Could training camps be used to get athletes
in shape again?
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| The Regina Pats walk the Moose Jaw Civic Centre hallway in 2000. |
It is possible those days might return.
Due to society shutting down over the cononavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic, elite level athletes haven’t been able to train at their high-level
facilities on a regular basis for at least three weeks in most of North
America. Often, these athletes train under the watchful eye of a skilled
conditioning coach.
At the moment, it is anyone’s guess when the sports world in
the professional and elite amateur levels will return to where they were before
the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Even for the amateur minor little children’s team, the only
thing that is certain is uncertainly as to when their minor sports activities will
return.
With
everyone trying to self-isolate in their homes, one wonders if the training
camps held by various teams will be used to get athletes back in shape.
In a not
too distant past, training camps were held for that exact purpose.
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| Jason Clermont came from a time when year round training became a norm. |
Actually at
halftimes of NFL games in those days through to the early 1970s, it was common
for players to have a cigarette and a cup of coffee at halftime. Halftime was
treated like a coffee break at a workplace.
Even in the
late 1980s and early 1990s, players often showed up at training camps in elite
sport out of shape. In the WHL in the current day, players all look cut and in
shape.
In the late
1980s and early 1990s, there were only a few players that looked that way.
Elite sport
was still kind of commonly viewed a bit through the lens of being a pastime. It
was reserved for the ultra-talents that had a pure knack for those games.
If you
worked full time while playing for an elite level sports team in those days,
you could possibly lose your job if you decided to go to compete at a nationals
competition, if it conflicted with work or you had already taken sizable
amounts of time off.
The view of
elite sports in Canada changed in the middle to the late 1990s, when year round
training and off-season programs came into vogue. By the early 2000s, most
elite athletes trained year round in their sport.
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| Teams from the 1970s used to get in shape at training camp. |
Teams in
that era would send athletes home with a training program and often hoped they
would do it. Coaches would phone to check if their athletes were following the
training program.
Some
athletes were starting to work at that time under the guidance of a strength
and conditioning coach at an elite training centre.
The start
of training camps were designed to weed out athletes that didn’t do their
training programs, and there were those that were weeded out.
At that
point, sport was still different. In hockey, teams didn’t introduce their style
of play or work on items like the power play and penalty kill until the regular
season started.
Now, there
are orientation camps and development camps in early summer, and players are
playing a team’s system during rookie games at main training camps.
There were
still athletes who had bad habits in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
 |
| Volleyball star Lisa Reynolds, seen here in 2000, smoked cigarettes. |
She played
for Canada’s senior national women’s team for a couple of seasons and played
professional volleyball for a number of years. Reynolds was one of those
all-time great characters, who had character, and was gifted at her sport.
I remember
hanging with her a number of times in a social setting, and she would just
light up a cigarette of the blue and proceed to direct a fear of God order at
me to not tell her coaches. Due to not seeing Reynolds for at least 15 years, I
believe I can get away with telling that tale.
Elite level
athletes in the current day would have a hard time getting away with something
like that.
Under the current climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes at the moment are likely in the training spot they were in the early 2000s, where they follow a program at home that they have been given.
Under the current climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes at the moment are likely in the training spot they were in the early 2000s, where they follow a program at home that they have been given.
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| Barret Jackman, seen here in 2000, always arrived to training camp in shape. |
If the
shutdown of elite level sports goes for three or four months, you might see a
situation where elite level athletes go to training camp to get in shape at
some levels in sport like in a not so long ago past era once again.
That might
have to be done, if some of these leagues in elite level sports want to have a
season unless a decision is made to shut down for a year.
Like many
facets and areas of life, sports at the elite level are in uncharted waters.
The
possibility is there for what was once old could become new again.
Stars captain Kushniruk commits to Cougars,
other notes
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| Makena Kushniruk is a big catch for the U of Regina Cougars. |
On Tuesday, the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey
team announced they signed the star captain of the Saskatoon Stars female midget
AAA team. Kushniruk’s older sister, Jadyn, just finished her rookie year with
the Cougars this past season.
Makena recently finished playing her third full season with
the Stars, and it was her first campaign with the team where she was captain.
As a 16-year-old forward, Makena, who stands 5-foot-4, piled up 10 goals and
eight assists appearing in 28 regular season games for the Stars.
She topped
the Stars goals and finished second in team scoring in points.
