Local company makes big impact on Saskatoon
sports scene
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| Nolan Brudehl does resistance training at Ignite Conditioning. |
At Ignite Athletic Conditioning, the goal of the staff is to make the impossible possible for the
athletes who train there.
The Saskatoon-based
company is co-owned by former athletes Jordan Harbidge and Joel Lipinski, who
both made an impact on the provincial sports scene. Harbidge played football
and basketball at Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School before enjoying a strong
five-year career with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s basketball
team from 2003 to 2008.
Lipinski, who is
from Regina, played post-secondary football with the University of Regina Rams
(2004-2006), the Vancouver Island Raiders of the Canadian Junior Football
League (2007) and the St. Mary’s University Huskies (2008). The star defensive
back moved on to enjoy short CFL stints with the Saskatchewan Roughriders
(2009) and the Edmonton Eskimos (2011).
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| Michael Linklater works out on the squat rack at Ignite Conditioning. |
Having lived lives
as elite-level athletes, both wanted to train athletes and help them achieve their dreams.
“It is pretty cool
to have a job where you get to work with like local athletes, and you just kind
of like wish something like this was around when you were that age,” said
Harbidge. “It is pretty cool to offer something like that to local kids around
here and give them the opportunity to try to reach their athletic potential or
dreams.”
“If it is just
making like their high school football team or making their U-18 team or if it
is like playing post-secondary or even later like play pro, all those like
small goals along the way are just like huge milestones that are just cool to
see,” said Lipinski. “This job is honestly one of the best jobs you could ever
possibly have.”
Ignite was formed as
company in 2010 and trained a small group of about eight athletes at the start.
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| Nolan Brudehl pushed a sled training at Ignite Conditioning. |
Fast forward to today, the company is run out of its own facility on the
400-block of Lauriston Street just south of 33rd Street, and between
600 to 700 athletes train with Ignite.
To help with
training, Ignite recently hired Donovan Dale, who wrapped up his football
career graduating from the U of Saskatchewan Huskies after this past season.
Originally, the
company was founded by former U of S Huskies football stars Ryan Gottselig and
David Stevens. Both had decorated careers with the Huskies in the early to the
middle of the 2000s and were well known in Saskatoon.
In 2011, Gottselig
moved to Moose Jaw after accepting a teaching job there, and he established an
Ignite branch in that centre. Stevens joined the City of Saskatoon’s fire
department, but he still owns a small part of the Saskatoon branch.
Lipinski and Stevens
became friends while playing for Canada’s team at the International Federation
of American Football senior tackle world championship in Austria in 2011.
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| Michael Linklater lifts a dumbbell at Ignite Conditioning. |
Lipinski ended up settling in Saskatoon after that tournament and bought into
the company.
Harbidge joined
Ignite in 2012 after returning to Saskatoon having been an educator and an
assistant strength coach at a private boys’ school in Vancouver.
As Stevens’
firefighting career took off, Harbidge and Lipinski bought majority ownership
of the Saskatoon branch. In order to allow Harbidge and Lipinski to take off
with the company, Stevens worked hundreds of hours for free at the beginning.
As a result of
Stevens’s efforts, Harbidge and Lipinski ensured the elusive and speedy former
running back still had a part ownership stake in the branch.
In running Ignite,
Harbidge said there have been times the sense of accomplishment has come in
unassuming ways.
“Originally, we were
all kind of like we want to train pros,” said Harbidge. “We want to train a lot
of the high level athletes.
“A lot of the most
rewarding things for us have been like last year we had a kid in eight weeks
lose 35 pounds and get stronger. It is little things like that where you can
actually change someone’s life that was pretty rewarding.”
Ignite has programs
for athletes aged 11 and younger where the focus is on building agility,
balance and coordination through game-type activities.
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| Nolan Brudehl works on his movement at Ignite Conditioning. |
Training programs are
catered to athlete development at various progression levels all the way up to
more sports specific training for professional athletes.
The Saskatoon
Hilltops of the Canadian Junior Football League were one of the first massive
groups that trained with Ignite. The staff at Ignite has worked with 40 Hilltops
player per year in each of the last three years.
The Saskatoon
Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League were one of the first
large female groups to train out of Ignite. At the moment, female athletes make
up 40 per cent of Ignite’s clientele.
When Ignite started,
most of the other elite training companies in Saskatoon focused on hockey, so
Ignite built a reputation training athletes in all other sports outside of
hockey.
Ignite has training
contracts with U of S Huskies women’s soccer, Huskies men’s basketball and Huskies
football. Harbidge is the strength and conditioning coach for the Huskies men’s
basketball team, and Lipinski is the strength and conditioning coordinator and
defensive assistant coach with the Huskies football team.
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| Michael Linklater works on a resistance machine at Ignite Conditioning. |
Besides the university
teams, Ignite trains athletes from numerous sports groups like Basketball
Saskatchewan, Ringette Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Minor Football, Canoe and Kayak
Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Badminton Association and the local elite
volleyball academy in Saskatoon.
Along the way,
Ignite is starting to pick up a handful of Western Hockey League players as
well.
“Everyone kind of
tried to get hockey and train hockey, and we just went for everything else,”
said Harbidge. “We started with a niche which was football. Now we’ve kind of
expanded to everything even hockey.
“We try to really
rebrand ourselves as athletic trainers not just football specialists, which was
kind of our brand early on. It has been such a crazy dynamic, but it has been
pretty cool.”
Lipinski said the
staff at Ignite tries to take an interest in an athlete’s life outside of
sports as well. It was a trait he, Harbidge and Dale all learned from the
respective coaches they had along the way in their careers as athletes.
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| Joel Lipinski is one of the co-owners and coaches at Ignite Conditioning. |
“You end up talking
about things that are actually more than like obviously just sport,” said
Lipinski. “You figure out what is going on in the athlete’s life.
“You end up kind of
almost being like a councillor at this position here too. To be honest, we end
up like enjoying that aspect of it like just as much as the actual training
side.”
Harbidge said it has
been great to find a niche to give back to the local sports scene, and in his
case, his hometown.
“I was originally
planning to be a teacher, but now I am just like a specialist teacher,” said
Harbidge. “I teach every day, but I get to teach what I am passionate about.
“I feel very
fortunate. Coming home from Vancouver, I get to work with the community I grew
up in, which is pretty cool too.”
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