Athletes and coaches from the Moose Jaw area and all over Saskatchewan will have an opportunity to take part in a special high-performance training and nutrition seminar this weekend in Caronport.
The CanWest Sports Science and Performance Centre will be hosting a pair of events on Friday and Saturday, featuring Adrian Vilaca from Gary Roberts High Performance Training and Melissa Ieraci from Designs for Sport.
And to say the least, this isn’t just your run-of-the-mill nutrition and supplements talk.
Vilaca and wife Sylvia Tetrault are two of the main trainers with GRHPT, with Vilaca working with an extra-special client for the last dozen years -- none other than Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid.
Ieraci has seen her Designs for Sport supplements and nutritional company grow to the point that many professional athletes use their products -- and she’ll be a guest speaker at the NHL strength coaches workshop conference in Florida at the of June.
The seminars will be the first of their kind for CanWest Sports Centre, and ideally the first of many, according to Justin Simpkins with the CWSPC.
“We’ve always had a real intention to do a deep dive into sports science and put on some education and things like that, and this is our first attempt at that.” Simpkins said. “We felt one of the best ways to do it was to bring in some high-profile people right away. We’re a bit of a hockey community with the hockey academy next door, so we decided to jump in right away with Gary Roberts High Performance Training, and we think it’s going to work out really well.”
The first seminar, Fuelling High Performance, takes place Friday, June 10 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and carries a focus on athletes, offering information on the performance mindset, strength and conditioning, nutrition and nutrients.
The Saturday, June 11 session is an all-day seminar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and carries the theme Championship Mindset, with a focus on developing mental resilience in athletes as well as information on nutritional support for athletes pre-, intra- and post-activity.
Both events will offer coaches and athletes a stepping stone for more information in the future.
“We’ve always envisioned CanWest becoming an opportunity for networking for our strength coaches and our therapists throughout the province, helping to grow the knowledge of our sports base in Saskatchewan,” Simpkins said. “This is workshop one, and we’re hoping it’ll go really well and just be a sign of things to come in the future.”
The seminars mark the latest expansion of offerings for CanWest Sport Centre, Prairie Hockey Academy and Briercrest College athletics as things continue to grow in Caronport.
“We have a great facility out there and if we can network with some people and improve our education, that makes us all better,” Simpkins said. “If we can improve what we have to offer to athletes we work with, that’s a win for all of us in Saskatchewan.”
For more information on the CanWest Sports Centre and what they have to offer, visit www.canwestcentre.ca.
