Not many Olympic medalists have a Ph.D. in neuroscience, but Dr. Tara Whitten is an exception. The CSI Calgary athlete and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in track cycling became fascinated with the human brain upon reading a book on the topic in high school. She came away with the sense that neuroscience is a field where a lot of unsolved mysteries remain. Her new passion for the brain nurtured a desire to help solve these mysteries.

Years later, as Whitten was finishing her Ph.D., which focused on studying electrophysiology in the hippocampus (a part of the brain that is important in learning and memory), she was trying to think of how she could bridge the gap between neuroscience and sport – her two passions in life. “I thought there might be a way to combine the two,” she says. “In the end I thought concussion would be a perfect fit.”

But first there was the little matter of chasing her final Olympic dream. For 2016, Whitten chose to focus on the individual time trial in cycling and became a legitimate medal contender. Improbably, in March, during her final preparations leading up to the Games she suffered a debilitating neck injury from a crash during a training ride on the course in Rio.

At first, Whitten’s recovery was uncertain and unpredictable – she had a concussion and broken bone at the base of her skull. This uncertainty led to thoughts about the future. “I was still recovering from my accident in Rio and I wasn’t really sure how things would go,” she says. “In that situation I was thinking a lot about what I was going to do.”

In the end, she pushed through a remarkable recovery and finished an impressive seventh place in Rio. Despite good feelings about her performance, she still laments that she could have done better, but she will have no time to dwell on the past – a new challenge awaits.

Dr. Brian Benson is the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Sport Medicine at the CSI Calgary and has a clinical consulting practice in Sport Medicine at the WinSport Medicine Clinic with a special interest in acute sport concussion. He was Whitten’s physician during her recovery, but now he’ll be her co-supervisor as she begins working as a postdoctoral fellow in his concussion research group.

Despite having a concussion herself and being under the care of Dr. Benson, Whitten came across the job posting honestly – an internet search for a postdoctoral position in Calgary in concussion research. “I was still wearing the neck brace during the interview,” she laughs.

The two-year position is jointly funded by Own the Podium and Mitacs, a national, not-for-profit funding organization. Whitten’s work will focus primarily on measuring and assessing visual impairments in concussion patients. Using robotic technology developed by Dr. Benson, Whitten will develop a task to measure oculomotor function, which will expand the existing capabilities of the diagnostic tool.

According to Dr. Benson, there is currently no task or program available to measure oculomotor function in concussion patients. “Tara will be breaking new ground with her research.” He says vision problems are common in concussion patients, such as difficulty focusing, which can lead to dizziness, but are difficult to assess in a clinical setting. Whitten’s research will help remove the subjective component of assessing and monitoring concussions and when an athlete is ready to return to play.

Whitten wasn’t able to benefit from this testing herself during her injury, something she thinks could have helped her recovery. “There was a window of time when I thought I was 100% but every once in a while something would happen that made me question that,” she says. “Having this test would have helped me know if I was fully recovered or not.”

Her unique background as an athlete and neuroscientist, as well as her recent experience with a concussion injury, made her the ideal candidate to join Dr. Benson’s team. “She brings a high performance perspective, a neuroscience degree and training in programming and analysis,” says Dr. Benson. “She is the perfect fit for our concussion program.”

For Whitten, it feels strange how everything came together. Ph.D., Olympian and concussion, all converging at a time and place that feels right as she transitions away from life as an athlete. “I feel very lucky to have something to focus on. I feel that there are a lot of possibilities and I’m excited about it now.”

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
28/09/16

There is an unfortunate reality within the realm of para sport that athletes have to contend with – they don’t always have access to services from their National Sport Organization, either due to a lack of resources or too few athletes to invest in a dedicated program.

“In para alpine skiing for example, there are not enough athletes to develop a specific para alpine training group and program”, says Reid Bilben, Manager at the Alberta Sport Development Centre (ASDC). “This gap has left many para athletes from several sports on their own, without a place to train or team to train with.”

