salient issue is what forces are imposed at the level of the muscle-tendon unit. There are [...]
Langara College: The Perfect Starting Point For Your Kinesiology Journey
Langara College is located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its inception was in 1965 and was part of Vancouver Community College. In 1970, Langara opened its West 49th Avenue campus and this is the College's current location. On April 1, 1994, under the Provincial College and Institute Act, Langara became an independent public college. Langara is currently celebrating its 49th anniversary on 49th Avenue. The college has grown tremendously over the last 49 years, and currently is one of BC’s leading undergraduate institutions. Langara offers University Studies, Career Studies, and Continuing Studies program for more than 21,000 students annually. The [...]
Insights into S&C in Ontario Colleges: Introduction
In the Winter 2020 Edition of our newsletter, we highlighted information about colleges in BC and Ontario. The links below focus on two options within Ontario. Click HERE if you are interested in Alternative Pathways to the Strength and Conditioning World: Four Ways the College System Creates Strong Coaches (by Adam Balan) Click HERE if you are interested in Insights into Strength & Conditioning in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (by Teresa Arnini, Jason Melhado, and Rob Chrzaszcz) If you would like to share information about your University or College please reach out to us using our contact us page.
Dan Baker’s Velocity-Based Training 1 Day Course
DATE: Saturday Feb 29, 2020 TIME: 8:30am – 5:30pm VENUE: Sheridan College, Brampton Ontario Davis Campus 7899 McLaughlin Rd. Rm. H118/H140 INSTRUCTOR: Chris Champman PUSH Band Package $180 includes: PUSH Band, 3-month Subscription to Portal Elite (1-3 athletes), PUSH Bar Sleeve, and PUSH Strap. Sizing: Measure from the widest part of forearm, near your elbow:Small Strap (9-12 in / 22-30 cm)Large Strap (11.5-17.5 in / 29-44 cm) + Waist Belt $37.50 (50% off): Interested in tracking jump squats and countermovement jumps without using our jumps protocol? This waist band is for you. Our PUSH Band slides right [...]
