“Don’t sugar coat it” asked Alpine Canada’s Morgan Megarry of Canadian Sport Institute Calgary and Alpine national team physiotherapist, Courtney Brown, as he went down on the slopes while training in Alta Badia, Italy resulting in his 5th major knee injury.

A torn MCL, ACL, and meniscus; a skier’s worst nightmare. Knowing he had a long recovery ahead of him, Morgan’s initial anger and pain was well warranted as this injury would put him out for the season. “I was a wreck” said Megarry, stating it was a big year for him, a make or break one at that. Morgan who was claiming veteran status due to his long and successful career as an alpine skier had battled with injuries for the last two seasons.

After a smooth journey back to Canada, Morgan was in surgery within three days of his arrival with renowned surgeon, Dr. Mark Heard. Heard has been responsible for all of Megarry’s surgeries, which formed a close doctor-patient relationship where texting each other was a frequent form of communication. “It’s been pretty amazing to have my orthopedics surgeons’ number to text him to see him the next day. I was being put in front of the best surgeons. I think he is the best ortho surgeon for skiers in Alberta, if not in Canada.”

After a successful surgery, Morgan was back in the gym working with CSI Calgary’s physiotherapist, Sarah Robinson and strength and conditioning coach, Jeremiah Barnert. Throughout his recovery, Megarry says they were super helpful in maintaining an efficient rehabilitation routine and constant communication with each other. “What I feel the biggest positive in that interaction was that everyone was in touch and on the same page every day”, he explains. “If there was ever anything that wasn’t aligning, I felt comfortable approaching both Sarah and Jeremiah to get back on the same page and into a routine, and that was huge.”

Now retired, Morgan knew how crucial this rehab would be to not only get him back on snow successfully which he accomplished 11 months later, but to be able to maintain a normal quality of life post-sport. “With the amount of trauma that my knee has seen, anyone who knows about what has happened would be really impressed with my recovery.” And with that, he credits the care of the team at CSI Calgary and the mutual respect they formed as they worked through a challenging time in his career. “Good people who really care and they thought hard about it and had intention behind what they were doing.”

A broken-down T-bar at an Austrian ski hill is what gave Mark Hendrickson the push he needed to make his first big jump after rehabbing his second ACL reconstruction. At his first training camp back with the team, the 21-year old slopestyle skier, then 18, was ready to jump, but without a lift up the mountain there was no time for a warmup.

A little nudge from a teammate not to hesitate, to just commit to it, helped Hendrickson take a leap of faith. “I needed that to get back into my original mindset,” recalls Hendrickson.

So, without hesitation he launched himself into the air and made a perfect landing.

If Hendrickson seems young to have already endured two full ACL surgeries and recoveries, it’s because he is. At 15, the first ACL recovery went well, but the second one, in 2017, was more painful and took longer.

That’s when he started working with CSI Calgary’s physiotherapist, Sarah Robinson, and strength and conditioning coach, Mike Lane. On the long road back, Hendrickson says they helped him get back on track. “They took a very coordinated approach,” he remembers. “It was cool to be looked after with focus and importance. I felt like I wanted to come back for them too.”

A full year off, a lot of hard work, and a bit of soul-searching is what Hendrickson needed to find himself ready to jump again. After that first landing in Austria, he was back.

Hendrickson credits Robinson and Lane and the whole team at CSI Calgary with helping him to regain his form. “They were really good at keeping me focused and on task,” he says. “I felt I owed it to them as much as myself.”

Back on the hill, Hendrickson unexpectedly found himself on top of the podium, winning a gold medal – his first – at a World Cup in France in January 2020. His victory gave him confidence that he could keep up with the sport and that his knees were as good as new. It also gave him gratitude for the team who helped him get there.

“The first thing I thought about after that win in France was, ‘I can’t wait to see those guys’”, says Hendrickson. “I definitely would have quit skiing if it wasn’t for them.”

Growing up in Calgary and on the slopes at Canada Olympic Park, Freestyle Skier Finnian Young knows the track like the back of his hand, but a new day-old trick was something he wasn’t as familiar with, causing an unpredicted outcome.

