What are “Science and Medicine Services”, and what are they for?
Basically, “Science & Medicine” covers anything that you and your coach might need to help you go faster, as long as it is safe, legal, and ethical. It could be regular massage, or it could be aerodynamic testing, or it could be advice on returning to training and racing after a concussion – there is no ‘menu’, you simply ask for what you need. Some ideas of possible services are listed below.
Currently, our funding allows us to provide these services for those athletes who are listed as Tier 1 on the National Team list, with a goal of rolling this out for development athletes in the future. We are working to meet the needs of our Tier 2 and 3 riders through education and services at training camps and races. Please see the CCA IST Allocation Strategy for more specific information on how our resources are prioritized.
Any athlete on the National Team List can access services through the Canadian Sport Centre system. In order to do this, you need to register with them. You can contact Steve DiCiacca for detailed information on how to do this near you. Athletes who are not on the National Team List can sometimes access services as well, this depends mostly on the province they live in.
ANY athlete on the National Team list (or their Personal or National Coach) can contact the Integrated Support Team (IST) Manager if they have any urgent service request (i.e. medical support). The issue will be discussed with the appropriate National Team Coach, and we will do our best to help however we can.
Contact Steve DiCiacca (IST Manager) at: sdiciacca@csiontario.ca
What Support Services are available?
Traditionally, there have been two main categories of support services, sports science and sports medicine, which have a number of different specialities within them. The services we can provide at the moment are listed below, however this list is open-ended, and can include anything new or innovative that is legal, safe, and ethical, and is likely to improve performance.
Sports Medicine:
Sports Science:
Where are support services available?
Our athletes and coaches are spread across Canada, and deserve to have access to services local to them whenever possible. We try to identify excellent service providers wherever they are needed, and build them into our team. This is not always possible, so some services may be made available by web conference / phone / email, or through travel by either the athlete or the service provider.
The CCA’s IST Manager is the first point of contact for any new service request. The request can come from the Athlete, their Personal Coach, or the National Team Coach, by email or phone. Once the request is agreed by the National Team Coach (if needed), the IST Manager will contact the service provider directly to initiate the service, or if there is no practitioner in place in the location requested, the IST Manager will try to identify one.
Once the service is agreed and in place, the athlete can go see the practitioner whenever they need to (up to an agreed initial maximum number of sessions, in some cases).
What if an athlete doesn’t want to work with the identified service provider?
The focus for the support services is always the health and performance of the athlete, so if they would prefer to work with a different practitioner at any point, they can contact the IST Manager and ask for a new referral. Personalities are important to the success of a service, and some people just don’t “click”, which we recognize. Having a network of service providers can help with this, as we have more than one person who we can try for a number of the specialties.
RESOURCES
HEALTH
PERFORMANCE
NUTRITION
ANTI-DOPING
CANADIAN SPORT CENTRES
Many of our services are provided through the CSC network. To access these, you need to be on the current National Team list and/or carded, and you need to register with the CSC near you. Information on how to do this is on the following sites:
LAB TESTING