Youth Summer Athletic Program Attention Kelowna Athletes!Okanagan Peak Performance Inc is hosting the Youth Summer Athletic Program. This program is fully coached, follows LTAD protocols and includes access to the Okanagan Peak Performance Inc training facility.There are programs for athletes 8-11 years and 12-15 years with 2 training days in June and 3 training days in July and August.To register call 250.212.2972, email athletetraining (at) shaw (dot) ca or stop in to the training facility on Sutherland ave.      

Have you been to a peewee or bantam hockey tournament lately? If so, you may have noticed something about the players. And that is the variation in sizes.  You can have a situation where there is a 5'2" thirteen year old taking a face-off against a 6'2" player. Not only is the one player a foot taller than the other but he can also outweigh him by 50 lbs or more. Fast forward five years or so and these players could be much closer in size. And it's possible the smaller player could pass the other in size. Given all the variations in size that we see in young athletes it only makes sense that we train these athletes differently. But instead what we typically see is a one-size-fits-all program for all athletes. And the elements selected for this program may be based on what the best athlete is able to do with the hope this will spur the other athletes on to achieve the same. Worse there also instances where a coach tries to do what pro athletes in their sport do for training. How effective would it be for a 12 or 13 year old to try and replicate Sidney Crosby's off-season training program? Not only will not be the best option in the short term for this hockey player it also stunts the long term development of the player. Long Term Athlete Development, or LTAD, refers to training the right things at the right time for the athlete. There are 'windows' of training where it is more effective to train certain athletic abilities and skills than to simply do what the pros are doing. [caption id="attachment_4639" align="aligncenter" width="300"] LTAD - Training the right things at the right time.          While having fun. For example, girls...

We're a week into June and it seems like we've gone back a page or two on the calendar. The temperatures have dropped and we're getting more rain. But besides the weather changes we know we're into June because the school year is almost done. And a number of young athletes will be looking for something to do. They'll have their days open and have energy to burn. With that in mind I should probably tell you about our Youth Summer Athletic Training Camp (YSATC). You can find all the details below. But I thought it would be important to tell you what makes our camps special. Here are 5 Unique Features About our YSATC. Feature #1 - New Camps for Younger and Older AthletesWe started these camps 2 years ago and there were 3 athletes that attended. Last year this grew to 31 participants. So for this year we're splitting the groups into two different times and 2 different groups. This will allow each group to work on things more relevant to their needs and goals. And for the older athletes they will have a better start time in the afternoon. Some teenagers seem to like to sleep in during the summer. Feature #2 - Effective & Safe Coaching of All Exercises Some of the athletes we work with will attend high school in the fall. And many schools now have weight rooms for the students. And unfortunately there aren't budgets to allow for proper instruction or supervision of these weight rooms. We want to make sure that these athletes have the basics in place before they step foot in a high school weight room. We want them to know what precautions to take. We want them to know the fundamental technique points on the major lifts. And we want them to be...