Vikes Prep Athletic Development

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Vikes Prep Athletic Development

What is it?

A physical training program for athletes between the ages of 13 and 18 that is consistent with the key principles of Long Term Athlete Development. This programming is supported by a partnership between Vikes Athletics and Canadian Sport Institute Pacific.

Which athletes would benefit from the program?

This program is open to ANY athlete, male or female between the ages of 13 and 18. You do not need to be playing in a Vikes league team to be a part of this program. This age-specific program will increase performance by developing competency of key movement skills like sprinting and jumping, decrease injuries by incorporating injury prevention training, and increase performance by developing strength and power. Athletes competing in volleyball, basketball, hockey, football, rugby, soccer as well any other sport that requires high levels of athleticism for success would greatly benefit from this program.

What is special about this program?

Expert Vikes sport strength and conditioning coaches working with the athletes.
No more than a 1 to 12 coach-to-athlete ratio.
A program that will progress each athlete to more challenging and effective exercises as they become physically capable of it.
A portion of each athlete’s program will be individualized to their sport and individual needs.
Regular testing to track progress with reports and debriefs available to participants and their parents.
The program is set up that the athlete will participate in four-month blocks, but athletes are encouraged to train year round in order to get maximum benefit.

Why is it important to be involved in long term physical training programs?

Fitness must be worked at all the times otherwise an athlete will detrain and lose all previous hard-earned improvements. For example, it has been suggested that commonly trained physical abilities decay in the following timeframes:

Short term physical training programs are beneficial for temporarily improving performance but when training stops, performance begins to decline and worse yet; risk of injury goes back up.

When does the program run?

The next session of this program is January 8th-April 26th, 2024.

This program runs two times per week: Monday and Friday from 6:30-8pm,

Invasion Sports are sports where you must invade an opponent’s territory (basketball, hockey, soccer, rugby etc.). These sports depend on the athlete’s capacity to repeat high intensity efforts, agility and ability manage contact safely.

*There are only 12 spots available per session so sign up early to ensure your spot.

Who will be training the athletes?

This program is developed and administered by University of Victoria Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Dana Agar-Newman (PhD and) and Patrick Cormier. Dana came to the University of Victoria from the Canadian Sport Institute Pacific where he was the Lead of the Strength and Conditioning, overseeing the training of national team athletes. While working for the Canadian Sport Institute he helped develop the physical training model for the Canadian Sport School along with progressing athletes into NCAA scholarships and developing athletes World Cup, World Championship and Olympic medalists. He holds sport science degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Victoria, has written two book chapters on developing the vertical jump and testing and assessment in athletic populations, numerous peer reviewed journal articles focusing on talent identification and testing methods. Dana is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach with the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Patrick came to Victoria to pursue a PhD in Sports Science and to work as a Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Canadian Sports Institute Pacific and the University of Victoria. He primarily works with soccer, rugby 15s and 7s, as well as field hockey programs at the university. He also holds an undergraduate degree from the University of New Brunswick and a Masters Degree in High-Performance Sport: Strength & Conditioning from UCAM in Spain where he researched strength/power training methodologies and now, as part of his doctoral studies, works closely with Canada Soccer looking into speed and acceleration profiling in elite soccer. Patrick has a diverse skillset and a variety of experiences from coaching youth to elite level athletes in Finland, Spain, Wales, and Canada. Patrick is also a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist.