About High Performance Advisory Councils (HPAC)

Our Purpose
Promoting collaboration on performance solutions and professional development opportunities for high performance sport scientists in Canada. 

As a professional organization with its members committed to performance solutions in Canada and the provision and on-going professional development, Sport Scientist Canada leads an innovative structure that supports collaborative and accountable decision-making.  A strong and vibrant Council structure exists in three areas of work linked to high performance sport.  Think-Tanks drive our ideation and Working Groups provide a flexible approach to deliver on objectives using experts within our high performance system and in partnership with universities and industry.


Councils diagram


About Performance Sciences Council

This Council has the mandate to engage knowledge ideation and mobilization underpinning a podium performance culture in both a daily training and competition environment.

Council Members

Discipline LeadRepresentativeOrganization

Sport Medicine

Dr. Mike Wilkinson

Canadian Olympic Committee

Sport Therapies

Remo Bucci

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

Strength Training

Scott Willgress

Canadian Sport Institute Atlantic

Nutrition

Nicole Springle

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

Physiology

Kelly Quipp

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary

Mental Performance & Mental Health

Sharleen Hoar

Canadian Sport Institute Pacific

Biomechanics & Performance Analysis

 Mathieu Charbonneau

Institut national du sport du Québec

 

Working Groups

Chair: Dr. Ming Tsai, Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
Mandate:  Create common structure & content for standardization and data aggregation. A National Data Sciences Framework is developed through collaboration of relevant stakeholders and distributed with supporting language definitions. A structured and supported assessment of ‘readiness’ regarding data competency and infrastructure is developed and made available to NSOs to identify areas of strength and weaknesses.

Members:
  • Paul Dorotich - Own the Podium
  • ​Dr. Marc Klimstra - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Mathieu Charbonneau - Institut national du sport du Québec
  • Justin Detlor - Canadian Tire Financial Services                                                   

 

Chair: Jodi Hawley, Dr. Andy Van Neutegem, Own the Podium
Mandate: A comprehensive national health monitoring program employed for targeted Olympic & Paralympic and NextGen athletes initiated with an athlete intake process and pursued via best-practice monitoring guidelines that enable on-going awareness and tracking of health information relevant to athlete performance capacity and health care in the daily training and competition environments.

Members:
  • Dr. Charles Samuels - University of Calgary
  • Meghan Buttle - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Jeremiah Barnert - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Liz Johnson - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Dr. Veronique Boudreault - UdeS, Institut national du sport du Québec
  • Mathieu Charbonneau - Institut national du sport du Québec
Chair: Frank van den Berg, Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
Mandate: Leadership training in the area of culture development is provided to NSO technical leaders through proactive professional development opportunities.  A clear and engaging Culture of Excellence Framework (inclusive of defined terms and concepts) is developed and made available as guidelines to all NSOs. Provide training to mental performance consultants (MPCs) to become ‘culture consultants’ with the intent to provide NSOs with available experts to support the intentional, quadrennial focus on a NSO-led culture of excellence. A collaborative group of experts catalogue best practices of culture training and development in Canada to build a repository of knowledge available to NSOs.

Members:
  • Dr. Andy Van Neutegem - Own the Podium
  • Dr. Penny Werthner - University of Calgary 
  • Dr. Peter Jensen - Third Factor Consulting
  • Dr. Kyle Paquette - University of Ottawa/Marble Labs Consulting
  • Dr. Jeremy Sheppard - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific 
Chair: Dr. Matt Jordan, Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
Mandate: Defined rehabilitation stages and milestones based on evidence-informed best practice. Mentorship and succession planning with ongoing education and professional development.  Ongoing IST communication supported by consistently conducted high-impact meetings and frequent organic touchpoints in the daily training environment (DTE) between the involved practitioners to improve best practice and enhance knowledge translation strategies. An established set of protocols and guidelines that support the RTS Framework and establishes best practices in high risk sport profiling and athlete intake management.  Create best practice for data collection, data storage, data analysis and data reporting.  

Members:
  • Dr. Brian Benson - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Jeremiah Barnert - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Kelly Drager- Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Frank Van Den Berg - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Kelly VanDerBeek – Olympic Athlete 


About Practitioner Pathway Council

High performance sport scientists engage in a development journey involving in a number of stages characterized by experience, competencies, and qualifications.  These stages of development are supported by the High Performance Certification which provides an evaluation and development framework for competencies.

