Shoes off, standing in socked feet, instinctively sensing the next move, following the athlete’s performance with his body and mind. This is how you will find Kyle Shewfelt, 2004 Olympic gold medalist, doing his job as the CBC gymnastics analyst at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero. Shewfelt’s approach is unusual, but one he comes by honestly after discovering he just doesn’t feel right sitting behind a desk.

“The words don’t come to me when I sit, I feel flat. So I started standing. I’m free and the words started to come out with more energy” says Shewfelt, who’s heading to his third Olympics as a broadcaster. He adds, “You get a sixth sense as a former gymnast of what move is coming next. I’m there grabbing the bar with them.” Shewfelt relishes the opportunity to share this knowledge – he knows most of the athletes’ routines by heart – and his passion for gymnastics with the thousands of viewers at home watching the Games.

For Shewfelt, one of six CSI Calgary alumni filling television roles for the CBC in Rio, there are two key things that contribute to broadcasting success: extensive research and preparation, and being genuinely excited to see it all unfold. The biggest challenge though, and often the most difficult to learn, is being able to communicate that knowledge and passion effectively to the viewer in an entertaining way.

“Economy of language is so important and it’s exceptionally difficult to do” says Kelly VanderBeek, Olympian and alpine skier-turned-broadcaster. In television, there is no room for long-winded or technically complex commentary. Shewfelt agrees, “It’s knowing when to talk and when to let the action breathe. It’s pinpointing the moments when the action speaks louder than my words. I want my comments to add to the performance rather than distract from it.”

In addition to educating viewers, analysts weave in storytelling and react to what is happening in the moment, meaning they may have to change their tack quickly, and smoothly, from telling a story about an athlete to explaining a sudden error or change in play. In many respects, the analysts need to perform on demand in much the same way they did as athletes. Blythe Hartley, Olympic bronze medalist in diving finds, “when I’m on the air, the feelings I have mimic what athletes feel – I have to respond in the moment, perform when it counts. I get nervous and feel the adrenaline rush.”

However, the switch from sport to broadcasting isn’t necessarily an easy one. Good athletes don’t inevitably make good TV analysts or personalities. But many of the qualities and skills that propelled them to the top of their sport are what make them good broadcasters, too. Namely, endless practice, being coachable and an attitude that they can always improve and get better. A little bit of star power helps too.

VanderBeek didn’t seek out a career as a broadcaster. It was a happy accident borne out of a devastating knee injury that forced her to the sidelines before the 2010 Winter Olympics. Her on-air performance during those Games was notable and noticed and since then she has been to three Olympics and taken on the Calgary Stampede and Rogers Cup Tennis. “I just fell into this and it turns out I’m really good at it,” she says with a laugh.

Still, VanderBeek, like Shewfelt and Hartley, works incredibly hard to hone her new craft, collecting stacks of binders full of background research prior to each Games. Her work is primarily centred on telling the human story of the games and about the families behind the athletes. She helps bring the athletes to life beyond their sport, connecting them with the viewers.

This is ultimately the end goal – these former athletes telling the story of the Games and engage Canadians with their knowledge, skill and personality. For all, it is an honour to have the opportunity and one they take very seriously. For Shewfelt, it goes one step further, “I try to remember that there is some kid out there watching who’s going to fall in love with gymnastics. I want to connect with that kid.”

Let the Games begin!

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo: Kelly VanderBeek
13/07/16

By Ken Read

Each winter the Calgary region hosts up to seven annual World Cup events. Another four winter sports stage World Championship or quadrennial World Cups. Alberta is home to eight of the twelve winter National Sport Organizations. Canadian Sport Institute Calgary has matured into the largest of Canada’s seven Sport Institutes.

In 1981, when a fairly obscure western Canadian city called Calgary won the right to host the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, none of this existed.

So much has changed on the sport landscape in 35 years. But to really understand the legacy of 1988, you need to think back to what it was like to be in sport prior to 1981.

