New National Sport Centre will Help Develop High Performance Athletes and Coaches in the Atlantic Region
HALIFAX and FREDERICTON, May 7, 1999 -- A new National Sport Centre for high performance athletes and coaches is now fully operational in the Atlantic region.The funding partners -- the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canadian Olympic Association (COA), the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), and the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island (PEI) -- announced the establishment of the new National Sport Centre -- Atlantic Canada at a news conference that took place today in Halifax, at the Nova Scotia Sport Heritage Centre and in Fredericton at the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame.
The new Centre will enable high performance athletes in the region to receive enhanced training through top coaching, sport medicine, and sport science services. The Centre will also provide athlete services such as career counselling and assistance with employment searches. The decentralized service structure will be developed to support high performance athletes training throughout the Atlantic region.
Senator Al Graham, Leader of the Government in the Senate and minister responsible for Nova Scotia, participating on behalf of Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, explained that the National Sport Centre -- Atlantic Canada is part of a national network of Sport Centres being developed across the country. "I am pleased that the establishment of this new Centre means the Atlantic Region will now be providing its high performance athletes and coaches with the same kind of support they already receive at National Sport Centres in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Toronto," said Senator Graham. Member of Parliament, Andy Scott, represented Minister Copps at a similar event held in Fredericton.
Carol Anne Letheren, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Olympic Association said the addition of an eastern sport centre is vital to the growth of Canadian athletes from across the country. "The COA is committed to helping athletes achieve a high performance level at centres across the country. The National Sport Centre -- Atlantic Canada will help ensure that local athletes can benefit from the same services offered at other Centres."
The new National Sport Centre has an annual operating budget of $355,000 most of which will be paid by the partners through a multi-year funding commitment. Beginning in 1999-2000, the Government of Canada and the Canadian Olympic Association will each provide $100,000, the Coaching Association of Canada will contribute $50,000, the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will both contribute $30,000, Newfoundland and Labrador will provide $15,000, and Prince Edward Island will contribute $5,000. The budget of the former Atlantic Coaching Field Office has also been incorporated into the Centre along with the programs and services it provided.
John Bales, President of the Coaching Association of Canada, spoke about the benefits of the new Centre. "The National Sport Centre -- Atlantic Canada is a very exciting and significant enhancement to the interprovincial partnership we have had for the past eight years with the Atlantic Coaching Field Office. We look forward to working with the provincial and national partners to provide high performance sport opportunities to athletes and coaches in the Atlantic region."
The Minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Sport and Recreation Commission, Robert S. Harrison, and New Brunswick Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Greg Byrne, spoke on behalf of the four Atlantic provinces and explained the benefits the new centre would provide to the region. "The high performance athletes and coaches of this region will greatly benefit from the expertise and resources that will now be available to them, thanks to the cooperation and funding of the Government of Canada, the four Atlantic provinces, and the associated national organizations. As a result, this partnership will help our most talented athletes to better compete at national and international levels," Minister Byrne said. "The Atlantic region's present and future elite athletes will definitely benefit from the highly professional programs and services being offered at the new centre," added Minister Harrison.
Tony Martin, Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Head of the Nova Scotia Sport and Recreation Commission, was named Chair of the Board of the new Sport Centre. Ken Bagnell was named Director of the National Coaching Institute and acting General Manager for the Centre working out of Halifax.
Information:
Catherine Gagnaire
Communications Assistant
Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage
(819) 997-7788
Dina Bell-Laroche
Media Relations
Canadian Olympic Association
(613) 748-5647
John Bales
President
Coaching Association of Canada
(613) 748-5624
Benoît Lanteigne
Communications Officer
Department of Municipalities and Housing
Government of New Brunswick
(506) 444-4082
Barbara Klass
Public Information Officer
Nova Scotia Sport and Recreation Commission
(902) 424-7658
Tara Laing
Director of Communications
Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
(709) 729-0928
Ellen Hamill
Communications Officer
PEI Department of Education
(902) 368-6449
BACKGROUNDER
NATIONAL SPORT CENTRES
The Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canadian Olympic Association, and the Coaching Association of Canada have joined in a partnership committed to creating a network of National Sport Centres (NSC) across Canada in order to enhance the training environment for high performance athletes.
The three national partners enter into a partnership at each NSC with the respective provincial governments and other relevant local sport organizations in an attempt to finance a comprehensive high performance athlete development model that spans both national and provincial jurisdictions.
The partners view the NSC as a major vehicle to achieve the objective of enhancing the level and increasing the efficiency of delivery of services for high performance athletes and coaches. NSC activity is intended to complement National Sport Federation programming in the pursuit of high performance excellence with a focus on coordinating access and delivery of essential support services for athletes and coaches.
The current objective is to create a coordinated network of NSCs in major Canadian cities to service the majority of national team athletes training in Vancouver/Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Atlantic Canada. This network might include additional NSCs, with a smaller scope of activity, that are developed in conjunction with the hosting of future major games and Canada Games. There is also the potential for the provinces to develop provincial or regional sport centre programs which could be linked with the national network.
The National Sport Centre - Calgary has been operational since September 1994 and has since been complemented by NSCs in Montreal and Winnipeg in 1997, Toronto and Vancouver in 1998, and now the Atlantic Region in 1999. The location of these NSCs has been determined by current concentrations of athletes and NSC programming is based on an intensive needs assessment conducted with high performance athletes and coaches at each site.
The Rationale for Centres
The decision to proceed with establishing a network of NSCs is based on the following objectives shared by the national partners:
--To support the achievement of high performance sport excellence by Canadian athletes through fair and ethical means, in an harassment-free environment;
--To contribute to the holistic development of high performance athletes, so that their athletic performance goals are pursued in parallel with their personal, social and career development;
--To provide an enriched training environment in key locations across the country so that Canadian athletes can remain in their home region and not have to relocate to other parts, or outside, of Canada to excel in sport;
--To promote the profession of coaching and to contribute to the stability and security of high performance coaching employment;
--To increase cost-effectiveness by providing programming and services on a multi-sport basis (i.e., economies of scale);
--To increase efficiencies through partnership and the coordination of programming among sport organizations and sport funding agencies;
--To stimulate sport development across the country and, as NSCs expand their programming beyond the high performance stream, to contribute to the creation of a "seamless" sport development system;
--To lever additional resources for amateur sport from the public, education and private sectors; and
--To ensure a programming legacy from the staging of Major Games in Canada, where appropriate, which will complement the facility legacy.
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