SSC Pathway Diagram example

The Practitioner Pathway provide a standardized framework to track practitioner development and expertise, as well as target initiatives under the guidance of the Practitioner Pathway Council. This Council has the mandate to initiate, develop and promote programs that attract, develop, and retain world-leading sport scientists equipped with the competencies to work with athletes, coaches and sport organizations within a multidisciplinary team.


Council Members 

Discipline LeadRepresentativeOrganization

Parasport Practitioner Development

Bryan Yu

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary

WiSS Program

Lauren Vickery

Canadian Sport Institute Calgary

Data Science Practitioner Development

Ryan Brodie

Canadian Sport Institute Pacific

LEAD Program & HP Certification Advancement

Jorie Janzen

Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba


Working Groups

Chair: Jorie Janzen, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba
Mandate:  The High Performance Certification (HPC) for Sport Scientists comprise the qualifications and competencies required to uphold standards and enhance the daily training environment (DTE) of high performance sport in Canada. The certification is designed to ensure that the system employs skillful, qualified practitioners who deliver safe and effective service to athletes and coaches. A central goal of the Certification is to develop, attract, and retain exceptional practitioners in Canada. 

Members:
  • Dr. Brian Benson - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Dr. Jane Labreche - Own the Podium
  • Dr. Nick Clarke - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Leo Thornley - Canadian Sport Institute Atlantic
  • Dr. Dave Clarke - Simon Fraser University, Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Alex Hodgins - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Erik Sesbrano - Institut national du sport du Québec 
  • Meghan Buttle - Canadian Sport Institute Ontario 
Chair: Jorie Janzen, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba
Mandate: Deliver a world-leading leadership program for high performance sport scientists in Canada. 

Members:
  • Alison Nagata, Athletics Canada
  • Genevieve Mason, Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Graeme Challis, Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Jeremie Chase, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba
  • Sylvain Gaudet, Institut national du sport du Québec
  • Will George, Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
Instructor: Eva Havaris
Chair: Bryan Yu, Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
Mandate: Canadian sport scientists working in high performance sport with the knowledge, attributes and skills to optimally support Paralympic sport athletes and staff.

Members:
  • Dr. Andy Marshall - Canadian Paralympic Committee
  • Tessa Gallinger - Canadian Paralympic Committee
  • Dr. Sommer Christie - Wheelchair Rugby Canada
  • Michelle Killins - Canadian Paralympic Committee
  • Dr. François Prince - University of Montreal
  • Patricia Roney - Athletics Canada
  • Dr. Steve Dilkas - Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
  • Heather Hynes - Canadian Sport Institute Saskatchewan 
  • Melissa Lacroix - Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
Chair: Ryan Brodie, Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
Mandate: Develop a practitioner pathway for the field data science, inclusive of competencies and qualifications, and aligned with the national practitioner pathway.

Members: 
  • Ryan Atkison - Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
  • Jodi Hawley - Own the Podium 
  • Dr. Erik Groves - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Dr. Tim Chan - University of Toronto 
Chair: Lauren Vickery, Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
Mandate: Provide female sport scientists, particularly in sport science & medicine disciplines where there is currently a lack of gender equity, the opportunity to engage with mentors in order to advance their career development and gain industry knowledge that will contribute to the high-performance sport environment.

Members:
  • Elizabeth (Liz) Johnson - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Alayne Hing - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Seth Lenetsky - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific 


About Research & Innovation Council

This Council has the mandate to advise on matters relating to research and innovation practices in Canada and to provide decision-making processes that will enhance the Canadian sport system to accelerate research and innovation underpinning podium success. 

Council Members 

  • Chair: Dr. Andy Van Neutegem – Own the Podium 
  • Dr. Marc Klimstra – Canadian Sport Institute Pacific 
  • Joel Greenshields - Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
  • François Bieuzen - Institut national du sport du Québec 
  • Dr. Erik Groves - Canadian Sport Institute Calgary
  • Dr. Lori Dithurbide - Canadian Sport Institute Atlantic 
  • Trent Stellingwerff - Canadian Sport Institute Pacific
  • Tessa Gallinger - Canadian Paralympic Committee 

Current Projects:

National Research & Innovation Strategy
Innovation 4 Gold Program