There was no Saddledome, no Olympic Oval. The Canmore Nordic Centre and Nakiska did not exist. Canada Olympic Park was everyone’s favourite city ski hill called Paskapoo. The administration of most winter sports operated out of Ottawa, under the watchful eye of Sport Canada. Calgary hosted the Brier and Skate Canada and had held the first-ever World Cup downhill at Lake Louise. The Flames were new in town, housed in the 6,500 seat Corral.

There certainly was a thriving winter sport community. International calibre Olympic talent had emerged from local clubs and programs in alpine ski racing, figure skating, speed skating and hockey. Local boosters wanted to run events to showcase Calgary, Alberta and the Canadian Rockies, to give home-grown athletes as well as other Canadian Olympic prospects and talent in emerging sports like freestyle and short track speed skating a chance to compete at home, to inspire local kids. But we lacked facilities and international experience.

So when Frank King galvanized a renewed Olympic bid from the Calgary Booster Club in 1979, he found a highly receptive audience and community.

I’m reflecting back to these early days of the 1988 Olympic bid, because it is so important to contrast what we take for granted today with what existed 35 years ago. No annual World Cups. No National Teams based in the province. Rare international events. No facilities.

It was an enormous amount of sweat equity, ingenuity and investment that revolutionized sport in Canada. We all know how successful the 1988 Games were. But the real success story started through the preparation and development as Calgary ramped up for ’88.

To prepare for the Games host cities are required to stage “pre-Olympic” events in all sports. A common-sense plan to test venues, give athletes a chance to train on Olympic sites, test logistics that range from transportation to security to pageantry, to train volunteers and work with partners that would include media, sponsors and funding agencies. The investment in people – volunteers and officials – delivered the capacity and know-how to organize annual World Cup events.Result: alpine skiing, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and speed skating now are regular stops on the international calendar, with hockey, cross country skiing, biathlon, figure skating and curling hosting major events.

Successful annual events were bolstered by a will to build training environments. National Training Centres emerged as funding became available, with National Teams centralizing their year-round programs close to these venues.Result: National Training Centres are now established at Nakiska (alpine), Canmore (biathlon & cross country), the University of Calgary (speed skating), Canada Olympic Park (nordic combined and ski jumping; sliding track for bobsleigh, skeleton & luge).

With National Teams centralized in Alberta, it followed that once Sport Canada allowed the National Sport Organizations to move their head offices to logical locations (rather than Ottawa), the administration of each sport followed the athletes.Result: Calgary and Canmore are now home to Hockey Canada, Alpine Canada, Luge Canada, Bobsleigh/Skeleton Canada, Ski Jump Canada, Nordic Combined Canada, Cross Country Canada and Biathlon Canada.

As Canada established a network of Canadian Sport Centres across the country to support our athletes, with most winter sports housed in the Calgary region, it was a natural evolution that CSI-Calgary became the primary provider to winter sports. Sport Centres are the employer of the support teams that surround athletes including exercise physiologists, strength and conditioning coaches, biomechanics, dieticians, mental performance consultants, anthropometrists, biochemistry lab technicians, physicians, physiotherapists, athletic therapists, chiropractors and massage therapists.

Working with funding partners at the federal, provincial and municipal level, WinSport Canada established the Athlete Centre within Canada Olympic Park that is now one of the leading facilities for athlete training in the world.Result: CSI-Calgary has evolved to become Canada’s largest Sport Institute, now employing more than 75 professionals and working with 345 current and future Olympians/Paralympians and Pan-Am/Parapan athletes and hundreds of coaches, technicians, officials and volunteers working with sport organizations.

The steadily expanding sport expertise and availability of venues has easily accommodated the addition of new and emerging sports that were added to the Olympic program post-1988. First to be included were skeleton and freestyle (moguls and aerials), followed by snowboard (cross, alpine and half-pipe) and ski cross, then expanding to slopestyle and now big air.Result: skeleton, freestyle, snowboard, ski cross programs and events were merged into the Calgary and region sporting mix on venues that are arguably best in the world.

