Game On Magazine - April 2017 GameOn-Apr2017-P001-144-ONLINE | Page 53

ADAM DECKER AT WORK
nology while focusing on doing the basics
well, day after day. It’s going to be exciting.”
The High Performance Hockey Program,
which will be held on-ice at Southdale Arena
and Seven Oaks Sportsplex, will be split into
six groups: Professional (run by former NHL
player J.P. Vigier), Junior/College (WHL),
Elite Female (College/AAA), Midget AAA,
Bantam AAA, Peewee AA. Each athlete in
these groups will be elite level athletes with
a drive and determination to be the best.
The athlete-to-coach ratio will be four ath-
letes to one coach off-ice and five athletes to
one coach on ice. There will be a full perfor-
mance assessment at the beginning and end
of the program, which includes on-ice test-
ing for speed, agility and change of direction
with and without the puck. Off-ice testing
includes: body composition, strength, speed,
power, agility, quickness and endurance
THE TEAM. FROM LEFT STANDING, JACQUELINE
MAZUR, JEFF WOOD AND NEAL PROKOP. SITTING,
BRITTANY BRUINOOGE AND ADAM DECKER
along with movement screens to develop
individualized training programs for each
athlete.
“There will be nutritional guidance, goal
setting sessions with regular follow up and
a full strength and conditioning program,”
explained Adam Decker, the Senior Manager
of Athlete Development for Sport Manitoba.
“The development of athleticism is at the
heart of our program. Although this program
specializes in hockey it is critical for our ath-
letes to understand that becoming a great
hockey player requires becoming an athlete
first.”
According to Wood there will also be close
communication with the Sport for Life Sport
Medicine Clinic to ensure quick return to play
and return to training with quick access to
Sports Medicine, Physiotherapy, Athletic
Therapy and Chiropractic care.
And there will be a tremendous team to
guide every athlete along:
ADAM DECKER is the Senior Manager
of Athlete Development for Sport Manito-
ba. He is also a doctoral student in Applied
Health Science and is a Certified Strength
and Conditioning Specialist and Exercise
Physiologist. Decker works for Canadian
Sport for Life as an expert in Long-term Ath-
lete Development and has been working at
the Sport for Life Centre for more than six
years as the lead in athlete development for
all of Manitoba’s Provincial teams.
JEFF WOOD is a Sports Performance
Specialist at the Performance Centre. His
area of expertise is hockey, but he enjoys
the challenge of working with athletes in
all sports. He founded Focus Fitness in 1997
(now in its 20th year) and moved on from
there in 2012. Along the way he has support-
ed several NHL players in their rise to the
pro ranks including Jonathan Toews, Travis
Zajac, Travis Hamonic, JP Vigier and the lat-
est future NHLer Nolan Patrick. Jeff has also
worked extensively with Team Canada’s Na-
tional Women’s Team and many of its Mani-
toba athletes.
NEAL PROKOP had an impressive
hockey career.  After playing five years in
the Western Hockey League, Neal went on
to McGill University to play for their CIS
team while completing his Master’s degree
in Exercise Science. His competitive playing
career ended in 2016 after playing profes-
sionally in the Australian Ice Hockey League.
Neal is a Certified Strength and Condition-
ing Specialist with a keen eye for developing
hockey players.
BRITTANY BRUINOOGE is the
Coach-Athlete Development Coordinator in
the West region for Sport Manitoba. In her
position, she oversees the athletic develop-
ment for Manitoba’s top athletes in the re-
gion. She is a Certified Athletic Therapist and
Strength and Conditioning Coach and has a
degree in Kinesiology from the University of
Manitoba.
JACQUELINE (JACKIE) MAZUR is
the Coach-Athlete Development Coordinator
in the South region for Sport Manitoba. She
is a Kinesiology graduate from the Universi-
ty of Manitoba and is Certified Strength and
Conditioning Specialist.
As Neal Prokop says, “This is going to be
very exciting.”
The Canada Games Sport for Life Centre
will open in June 2017. n
2017 PLAYOFF EDITION
GAME ON 53