Dave Waknuk’s career goal was never to become a post-secondary basketball coach, but 16-years of coaching later he is entering his 6^th season coaching the University of Lethbridge Women’s Basketball Team, marking his 3^rd year as head coach.

Despite his own skills as a player not quite excelling in the game, his love and interest for basketball lead him into several volunteer opportunities coaching youth groups which ultimately started his coaching career. His post-secondary student-athletes remind him of how rewarding being a coach is as he states his enjoyment of watching them grow throughout their college careers.

“At our level of post-secondary you get to see them come in out of high school, young and trying to figure it out and then you get to watch them grow up and leave with degrees and get into the real world”, says Waknuk. “To see the people they’ve become and the lessons that they’ve picked up along the way is pretty fun; it’s definitely the most rewarding part of coaching.”

Dave knew the Advanced Coaching Diploma was right for him as it was something he wanted to do to continue to improve and learn more about coaching. “I had a quest to continue to challenge and grow myself in the career of coaching and I’m glad this avenue brought me to the ACD.”

As someone who loves coaching himself, he encourages those who share a passion of being a coach to enroll in the Advanced Coaching Diploma. “This program is for coaches that want to improve and grow and taking coaching seriously while enjoying it and having a passion for it,” Explains Waknuk. “If you have a passion for coaching, this program is a dream scenario because you get to get in with some experts at the highest level and people that are taking it seriously around you.”

Although the ACD isn’t targeted towards any specific sport, Dave said he would challenge coaches to look at this path more because there is so much that can be applied that can push coach past their expectations. “Just because this program is not based on my sport doesn’t mean that I won’t get so much more out of it. Coaches get to work with information collected by high level experts and the ACD gives you the depth to go as deep as you want. You’re going to get the most out of this program if you really want to grow and improve and come in open minded and able to commit to the process.”

Now a proud alumni of the ACD, Dave plans on continuing to challenge himself and continue coach education after experiencing a “family-like environment” lead by Jason Sjostrom who encouraged and supported the group along the way. “This program ignited my passion to further my coach education and keep looking for those next opportunities that lead me into the sport 16 years ago”.

“It was probably the worst pain I have felt in my life” described Freestyle skier, Sascha Pedenko after suffering an injury to his knee from a fall sustained in warm up run doing a right cork 9, ten feet in the air, during a training camp in New Zealand as he was preparing for the first World Cup of the season.

From the way I caught my edge after my fall and fell again it looked like I hit my head or broke my collarbone so when my coach got down to me he expected me to have a broken collarbone, but I knew almost immediately that something was very wrong with my knee. He was right. A torn ACL, partial MCL tear, and a root tear on his meniscus solidified something was very wrong with his knee, not his collarbone.

But this young skier’s approach was different than most after a knee injury of that magnitude. “Of course, I was mad, but I didn’t really see it as a negative” says Pedenko of his injury, stating he didn’t fully take in what had happened until he returned home from the hospital in New Zealand. “I knew it was bad and I knew I needed surgery, but I thought that this would give me nine months to a year to fix every other ailment in my body that I’ve been neglecting.” As a competitive Freestyle skier, the off-season only provides a three-month break which is often not long enough to recover fully from a long, demanding season. After he made the long trek back to Canada, Sascha was in surgery within 10 days upon his arrival with a positive approach heading into rehab. “I knew that the time spent in the gym for a full year would be really beneficial to my long-term career.”

His rehabilitation journey began one-week post-op after his repair performed by surgeon Dr. Stephen French of Group23 Sports Medicine. He credits his team at CSI Calgary for providing a safe and knowledgeable approach into his carefully constructed personalized return to sport plan, with step-by-step presentations of a clear path he needed to take to return to snow successfully. He noted his strength and conditioning coach, Drew Lawson had advanced experience working with ACL rehabs and took necessary precautions when performing strength building exercises, while physiotherapist Isabel Aldrich-Witt worked blood flow restricted training into his program. “They are very knowledgeable and definitely want the best for me and our whole team. It was great to see that they wanted me back healthy as much as I did.”

Pedenko has his sights set on returning to competition later this year after getting complete clearance from his strength lab testing, a tool he strongly utilized to give him the extra boost of confidence he needed to suit up for the season ahead. “The process could not have been better” as he flips his way back to health, doing a right cork 9, to be exact.

“It was a blessing in disguise”, says alpine ski racer Marie-Michèle Gagnon when reflecting on her injuries sustained months before representing Canada at her third Olympic Games after crashing on her training run in Lake Louise in October 2017.

An MRI taken the next day concluded a cleanly torn ACL, a common injury for this sport, however Gagnon also suffered a torn labrum in her shoulder. 

“I know the risk of my sport, especially with speed events, and I understand that injuries are part of it. Almost all skiers that I know have had severe knee injuries so it’s almost a rite of passage in our sport,” she acknowledged.

While it was tough to watch some of the events that she couldn’t attend due to her injury, with the Olympic Games being one, a World Cup is just as important for her.

“It’s the same group of competitors, if not more at a World Cup compared to an Olympic Games; the one difference could be the fame associated with the Olympic Games and the more attention it receives, but I’m not skiing for that,” explains Gagnon.

“As a kid, I just wanted to be the best skier in the world. I knew that the Olympics was part of that, but I just wanted to do really well as a skier. And that’s why I continue to ski.”

Despite the disappointment of missing her third Games, Gagnon stayed optimistic. “Obviously missing the Olympics was upsetting but I ended that season on a high because I was skiing so fast and showing good promise on the speed, so I saw it as a blessing in disguise.” As a 2-time Olympic slalom event competitor, Gagnon shifted her focus to downhill, the fastest-paced race of the alpine skiing events. 

The eight-month recovery meant Marie-Michele could not only spend more time in one place and with her family, but also give her the time to relight the fire inside of her as she began her rehabilitation journey with CSI Calgary and R2P Code. She made the temporary move to Calgary to work with some of the best sport science professionals in the business.

“I was really focused on my recovery. My team at CSI Calgary was so supportive and I was so comfortable working with them. I trusted them because I know how hard they work.”

She says she heavily relied on her testing results to give her the clearance and confidence she needed to return to her sport safely.“Even after a few weeks [of testing] I saw so much improvement because I know the training and the effort I put into building up my strength and the dedication my team put into me was really working and paying off. Seeing my R2P Code testing results helped me focus on exactly the areas I needed to improve on, and it gave me guidance and motivation to keep working in the right direction.”

And in the right direction she goes, as fast as ever.

“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.”