Fortunately, the CSI Calgary, in partnership with the ASDC, is looking to change this reality with an innovative new program geared towards para athletes of all ages from any sport. The Para Sport Training Program is launching this fall at the CSI Calgary and will focus on providing sport science services to para athletes.

The central idea behind the program is to bring para athletes from a variety of sports together to form training groups that will have access to high performance sport services from experts at the CSI Calgary. Bilben says that the intention is to fill a gap in the system for developing athletes. “We are trying to get more athletes who are the only one from their sport in a training region, into a training group with other para sport athletes.”

Tessa Gallinger is an Adaptive Strength Specialist at the CSI Calgary and will lead the new training groups. She says the main goal is to bridge that gap within the para-sport system. “There isn’t a lot of availability of sport science to athletes prior to reaching the high performance level,” she says. “Most of the athletes I work with are already carded and on the national team. We’re trying to get athletes into the stream sooner.”

Gallinger, who is also pursuing a master’s degree studying muscle physiology in athletes with cerebral palsy, says that they are looking to help athletes build the right foundation in strength and skill in order to help ensure they have long careers in para sport. “We want to get these athletes in the program when they are in between sports and haven’t specialized yet, but still need functional strength work and help with structural basics,” she says.

This dedicated support will help the athletes stay healthy and strong in their sport for a long time. “We want to see them go to more than one Paralympic Games. We want their careers to be long lived,” says Gallinger. In a sport environment where athletes enter the stream at a later age and peak in their 30s or 40s, this program will serve to help younger athletes get started on the high performance path at an earlier age.

In addition to having a place to train, training partners and sport science support, one of the key benefits for the athletes is simply being in an environment where excellence is the main pursuit. For Gallinger, it doesn’t matter how impaired or abled athletes are, they all have big goals and being exposed to others with similar attitudes and goals pushes everyone to be better. “There is a huge development piece to this program,” she says. “Athletes can see other athletes who are where they want to be, and can see what it takes to get there.”

The Para Sport Training Program fall session began last week, there is still room for participants. Winter session starts January 9, 2017. For more information on the program or to register, contact the ASDC office at 403-440-8668.

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
14/09/16

A dose of inspiration often appears after an unexpected turn. For Canadian long track speed skater Ted-Jan Bloemen, it came after injuring his wrist in a bike crash during a training ride that left him training on a stationary bike in his living room for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, this break led to plenty of time to take in the 2016 Olympic Games on television.

“It was great to have the inspiration of the Games at that moment,” says Bloemen, current world record holder and 2015 world championship silver medalist in the 10,000m. “I remember thinking, “Ok, this is what I’m doing this for.” A timely and powerful reminder for one of the best speed skaters in the world.

As the sport world now shifts focus from summer to winter sport, with the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang fast approaching, winter athletes like Bloemen are preparing to compete in their pre-Olympic season and Olympic test events.

Concurrently, winter athletes are also shifting from summer training to competition mode, a progression that doesn’t happen overnight or by accident. In long track speed skating, the transition is a deliberate effort to refocus the mind from training to competing.

This effort has been spearheaded by Derek Robinson, CSI Calgary Mental Performance Consultant and the Mental Performance Lead for Speed Skating Canada. Along with the Integrated Support Team (IST), he has spent the last several years developing a series of mental exercises and events that are integrated into each coach’s yearly training program, which serve to develop specific competition skills.

“It’s very deliberate, purposeful, planned and debriefed,” says Robinson. The idea is that the athletes are presented opportunities throughout the season to help them improve competition focus. Robinson says they also measure how the athletes are doing, like evaluating how well they are embracing a particular challenge or responding to a debriefed message, which helps both the coaches and athletes understand how they are improving.

Within this framework, athletes also progress through the transition to competition in their own, more organic way. Bloemen says he shifts his mind to competitive mode by focusing on short term and daily goals. “I have a hard time focusing on far away goals,” he says. “I’m more focused on what I can do now; the first race of the season.”

He gains confidence from the progression of hard summer training to getting back on the ice to feeling the speed in fast laps. Eventually, the excitement returns and he thinks, “Oh yeah, I want to race again.”

