2024 HP Competitions – Event Central

Game Plan

Speaker: Candice Drouin, CSI Pacific

Do you know of Game Plan? Do you know how to manage being a high performance athlete, while still planning for life after sport? 

Candice is a Game Plan Advisor at CSI Pacific. Her impressive qualifications include a Masters in Education, Coaching studies, and a Bachelor of Communications, Minor in Publishing. She has experience as an elite athlete & national team coach. In her Game Plan role, she advises athletes on their career and academic goals and how to manage being an elite athlete, while still planning for a future after sport.

Physiology Part 1

From training principles to innovative technology – tools to help you plan your training, optimize your recovery, and prepare for competition.

Speaker: Stacey Hutton, CSI Pacific

Stacey Hutton is a physiologist with the Canadian Sport Institute (CSI) Pacific and Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia. Working in high performance sport for over 15 years and responsible for most of the physiological assessments with CSI Pacific registered athletes between Vancouver and Whistler, Stacey has seen first-hand how some of the world’s most accomplished athletes in a variety of sports reach their peak performance.

Stacey will broadly discuss topics related to relative energy deficiency (REDS), environmental considerations, and general considerations for aerobic testing.

Speaker: Stephen Gurr, CSI Pacific

Fueling performance in both training and competition, nutrition strategies to promote training adaptations and recovery, along with a brief discussion on low energy availability and RED-S. I will aim to leave 10-15 minutes at the end of the presentation for any questions the athletes may have.

Stephen is a Registered Dietitian with over 10-years’ experience providing nutrition services to elite adolescent and senior athletes from a wide range of sports, including individuals who have competed at the Olympic Games and World Championship level. Prior to moving to BC, Stephen worked as a Sports Dietitian at both the Australian Institute of Sport and the Aspire Academy of Sports Excellence in Doha, Qatar. Stephen aims to offer athletes individualized, evidenced-informed sports nutrition advice to help them achieve their health and performance goals.

Speaker: Benjamin McKeller, CSI Ontario

Workshop topics will include: Predictors of climbing performance and considerations for testing; Climbing competition physical and energetic demands; General periodization models; Competition strategies 

Ben Mckellar is a physiologist at the CSI Ontario. He is finishing his MSc at The university of Guelph looking at the application of blood flow restriction training to lead climbing performance and relevant physiology. Ben is a published researcher with a climbing specific paper investigating time management strategies in IFSC bouldering finals events. He has also helped the CEC with their RBC training ground athlete selection and coaches a youth climbing team in Toronto. 

Ben will be available after the workshop and throughout the HP competitions to answer questions.

The science of sleep

• How sleep and fatigue are measured
• How sleep trackers work and what information is useful
• How sleep and circadian rhythms affect reaction time and athletic performance
• Causes of poor sleep 
• When to seek medical advice
• Managing jet lag and circadian rhythm disruptions
• Strategies to obtain proper sleep
• Review and questions

Speaker: Pat Byrne

Pat Byrne pioneered sleep and fatigue programs for professional athletes over 14 years ago and co-authored the ground breaking book, “Inconvenient Sleep: Why Teams Win and Lose”.

Pat spent seven years with the Vancouver Canucks providing training and consultation on sleep, travel, circadian rhythms and jet lag to all the players, coaches and management. His highly touted work there established the industry standard for managing sleep and fatigue across all sports.

Pat holds a graduate degree in Biochemistry from Western Washington University and has worked with researchers in the sleep and fatigue field for many years from the University of Pittsburgh, John Hopkins University, Washington State University and Stanford University.