With Canadian Nordic and Para Nordic athletes gaining momentum on the world stage, athlete and coach needs for CSI Calgary’s Integrated Support Team (IST) services are growing. This is where Jessica Kryski, CSI Calgary Sport Physiologist provides the necessary support.

Originally based out of CSI Calgary’s main offices, Kryski’s expertise was increasingly being utilized by Canmore Nordic athletes and coaches, and travel between Calgary and Canmore was intensifying. In June 2016, Kryski moved to Canmore to be a better on-site liason with the Nordic National teams.

Kryski assists with weekly and yearly Nordic planning, physiological testing, monitoring and she also helps at some training sessions. Being based in Canmore allows her to be more available to the High Performance Directors, coaches, skiers and other IST members. “It is very useful to be able to attend training sessions more regularly in order to properly gauge their load and impact,” explains Kryski. “Being permanently on site allows opportunity for more spontaneous conversations, and building stronger relationships and trust with the teams.”

Emily Nishikawa is a Canmore-based cross country ski athlete, primarily competing in distance events. Kryski has been working with her for the past few years, and they have developed a strong working relationship. “ I feel like I can always run questions by her and really value her expert opinion. Together with my coach, we can tailor my training plan according to test results as well as daily monitoring. Having Jessica based in Canmore just makes everything much easier and more smooth.”

Cross Country Ski Canada notices a difference now that they have a CSI Calgary IST member on site. “It’s made a huge difference having Jessica’s expertise in Canmore full time, working as a collective with all the Nordic disciplines amassing a large bank of knowledge,” says Tom Holland, High Performance Director. “Kryski’s work also extends across the country with National and Development team athletes and coaches.“

The change is also beneficial to other IST members within the CSI Calgary. Anna Aylwin, Head Calgary Strength and Conditioning Coach for Nordic sports says that Kryski’s move to Canmore has elevated the IST approach to new levels. “The way we work as an IST with Nordic sports is very hands on. Having Jessica there gives us more of an established base and knowing she’s there makes working with these athletes in a satellite location much more efficient. I feel that we’ve made a huge step forward in establishing a centre of excellence for Nordic sports.”

Cross Country Ski Canada, Biathlon Canada and Para Nordic Skiing have their home base at the Canmore Nordic Centre. With access to more than 100 km of world class trails, 31 firing lanes for biathlon, a paved rollerski loop and biathlon competition trails, more than 25 CSI-supported National Team athletes, and additional development groups train at the Centre.

Ski Nationals 2017 will be held at the Canmore Nordic Centre from March 18 – 25, 2017. It’s a great opportunity to see Canada’s best compete leading up to the Peyongchang Olympics in February 2018.

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Lisa Thomson
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
22/02/17

The greatest and most important goals in life take a proportionally significant amount of time and effort to achieve – endeavouring to earn a PhD, for example. Such an undertaking is not for the faint of heart, but rather for the few among us who strive to change the way of the world. They take the long road.

CSI Calgary Director of Strength and Conditioning, Matt Jordan, has reached a milestone in his long road – with the successful defense of his PhD thesis, Neuromuscular Function in Alpine Ski Racers with ACL Reconstruction: A Return to Sport Framework. Jordan began the journey over four years ago to address what he saw as a major deficiency in ACL injury management for alpine skiers.

Having worked with the women’s alpine team from 1999-2003 and then again in 2010, Jordan came to understand that recovery from ACL injuries was often evaluated primarily on subjective observations from the athletes and their support teams. He wanted to do a better job of designing programs and making a better determination on the state of injuries.

“The main goal was to develop some better testing,” explains Jordan. “To develop a simple test in the training environment that is more sensitive than what was typically done.” The idea was simply to figure out how to better design training programs to get the athlete back to the best possible functional level.

To achieve this end, Jordan developed a testing protocol using force plates to measure asymmetry between the athlete’s injured and non-injured knees. This objective measurement helped the athlete and support team understand how recovery progressed. Moreover, it served to caution the athlete about returning to snow too early.

“Most people assume that with an ACL injury it’s a 10-month recovery and then you’re back on the hill. But the reality is that many skiers, despite getting back on snow, still have deficits that persist after recovery,” says Jordan.

Former alpine skier Kelly VanderBeek worked closely with Jordan after she suffered a catastrophic knee injury that kept her out of the 2010 Winter Olympics. “It was really interesting to see the imbalances and compare my two knees,” says VanderBeek. “It wasn’t just in how strong I was but also in how quickly I could react.”

Although the focus of his research was centred on ACL injury and recovery, Jordan also focused a great deal on the importance of assembling a strong multi-disciplinary team to support the recovery process.

Jon Kolb, Director of Sport Science and Innovation at Own the Podium, says that Jordan has a way of understanding that it’s a team approach. “He recognizes that there needs to be a lot of people involved in bringing an athlete back from injury,” says Kolb.

Ultimately, the value of Jordan’s novel research is in how the support team works together to help the athlete return to competition and what that decision is based on. “When the burden of decision is on you to decide when an athlete returns to sport, it’s better to have an objective measure to work with than just winging it,” he says.

Jordan also understands how dramatically an ACL reconstruction surgery can affect an athlete’s career and life. “Athletes are forever changed because of major injury,” he says. This resonated strongly with VanderBeek, who says she went through a phase during her recovery where all she cared about was being able to play with her future kids.

Jordan’s hope is that his research will impact how ACL injuries are managed by facilitating a thoughtful and intelligent return to sport framework. “I think I planted a seed in enough people’s brains that we need to try and do this in a different way,” says Jordan. “This is just the beginning.”

Jordan now plans to return working with athletes, take on more mentorship and continue his research. Reflecting on this big accomplishment, he realizes he’s happy to be done but also very motivated to take things to the next level. “Doing my PhD was a big endeavour,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to do this and I’m glad I went down the long road.”