“We were just having a training night and I was doing a trick I just learned the night before” explains Young of his typical practice session on January 31st, 2019. “I went to attempt the trick again and I messed up and spun out, and when I landed my knee felt like it pulled apart.” With an accurate feeling of a serious injury from that fall, the results from the next day’s MRI showed that Finnian suffered a fully torn ACL and some meniscus damage.

“I was pretty upset and feeling done with the sport”, initially said Finnian about his injury as he had been previously navigating retiring the sport in the months prior. He remembers thinking that if he blew his knee that it would put a seal on his long skiing career. A typical recovery for an ACL surgery and rehabilitation can be anywhere from 6 months to a full year, a time that certainly takes a toll on athlete’s goals within sport.

But with the encouraging and hardworking team at CSI Calgary, Finnian knew he would be able persevere through this roadblock. “The support I received from CSI Calgary pulled me back into the sport. Everyone worked so hard for me to get back and I really appreciated that. The team at CSI Calgary were more than just coaches and medical professional figures to me; we developed great relationships which I was able to lean on throughout my recovery process.”

Finnian successfully returned to snow six-months post operation after receiving clearance from his surgeon Dr. Mark Heard. In January 2020, he was back on the pipe preparing for the season ahead. He credits working with the R2P Code team in the testing lab that gave him some reassurance by seeing his improved strength results. “Because of the force plates we were able to track and quantify how strong I was getting and to see that gradual increase of progression gave me the peace of mind to confidently return to my sport.”

The courageous skier retired in July 2020. As much of the world came to a halt after the COVID-19 virus hit, Finnian bravely walked away from the sport knowing that it was time for him to move on. He planned on spending this season skiing and getting back to competition, but the world had different plans which ultimately steered him in the direction of retirement. “I didn’t want my knee to be the reason to take me out of sport, and it didn’t”, reflects Finnian of his successful journey through recovery. He looks back at his time in rehabilitation with the CSI Calgary team fondly with a strong, healthy knee to walk him through the next chapters of his Young life.

CALGARY (August 25th, 2020) – The Canadian Sport Institute Calgary (CSI Calgary) Board of Directors announced today that accomplished corporate and community builder Gary Davies will be the next President and Chief Executive Officer, effective September 8th, 2020.

Davies brings to the position a wealth of knowledge and an array of experiences in the events, media, marketing, and tourism sectors, as well as a lifelong passion for sport. He spent the last 20 years helping build a variety of companies, most notably RedPoint Media Group Inc., which became Alberta’s largest independent magazine publisher.

During his successful tenure, Davies was responsible for the publishing company’s 13 brands, including Avenue magazine, Wine Access Magazine, and up! magazine (the inflight publication for WestJet, now known as WestJet magazine). For the last six years, he consulted and then became President of e=mc2 events ltd., one of Canada’s largest event management companies.

“We are thrilled that Gary will be joining our team as our new President and CEO. Along with his extensive background building and leading organizations, he brings a creative approach and focus on achieving superior results to the sport community, as demonstrated in his impressive work to date,” says Cheryl Sandercock, Chair of the CSI Calgary Board of Directors.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I also want to reiterate our thanks to retiring CEO Dale Henwood,” Sandercock continued. “CSI Calgary benefited from Dale’s leadership for the past 26 years, and his integrity and profound passion for sport have been key to navigating the organization through the uncertain times of the past six months.”

A born and raised Calgarian, Davies has most certainly elevated the profile of his hometown with his work, which also includes founding the Best of Calgary brand five years ago and driving sponsorship and ticket sales for the Kelly Brothers Productions’ flagship brand Dave Kelly Live.

“I’m incredibly excited to join this well-established organization and build upon the legacy that Dale has created over the last quarter century,” Davies said. “For myself, this is a great opportunity to be a key player in building our sport community.”

In his new role, he will be responsible for leading the CSI Calgary team of 20 employees and 40 consultants. Dale and Gary will work together on a smooth leadership transition this fall.

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About the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary

The Canadian Sport Institute Calgary provides world-class training environments in Alberta. With the support of our partners, we deliver leading sport science and medicine, coach education and life services to help Canada's high-performance athletes achieve Olympic and Paralympic podium performances. For more information, please visit www.csialberta.ca

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