This is the kind of attitude that the IST is looking for. “We took them through competition simulations throughout the summer to remind them of that part of their mental performance. We’re now taking that from a general to specific focus,” says Scott Maw, CSI Calgary Sport Physiologist and IST Lead at Speed Skating Canada.

That entails everything from the summer of training, to technical and tactical work, and mental and physical training. According to Maw, a lot of it is about them trusting what they did physically – it plays a big role in what they can do mentally.

This blend of planned, deliberate preparation within the program and performance focused preparation is ultimately what enables higher level performance. Robinson’s key message – athletes have to learn to manage a fierce competitive desire with grit and race IQ. For Maw, it’s all about performance. “Performance is the true measure of how the program is working,” he says.

This pre-Olympic season, Bloemen no doubt has his work cut out for him, but rest assured he is well prepared – freshly inspired, well-trained and ready to race.

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
21/09/16

The 2016 Paralympic Games are set to set to run from September 7-18 in Rio de Janiero. Over four thousand athletes from more than 160 countries will compete in 526 medal events in 22 sports. The Canadian Team is comprised of 155 athletes competing in 19 sports. One of those Canadians is a young, up and coming cyclist from Calgary, Mike Sametz.

Sametz trains at CSI Calgary with head coach of the Para-Cycling Program Phil Abbott. In addition to training, Sametz also pursues an education in business and kinesiology at the University of Calgary. In his final preparations for the Paralympic Games he also trained at the 2015 Pan Am Games venue for track cycling track in Milton, Ontario.

Sametz started cycling seven years ago when some friends of his parents told them about the para cycling program at the Calgary Olympic Oval. From the very beginning, Sametz, who has cerebral palsy on the right side of his body, was integrated with able-bodied cyclists and competes regularly in both able-bodied and Paralympic competitions. “He’s a model for integrating para and able bodies athletes, which in the past was not always the way things were done,” says Abbott.

Usually quiet and mild-mannered off the bike, Sametz is fiercely competitive once racing starts. “His personality on the bike is completely different,” observes Abbott. “He’s very shy except when he’s racing. He likes to win and to be the best but doesn’t like the attention. Nobody would guess he’s super competitive.”

Sametz himself keeps his competitive drive alive through setting big goals. “When I first started cycling, my goal was always to go to Rio,” he says. “I’m a very dedicated person and when I find a goal I want to achieve I’ll do everything I can to achieve it.”

At 20 years old, Sametz is the youngest member of the para cycling team heading to Rio to compete for Team Canada at the 2016 Paralympic Games. He’s also younger than most of his competitors, who tend to range from 30-40 years old. His age however, has not held him back – to date his major accomplishments include a silver medal in the Individual Pursuit at the 2015 Parapan Am Games and a bronze medal in the Individual Time Trial at a 2016 World Cup in Belgium.

According to Abbott, Sametz is well poised to reach the podium in two of his four events. “If all the stars align he could get third in the Individual Pursuit and third in the Individual Time Trial. He’s definitely within striking distance,” says Abbott.

Sametz is more modest in his predictions, preferring to focus on what he needs to do to perform well in Rio. “The last three months I noticed myself getting better,” he says. “I’m going to try and do my very best in all my races. My competitors are not new to me. They are the same guys I’ve raced against at World Cups and World Championships. I know where I’ve placed before and want to improve on those placings.”

CSI Calgary is proud to support Team Canada Para athletes. Other CSI Calgary supported athletes to watch: Jenn Brown and Alister McQueen in para athletics; Ross Wilson para cycling; Morgan Bird, para swimming; Stefan Daniel, para triathlon; Chad Jassman and Arinn Young, wheelchair basketball; Zak Madell, wheelchair rugby; and athletes from the women’s sitting volleyball team Angelena Dolezar, Leanne Muldrew, Jennifer Oakes, Shacarra Orr, Heidi Peters, Tessa Popoff, Amber Skyrpan, and Katelyn Wright.

The Opening Ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games kick off at 4:30pm MST Wednesday September 7, 2016.

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
07/09/16