The circle of sport influence driven by the legacy of ’88 and the critical mass of sport expertise has continued to bring even more projects with a core sport focus to bolster the sector.Result: Canada’s Sport’s Hall of Fame, the winter offices of Own the Podium and National Sport School; complementing sport are the Human Performance Lab at the University of Calgary and Sport & Wellness Engineering Technologies (SAIT). Expertise along with bricks and mortar have gravitated to Calgary as a centre of sport excellence.

The human factor has enormous impact. From those who are passing through, to many who came and put down roots, Calgary and area have been transformed. Many recognizable names within the sport community have come from other countries and parts of Canada. They have brought professional credentials and sporting pedigrees. Their children have joined our clubs. Their leadership and expertise populate sport boards, event committees and administration of local, provincial and national organizations.Result: Hundreds of international athletes come to Canada each year for training and competition. Canadians from across the country centralize to Calgary each year for their National Team programs. Many have elected to stay. Hundreds of sport professionals who lead and support our sport programs have been recruited from around the world and now call Canada home.

Just imagine if you can, almost none of this existed in 1981.

The business of international sport is no different than any other business sector. To remain competitive, relevant and to thrive, infrastructure needs to be maintained. Excellence is fluid, with the bar constantly raised. The medium that presents sport to the world is in flux with the expectations of digital delivery and efficient broadcast servicing a requirement for all sporting events from the World Cup level and up. We have an enormous sport business now resident in the region, so a review of existing and potential facilities and the infrastructure necessary to keep our competitive edge is a prudent business decision.

It hasn’t all been sweetness and light through this journey. Mistakes have been made, but an Olympic bid is a once in a generation chance to learn, adapt and improve in the same way Calgary learned from the Montreal experience and Vancouver learned from Calgary. But on balance, without doubt, the 1988 Games have been good for the city and region, province and country and an enormous lift for Canadian sport. Even a review to evaluate a potential bid is a chance to refresh, reinvigorate, renew, redress and rebuild.

This bid is for an event 10 years from today. At the core, the focus of the feasibility study should be on where we, as a community and country, would like to see this thriving sector evolve to by 2050 and beyond. To inspire youngsters, lift the next generation of champions, transfer knowledge to new leaders and officials. At a time where diversification is high on the list of urgent needs for our economy, sport and the related sectors of tourism and communications can figure prominently.

When the IOC announced “Calgary!” in October, 1981, none of us truly imagined the possibilities. What a journey. As we now look forward, what opportunity awaits us .....

More from Ken Read’s blog: White Circus – Weiß Zirkus – Cirque Blanc

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
29/06/16

Preparing for life after sport is not often at the forefront of athletes’ minds. The pressing demands of training and competition consume the majority of their energy and focus, which leaves little room for professional development outside of sport. However, there is a concerted effort at the CSI Calgary to offer athletes a variety of workshops and seminars through Game Plan with the aim of fostering skill development in areas that will help them thrive once they retire from sport.

Part of Amy Van Buskirk’s job as Athlete Services Coordinator at the CSI Calgary is to educate athletes about the programs available to them and encourage them to sign up. “Although the athletes don’t always have these programs on their radar and sometimes need a little push to sign up they are always so glad they do and are super thankful” she says. Courses offered include Financial Planning, Networking, Public Speaking, LinkedIn, Media Training and Branding & Marketing.

One recently retired athlete needs no push at all – Rudy Swiegers, Pairs Figure Skater and 2014 Olympian, signs up for every course he can. “Right now with any opportunity that comes up I just say ‘Why not?’ It’s good to grow as an athlete and as a person” he says. One of the key benefits that Swiegers has noted is that he can apply the skills he’s learning right away. “The public speaking course gave me skills that I can use in a job interview, where I can come up with ideas quickly and communicate them” he says, which is something he hopes to do in the near future.

