National Launch of Game Plan Program Aims to Enhance Athletes’ Success
On September 15, 2014, the Canadian Sport Institute Network launched the Game Plan™ program to kick off the next phase of elite athlete development and success in Canada. Initiated in collaboration with the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee, and Sport Canada, the life services initiative aims to enhance performance while simultaneously preparing athletes for life after sport.
Game Plan’s main goal as Canada’s athlete career transition program is to support and empower high performance athletes to pursue excellence during and beyond their sporting careers. Taking a proactive approach to life and career planning, the program is designed to help athletes navigate change and focus on performing when it matters most. Supporting athletes under the pillars of career, education, and personal development, the program uses a customized approach to ensure that athletes’ specific needs are being met.
The goal of the Career Advisors who are implementing the program is to incorporate their approach into the yearly training plans with the support of athletes’ coaches, high performance directors, and mental performance consultants. This will ensure performance excellence during an athlete’s career by empowering them with the feeling that they can make decisions during their sporting career and beyond. By providing athletes with the peace of mind that their lives will be on track for success even after they are finished competing, Game Plan will allow for optimal performances to occur throughout every stage of an individual’s athletic career.
Kristina Groves, 4-time Olympic medallist in speed skating, knows first hand the benefits of life services programs such as Game Plan. Now retired, she recalls, “As an athlete it can be difficult to imagine or consider life after sport, but resources like career planning available from the CSI… can be a worthwhile experience for all athletes. I took the career planning workshop when I was a young athlete and still had many years of sport still ahead of me. Even though I ended up pursuing something altogether different when I actually retired, it was the process of evaluating my life's goals and the skills I learned to do so at various points in my career, and now post-sport life, that I found most valuable. It's a worthwhile endeavour at any stage of an athletic career and I'm thankful I had the opportunity to explore options and learn more about what I truly wanted to do with my life after sport.”
From a different perspective, 20-year-old Development Team speed skater Heather McLean sees extreme value in utilizing the Game Plan program during the beginning stages of her career, saying “As an upcoming athlete in the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary, Game Plan will give me the confidence to focus on my goals during training and competition, knowing that I will have support to help make the transition from being an athlete into having a career after sport!”
The first e-learning module, based on Career Planning, is set to launch on Game Plan’s homepage in January 2015. What better way to start off a new year than with a fresh life goal in mind?
For more information on the Game Plan program at the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary, please contact Cara Button at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Brittany Schussler: @bschussler
Photo by Dave Holland: @davehollandpics
Game Plan: mygameplan.ca
Game Plan on Twitter: @gameplandematch
Heather McLean: @leeotardsmclean
