ONTARIO ATHLETES THE LARGEST REPRESENTATION ON THE CANADIAN PARALYMPIC TEAM
Canadian Sport Institute Ontario – Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) would like to congratulate all of the athletes and coaches named to Team Canada for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. CSIO would also like to congratulate the 48 Ontario athletes and guides, the numerous Ontario coaches and the countless support staff representing Canada in Rio. Ontario hometown athletes comprise 30% of the total Canadian Paralympic Team, the largest contribution from any province or territory.
Among the Ontarians competing in the Games, 24% of the Ontario athletes named to the team have received sport science and sport medicine services from CSIO along their athletic career development pathway. CSIO works or worked with these targeted high performance athletes and their coaches to optimize their performance and enhance their ability to succeed on the international stage.
CSIO provides support to athletes in a number of ways including:
Integrated Support Teams (ISTs)
Athlete focused and coach led, ISTs provide sport science and sport medicine services to targeted group of sports’ National Team programs. Through ISTs, athletes and their coaches receive support and services including strength and conditioning, nutrition, mental performance, biomechanics and performance analysis, physiology, sport medicine and athletic therapy, delivered by CSIO’s in-house team of expert practitioners.
Ontario High Performance Sport Initiative (OHPSI)
OHPSI is a program designed by CSIO and funded by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (MTCS), to provide sport science and sport medicine services to athletes who are best capable of achieving future international success on senior national teams in targeted winter and summer sports. TheOHPSI investment also contributes to funding athlete participation in training camps, international events, coach and technical leadership support and enhancing sports’ daily training environments.
Individual Athlete Services
All Sport Canada carded athletes are eligible to receive individual services from CSIO. The services available to each athlete is dependent on their sport and carding level and can include nutrition consultations, sport medicine and therapy appointments, life services, and access to Game Plan. As well, all Sport Canada carded athletes have access to use CSIO’s state-of-the-art strength and conditioning gym during open training hours.
CSIO and Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre were also the staging facility for the Canadian Para Swimming and Wheelchair Basketball Teams before they flew down to Rio for the Games. A legacy of the 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games, the world-class facility allowed the swimmers to access two, 10-lane 50m pools, and the wheelchair basketball athletes to access the remarkable fieldhouse including a FIBAsized basketball court. Both sports also had access to CSIO – its equipment and practitioners for sport science and sport medicine support.
“We are extremely proud of all of the Canadian athletes named to Team Canada for the 2016 Paralympic Games, and especially those that we see train hard each and every day in their daily training environment. A big congratulation also goes out to all of the coaches, practitioners and support staff working with athletes, preparing them to be at their best in Rio. This is one of Canada’s strongest teams and they will show the nation and the world what it means to be ParaTough. We know they will represent our nation well and make Canada proud!” said Debbie Low, CEO of Canadian Sport Institute Ontario.
CSIO wishes Ontario athletes, coaches, and support staff representing Canada, the best of luck at the Games!
We will be cheering for you – Go Canada Go!
About Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) is a non-profit organization committed to the pursuit of excellence by providing world-class programs, services, and leadership to high performance athletes and coaches to enhance their ability to achieve international podium performances. CSIO offers athletes a range of sport science and sport medicine services including nutrition, physiology, biomechanics, strength & conditioning, mental performance, sport therapy and life services. CSIO also delivers programming and services to National and Provincial Sport Organizations and coaches to work towards building a stronger sport system in Ontario and Canada.
CSIO services approximately 700 high performance athletes and 250 coaches, at its main facility at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, its satellite location at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, and in daily training environments across Ontario. CSIO is part of a larger network of 4 institutes and 3 multi-sport centres across the country known as the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, working in partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee. CSIO is further supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Sport Canada, Own the Podium, and the Coaching Association of Canada, along with the National and Provincial Sport Organizations within the sector. www.csiontario.ca
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Media Contact:
Laura Albright, Senior Communications Coordinator
Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
Tel: 416.596.1240 Ext. 238
Email: lalbright@csiontario.ca
www.csiontario.ca