On top of playing
with the Stars, Makena was a member of the Saskatchewan team that won a silver
medal at the National Women’s under-18 hockey championship tournament last
November.
Makena was a 14-year-old underage player in her rookie campaign with the Stars in 2017-18.
The Stars won the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League title, the
Western regional playdown and advanced to the championship game of the Esso Cup
female midget AAA national championship tournament in that campaign.
Makena was a 14-year-old underage player in her rookie campaign with the Stars in 2017-18.
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| Makena Kushniruk has been one of the Stars top players. |
The Stars
fell in a 2-1 heartbreaker to the St. Albert Slash in that year’s Esso Cup held
in Bridgewater,N.S.
Makena had
a breakout campaign as a 15-year-old sophomore in 2018-19 piling up 15 goals
and 16 assists for 31 points appearing in all of the Stars 28 regular season
games. She finished sixth in team scoring on a very deep Stars team.
The Stars
again won the SFMAAAHL title and the Western regional playdown to return to the
Esso Cup. Saskatoon finished fourth at that year’s Esso Cup held in Sudbury,
Ont.
Following
that 2018-19 campaign, it was safe to say Makena was drawing sizable interest
from teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ranks. It was big
for the Cougars to be able to sign her.
This past
season, Makena had to adjust to the fact most teams focused on checking her,
because she was the Stars top returning skater. The Stars were working through
a massive turnover on their roster this past season and still posted a 12-14-4
regular season record.
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| Stars captain Makena Kushniruk always faces the opposition’s best. |
Makena, who
will turn 17-years-old on Sunday, actually never played midget AAA hockey
together with Jadyn. Jadyn, who is a 19-year-old forward, played four seasons
for the Prince Albert Northern Bears from 2015-19 piling up 38 goals and 31
assist for 69 points in 110 career regular season games.
She was a
member of the Bears SFMAAAHL championship team in 2016-17 and Western regional
playdown winner that appeared in the Esso Cup.
Jadyn had
one goal and two assists skating in 22 regular season games this past season
for the Cougars in the U Sports ranks.
Makena and
Jadyn could potentially play three seasons together with the Cougars.
- On Wednesday, Stars 17-year-old forward
Reauna Blight committed to join the SAIT Trojans women’s hockey team for
the upcoming season in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference ranks.
Blight appeared in all the Stars 30 regular season games posting five
goals and seven assists to conclude her final campaign of midget AAA
eligibility.
- On Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Drag Racing
Association announced the 2020 season at the Saskatchewan International
Raceway located just south of Saskatoon has been cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced the operations of the Saskatchewan
International Raceway had been suspended until further notice as well. The
Saskatchewan Drag Racing Association cited the physical health for
everybody involved with the track as well as the financial health of their
organization as the main reasons for these decisions.
- On Saturday, the six-time defending
Canadian Junior Football League champion Saskatoon Hilltops announced they
will continue to suspend team operations to a minimum of June 1 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. That suspension of team activities was originally put
in place on March 19. On Saturday, the Hilltops announced their spring camp
set for May 1-3 has been postponed and new dates won’t be decided upon
until the current public health crisis is under control. The Hilltops
clubhouse will remain closed. The club’s support staff is working with the
team’s players to create at home workouts as everyone continues to social
isolate.
- The Undertaker, who is one of the most
legendary names in professional wrestling, is drawing rave reviews for his
performance in a win in a Boneyard Match at Wrestlemania 36. The
Undertaker literally buried opponent AJ Styles in the bout. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Wrestlemania was pre-taped to be shown over a two day
period tonight and Sunday. After The Undertaker’s match finished, it broke
the Internet with positive reviews for a surge of time. The WWE provided a
snippet of the match that can be found by clicking right here.
- A year ago Sunday, the Prince Albert
Raiders bombed the Saskatoon Blades 6-1 in Game 1 of a best-of-seven WHL
Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince
Albert. I reposted the post I wrote that night on a Facebook and Twitter
to the delight of Raiders fans. That post can be round by clicking right here.
- For most of the day Friday, I went on a
binge playing Madden 2008 on the PlayStation 2. For me, it proved to be a
perfect distress moment to get away from all the COVID-19 pandemic
craziness in the world. I have receiver Calvin Johnson jacked up in the
franchise I am using, and it is a fun time to throw him the ball. I didn’t
turn on any computer or a phone for a 24-hour period. Hope you all find
funs ways to cope in this unprecedented time. Hope you all feel free to
find a way to have some fun.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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