For luge athlete Arianne Jones, who is working towards the 2018 Olympics, the courses aren’t only for life after sport. “It’s helpful for the future but it’s also really helpful now” she says. “With these workshops and events I can make connections now that lead to sponsorships during my athletic career as well as potential jobs when I am done.” She also has no concern that preparing for the future will detract from her luge career. “I think it’s a good thing to think about the future and it doesn’t take away from the competitive drive. Working towards the future and being competitive now can exist in synchronicity.”

What the athletes learn can be contagious. According to Van Buskirk, there is a peer-to-peer influence that helps the program grow and reach more athletes. “The athletes see other athletes go to the workshops and share what they’ve learned and that sparks others to get involved. It is absolutely worth their while” she says. Ultimately the goal is to help the athletes develop skills they can use in new careers after sport.

Jones acknowledges that the transition from sport to life will be challenging no matter how many workshops she takes or how well prepared she is. “No athlete quits and says, ‘I came out and things were great!’ That’s nobody’s story!” she laughs. Indeed, that transition can be difficult for many, if not most, athletes. But according to Jones, there is still a lot of value in working on professional development for the future when you’re still an athlete. “It makes you feel like you are doing the right thing now so that when you get there you have some skills and training behind you” she says.

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
06/07/16

There is a moment in sport when everyone but the athlete falls away. All of the people who had input into crafting an athlete for performance excellence – coaches, physiologists, psychologists, strength trainers, physiotherapists – step back to the sidelines, left only to watch, knowing that they have done everything they can to prepare the athlete to have what it takes to perform, to be in the game.

For some, hearts race and butterflies surge; for others, there is cheering and yelling at the TV screen; for others still there is no need or desire to watch at all – the work is done. Just as each person has a different role to play in cultivating the athlete’s performance, they also have different ways of approaching their work and investment in the athletes they train. However, one constant remains: while their primary aim is to help athletes be in the game, their hearts are in it, too.

The bond that develops between support staff and athletes is professional, but over time it becomes uniquely personal, too. “You can’t help but be emotionally connected,” says Cara Button, CSI Calgary Life Services Manager. “They’re not just a name you read in the paper, you’re invested in them.” Kelly Quipp, the CSI Calgary Sport Performance Laboratory Lead, agrees, “You get to know the athletes on many levels, whether it’s spending two hours in the lab watching them breathe or taking measurements of muscle and fat (body composition).”

For many, it is the process of helping build and shape an athlete over a four-year cycle in preparation for an Olympic Games that fuels their work. Dr. David Smith, Director of Sport Science at the CSI Calgary, says all the work is done at the front and middle end of the cycle, and that’s what he is passionate about. “It’s not the end result I find exciting,” he says. Scott Maw, CSI Calgary Sport Physiologist, agrees, “To me the process is more important than the actual performance. If I just focused on the performance, it would be impossible to do my job.”

For both Dr. Smith and Maw, the reward is in seeing the athletes realize their potential. “The most rewarding thing is that an athlete goes out and does what they are supposed to do, you just want them to execute what you know they can do,” says Dr. Smith. Maw says he feels satisfaction “from doing what I can to help these athletes go out there and do what they love on the biggest stage.”

When she is working in the lab or on site, Quipp says it’s about doing what needs to be done. “I’m here to do this job and I take the emotion out of it, but when I’m watching the athletes compete the emotion comes out and I’m a proud mama again!” For Maw, all aspects of the job are fully integrated with his desire to maximize performance. “There is nothing else I’d rather be doing so if that’s passion, then I guess my emotion is always there. I just try not to ride the highs too high or the lows too low” he says.

Highs and lows are part and parcel of sport – for every moment of joy, there can be one of sorrow, too. “When the men’s water polo team qualified for the 2008 Olympics our whole office erupted, when the women’s team pursuit failed in 2010 we all cried over that,” Button remembers. “It goes both ways.”

This deep connection to their work and the athlete journey ultimately strengthens the impact that CSI Calgary staff like Smith, Maw, Quipp and Button have on sport in Canada. “We’re trained to do our job, but we’re people too,” says Button. “We’re not family but we feel like we are.”

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
22/06/16