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Sports academy to help elite athletes advance

Optimizing Athletic Performance Academy will be teaching students the latest in evidence-based training techniques
Athlettes
School District 43 has approved a Optimizing Athletic Performance Academy for Centennial secondary school to help athletes train and prepare for scholarship opportunities.

Who will be the next Grey Cup-winning Wally Buono or Lui Passaglia, women’s golf champ, soccer phenom or tennis pro coming out of the Tri-Cities?

The Tri-Cities is home to a number of student athletes and a new sport academy at Centennial high school might help them hone their careers.

Starting September, the Optimizing Athletic Performance Academy will be teaching students the latest in evidence-based training techniques,

Tuesday, the board of education approved the Optimizing Athletic Performance Academy that will be run at the school in partnership with Game Ready to help students prepare for the next level in their athletic careers.

The academy will be run in conjunction with a classroom course giving students a well-rounded experience, according to district officials.

“I think it’s really good to support the students and the path they are on,” said Kerri Palmer-Isaak, an Anmore/Belcarra trustee.

The program will operate at Centennial but will include field trips to various facilities including the SFU Kinesiology Performance Lab and Fortius, in Burnaby. Students will learn about sport analytics, sport psychology, athletic training, athletic evaluation and testing, rehabilitation and pre-habilitation and will get an overview of the university recruiting process and as wells National Coaching Certification Program certification in a number of disciplines.

The academy will cost $695 to participate but Game Ready will be offering three to five scholarships.