It seems like competition has gotten a bad rap these days. We've gone away from keeping score. We've introduced mercy rules. High schools don't give out awards for the top male and female athletes of the year. We don't hand out finishers medals but instead everyone gets a participation medal. Sorry but this got a laugh out of me. But the truth is we now give out awards simply for showing up. And sometimes you don't even need to show up but pay the registration fee. Are we going in the right direction? Is this helping us as a society? I'd argue that it's not. And here's why. I guess we eliminate acknowledging the best athletes at the end of the year because there can only be one winner. And therefore to protect the feelings of those who don't win we just do away with the award altogether. I'd suggest that this fails on two levels. First, the best athlete is robbed of the award they worked hard to achieve. Secondly, the athletes that don't win don't feel they are equal to the one that should have won. Instead I'd suggest the ones that don't win feel worse because now we're also hoping they'll buy into the idea that all the athletes are equal. So not only do they not have the same athletic ability but we're also hoping they're dumb enough to believe it. Life is not fair. And because two athletes aren't equal has nothing to do with value. When we play this game we set young athletes up for a rude awakening. They will be surprised when they aren't selected for an interview. They will be incredulous they weren't hired for the job. And they won't understand why they were passed up for the promotion. Business tycoon Jimmy...

What would you say is the most important ability in sports? Regardless of which sport comes to mind the answer is the same. And this ability is availability. Because unless you are healthy and able to play nothing else matters much. And that's why our number one goal for our athletes is to make them resilient to injury. All of their athletic gifts and hard work are wasted if an athlete is on the sidelines. Until recently we looked at the injury status of an athlete in terms of their physical abilities. Did they have an ankle spain? Shoulder impingement? Back spasms? Or something else related to the moving parts of the body. I know when I was young no one was talking about concussions. That's not entirely true. My mom is an OT (occupational therapist) and told me repeatedly how dangerous a motorcycle could be due to the head injuries that could happen. In adult sports concussions happen at higher rates in some sports compared with others. The highest rates for a concussion in competition are in: Men’s rugby match play (3.00/1,000 AE) Men’s American football (2.5/1,000 AE) Women’s ice hockey (2.27/1,000 AE) Men’s Ice hockey (1.63/1,000 AE) Women’s soccer (1.48/1,000 AE) Men’s football (or soccer) (1.07/1,000 AE) For younger athletes (under 18) here's what the numbers look like: Rugby (4.18/1,000 AE) Ice hockey (1.20/1,000 AE) American football (0.53/1,000 AE) Lacrosse (0.24/1,000 AE) Football (or soccer) (0.23/1,000 AE) Wrestling (0.17/1,000 AE) AE stands for Athlete Exposures and means one athlete playing in one game or practice. So if 20 soccer players play another team of 20 players in a game there would be 40 Athlete Exposures. Or if a football team of 50 players goes through one practice than there are 50 AE. As sports can be divided up into...

Okanagan Peak Performance Inc will be presenting an educational seminar, The Truth About Off-Season Hockey Training, on Wednesday April 18th at 630 pm. With over 34 years of combined experience, Chris Collins and Shawn Stead, will do a review of the research and share the most-effective evidenced based ways to train during the off-season for hockey. Sample topics will include: How to prevent the most common injuries for hockey. Which NHL Combine tests translate to a higher draft position and ultimate success in professional hockey. How players at varying levels of hockey should approach off-season training differently. How to get stronger as safely and efficiently as possible. And when is a player strong enough? [caption id="attachment_5463" align="aligncenter" width="212"] The Truth About Off-Season Training for Hockey. The seminar will be hosted at Okanagan Peak Performance Inc at 1511 Sutherland Ave in Kelowna, BC at 6:30 PM on Wednesday April 18, 2018. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. To register send call (250) 212-2972 or email athlete training (at) shaw (dot) ca with the name, phone and email of the attendee(s).   

Canada Day meant a little more this year with the celebration of Canada's 150th. And what's more Canadian than hockey? Recently a few Okanagan Peak Performance Inc clients have been suiting up for Canada in international play.Alex SwetlikoffWe've had the privilege of working with Alex Swetlikoff for a number of years now going back. I believe it started when he was 9 years old and he was training with players like Gio Sambrielaz, Isaac Dutka and Chase Stevenson. Alex would have been 3-4 years younger than the other guys he was training with and although he had specific exercises and drills based on his age and stage of development he learned a great example from the older guys. And from his brother Jordan who we worked with a number of years before Alex came to us.And since he was younger Alex was one of the smaller hockey players we worked with. He was average size for his age but obviously smaller than the older players and his siblings.That has all changed.Alex is now 6'3" and I would guess 180 pounds. And he just turned 16 years old. All his hard work and the positive example of those before him is starting to pay off. He had a great experience at Yale Academy in Abbotsford and has now committed to play for the University of Denver (NCAA Div 1) after high school. For the coming season Alex will suit up for the Vernon Vipers. And most recently he was invited by Hockey Canada to try out for the U-17 team.[caption id="attachment_5165" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Alex with Team White at Team Canada tryouts.Garrett and Tammy have done an impressive job raising a great athlete in Alex. He's always polite, respectful and finishes every training session by coming over to thank me and to shake my...

Every summer we see a number of hockey players come back to Kelowna and return to Okanagan Peak Performance Inc for their off-season hockey training. These players want to get to the next level, to produce at the highest level and finally to have a lengthy career at the highest level. This summer we welcomed back a number of players who had played professionally, played in & won at the Spengler Cup and played at the World Championships. But also had a number of younger players training with us. One in particular was Alex Swetlikoff. [caption id="attachment_4680" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Alex Swetlikoff Now it might not be easy to recognize Alex underneath his helmet and gear but maybe this will help. He is the son of Dr. Garrett and Tammy Swetlikoff and attended KCS in Kelowna while playing bantam hockey.When he's at the gym he always goes about his workout. He comes in grabs his program, warms up and gets to it. And he finishes every workout the exact same way. He seeks me no matter where I am in the gym, comes over and shakes my hand saying 'thanks Chris'. It's always been this way over the years we've been working with Alex. It all started probably about 5 or so years ago when training a number of young hockey players. Besides Alex there was Gio Sambrielaz who stood about a foot taller than Alex as he was a couple of years younger. Fast forward to this summer and Alex has grown and matured to the point where he is now going to venture away to play hockey in the Fraser Valley. This coming year Alex will suit up for the Yale Academy Lions of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League as a second year bantam. Other teams in this league include...