KITCHENER, Ont. - The Waterloo Warriors and Kitchener Minor Hockey Association are proud to announce a new partnership that will see the creation of a collaborative strength and conditioning program.
As part of the program, Warriors high performance staff will prepare, run, and teach strength and conditioning development programs for Kitchener Junior Rangers "AAA" and "AA" teams and Kitchener Lady Rangers "AA" and "A" teams.
These development programs will focus on specific physical capacity development tools such as gross motor and locomotive skill training, power and strength development, and energy system development.
Warriors high performance staff will also facilitate educational seminars and physical testing events for KMHA athletes.
"Hockey players are athletes. We want our programs to address that," said Rolland Cyr, KMHA General Manager.
Cyr said the need for this program arose from looking at areas in which the 93-year-old minor hockey association has had success in the past, including recent efforts to improve coaching and mental health programs.
When KMHA began seeking a partnership to help standardize and improve their off-ice strength and conditioning training, Cyr was impressed by his conversations with Interuniversity Strength and Conditioning Coach Andrew Hopf.
That both KMHA and the University of Waterloo's Department of Athletics and Recreation are community-focused organizations is also important to Cyr.
"We want to do right by our athletes, and we know the Warriors have the same interests at heart. It's athletes helping athletes, at the end of the day."
"A program like this helps move minor hockey away from elitism to towards community."
For Hopf, the program provides three primary benefits to students and the broader University of Waterloo community.
Firstly, it enhances work integrated learning opportunities for aspiring practitioners in sport performance, further developing the student coach experience at Waterloo.
Student coaches will also benefit from expanding relationships with the KMHA and their network of community partners.
Finally, this partnership allows for the expansion and use of the Manulife Wellness Centre for KMHA and varsity programming, which will benefit the Faculty of Health and the university as a whole.
"This relationship is going to not only provide a best practiced, long term athlete development training model for the Lady and Jr Ranger athletes but also a platform for aspiring sport performance coaches to acquire the skills, competencies and confidence needed for them to chase their dreams," said Hopf.
"We are excited for the opportunity to educate, inspire and prepare these young athletes and grateful for the experience this program will afford our student coaches"
