On April 23, 2015, the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary's President and CEO Dale Henwood participated in meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland between representatives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and members of the Association of Sport Performance Centres (ASPC). Henwood is the Chair of the ASPC, an organization that was formed in 1999 and is made up of representatives from over 80 high performance training centres from 30 countries across the world. Every two years the members hold the Forum on Elite Sport to discuss initiatives that will help to elevate high performance sport across the globe, promote fellowship, and, ideally, make the world better through sport.

The goal of the ASPC meeting in Lausanne was to interact with members of the International Olympic Committee on the role and purpose of the ASPC and how they can assist the Olympic movement. Chair Henwood led the presentation along with the ASPC's Vice President for Europe Tapio Korjus (Finland), Secretary General Josep Escoda (Spain), and Treasurer Tracy Lamb (USA).

The ASPC's proposal was aimed at promoting exposure of their association to the IOC. The ASPC members outlined their desire to share best practices among countries and high performance centres. This created the opportunity to present fresh perspectives and up to date information in the world of sport. The objective of ASPC members is to stay abreast of what other leading nations are doing through identifying trends and challenges within high performance centres. Additionally, the ASPC members place importance on sharing their knowledge with developing countries in order to assist these countries, and their athletes, reach world class levels.

The CSIC's involvement with the ASPC is an example of the Institute's leadership amongst high performance sport centres around the world. It is an opportunity to promote the CSIC globally. The CSIC continues to generate international respect and is recognized as being among the best in the world at delivering quality programs and expertise to Canadian athletes and coaches. ASPC involvement allows the CSIC to stay on the cutting edge and to be integrated in the global sport community. Furthermore, the interaction amongst members allows the profile of CSIC to be shared with organizations such as the IOC, Pan American Sport Organizations, Association of National Olympic Committees and other leading high performance centres. Henwood describes his involvement in the ASPC as vitally important because he believes that the CSIC should "continue to be forward thinking and outward reaching in all that we do."

To find out more about the ASPC please visit www.sportperformancecentres.org.

 

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary: @csicalgary
Written by Brittany Schussler: @BSchussler