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
08/02/17

For Olympic coach Les Gramantik recovery days are not optional, they’re a must. It wasn’t always this way for his training group, especially when Gramantik first came through the coaching system 40+ years ago.

“Athletes were trained very hard and not enough thought was given to recovery”, says Gramantik. “Now as we know, recovery is an integral part of training; without adequate proper recovery it is impossible to train and perform well”.

Gramantik relies on a team of professionals, an Integrated Support Team (IST), to assist his athletes in optimal recovery strategies. Qualified service providers at CSI Calgary contribute to this leading edge approach in addressing the individual athlete’s needs and supporting coaches in decision-making. As Gramantik explains, “It doesn’t matter how much I read, I stay away from giving advice about anything I’m not trained for, so it’s helpful to be able to direct athletes to experts in other fields.”

Performance Dietitian Kelly Drager is one of those professionals accessible through CSI Calgary. Drager sets athletes up for success by focusing on a maximum of three new modifications at a time to foster consistency, not perfectionism. This approach removes the daunting task of trying to follow a strict meal plan, which can be discouraging for anyone who is trying to create new habits.

“Because we work in an athlete-centered approach we want to get the athlete to pull off something they can take charge of and feel like it would benefit them at the highest level,” Drager says. “Little successes can create a cascade effect of other positive changes.”

For example, Drager says the critical question for athletes to consider is “what are you eating and what are you missing?” when addressing their daily food intake: during heavy training days replenishing energy stores appropriately in relation to what energy was expended.

The same consideration is made for lighter training days and having a plan that enables them to adjust accordingly.

Though a coach can tell an athlete to rest and a dietitian can guide an athlete to refuel, one of the hardest parts of recovering for an athlete with a competitive mindset is to convince them to mentally shut down.

Derek Robinson is a Mental Performance Consultant who has been based at CSI Calgary for more than a decade. “The biggest thing about recovery is a mindset that allows the athlete to give themselves permission to turn their mind off.”

In his role as an IST Service Provider for a team sport, Robinson addresses the mental side of recovery by implementing a designated 15 to 20 minute evening recovery session when the team is on the road. This includes a protocol of handing in their phones (after connecting to family) allowing athletes to mentally commit to actively engaging in the relaxation session — literally, “turning it off”. These sessions promote a state of relaxation in order to prepare their bodies and minds for a good night’s sleep, which Robinson says can be often overlooked as a recovery tool but is key to a holistic athlete-centered approach.

Robinson describes it as a bit of a catch-22, in that sleep should be stressed for optimal recovery, but it shouldn’t be stressed about. “You can control your habits surrounding sleep but you can’t control when you fall asleep. That’s when you have to just let go. That’s when you just trust you will fall asleep and you do not worry about it because worrying about it is psychological insomnia.”

It’s sound expert advice such as this, in areas that were once thought of as trivial, that coaches such as Gramantik are now able to implement as a part of a well-rounded IST program, supporting athletes in getting them to the podium.

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Jessica Zelinka
Photo by Dave Holland: @csicalgaryphoto
15/02/17

A needle in a haystack meets a diamond in the rough – so hopes the innovative RBC Training Ground campaign that is currently gaining momentum across the country. Now in its second year, the unique athlete recruitment program is searching far and wide for Canada’s next great Olympian. Who will it be?

The search is on at 25 local qualifying events and five regional finals throughout Canada. The program is open to athletes aged 14-25, targeting both young athletes that are talented in their sport as well as older athletes with untapped potential to transfer to a new sport. Sports like bobsleigh, rowing and athletics are filled with explosive athletes who come to these sports later in life – and RBC Training Ground knows there are hidden stars waiting to be found.

Athletes are evaluated on their speed, power, strength and endurance through several different tests. They are also aiming to achieve performance benchmarks set by National Sport Organizations (NSOs) scouting for talented athletes with Olympic medal potential.

RBC has partnered with the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), the Canadian Olympic Foundation (COF), CBC Sports and the Canadian Olympic Paralympic Sport Institute Network (COPSIN) to run the program.

In Alberta, CSI Calgary has been engaged to plan the local qualifiers at five Alberta Sport Development Centres (ASDC) and the regional finals at CSI Calgary. Miranda Sallis, Manager of Performance Services at CSI Calgary, is responsible for planning and managing the events and is also sending CSI Calgary physiology staff to help evaluate the athletes. “It’s a truly collaborative effort that requires a lot of coordination between the partners,” she says.

Wendy Moar, ASDC NW Coordinator in Grande Prairie, is thrilled to host a local qualifier. “We are very excited to host the event and be a part of it,” says Moar. “It’s a huge role that our centre can fill – a big part of our purpose and mandate is specializing in providing sport science services that help athletes get to the next level and the RBC Training Ground Program aligns very well with that goal.”

One athlete looking for a break is Jamie Strauss, a fifth-year volleyball player at Grande Prairie Regional College. Strauss, 23, is looking to make use of her athletic talents to make the jump from volleyball to a new sport like rowing. “I think it’s an amazing opportunity for athletes like me,” she says. “I’m excited to go out and see what I can do.”

Up to 50 athletes from across the country could receive additional funding, mentorship and support from RBC and the COF to fuel their passion and Olympic dreams. The top performer from each RBC Training Ground regional final will also receive the ultimate Olympic experience – a trip to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Being discovered is a thrilling prospect for any athlete, but more importantly what the RBC Training Ground program offers is another avenue within the sport system for them to reach their goals. “I see it as an opportunity for an athlete to work towards and make it their goal to be a part of the program,” says Moar. “It opens up a lot of opportunities.”

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Kristina Groves: @kngrover
01/02/17