Targets for Athlete Performance and the Sport System

2. In conjunction with key stakeholders, develop federal-provincial/territorial initiatives to
enhance the role of applied sport science, competitions and other key elements in athlete
development, throughout Canada (March 2004).
3. Evaluate and confirm, as required, the role of National Sport Centres in contributing to the
goals of the Canadian Sport Policy on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis (March 2004).
FPTSC Work Group #4 Members and Methods
Work Group #4 on Excellence was chaired by Phil Schlote, the Manager of High
Performance for Sport Canada, and included the following sport community representatives:
Robert Bettauer Canadian Sport Centre – Ontario
Chris Farstad Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton
Louis Jani Sport Canada
Tom Jones Athletes CAN
Albert Marier Province of Quebec
Brian MacPherson Canadian Paralympic Committee
John Mills Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA)
Shane Pearsall Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton
Richard Way Province of British Columbia
Part way through the process, it was concluded that additional human resource assistance
was required and accordingly, Therese Brisson was contracted to provide writing, research and
logistical support.
One challenging issue proved to be reaching an agreement on the scope of what was
determined to be a monumental task. In the end, there was agreement to focus on the support and
programming for athletes beginning at the Age Group High Performance Level, defined as athletes
that have been identified as having the potential for international success and who are training a
minimum of 15 hours per week, usually in elite provincial age group clubs, and progress upwards
through the high performance system to the Senior National Team Level. This was believed to
limit the scope of the discussion to approximately 120,000 athletes from across the country and to
have the effect of engaging the Provincial/Territorial and Federal Governments, as well as NSOs
and P/TSOs.
Research and data collection on domestic and international sport policy, athlete
performance, sport investment, elite sport system and athlete development was undertaken.
Influential members of the domestic and international community were consulted and invited to
share information with Work Group #4.
Work Group #4 met five times by conference call and four times in face-to-face meetings to
address the challenges of the task. Summaries of the discussions at the meetings were prepared and
distributed along with other relevant information provided by a variety of the Work Group’s
members. In addition, members of the Work Group obtained feedback from relevant members of
the sport community (NSOs, PSOs, coaches, athletes, administrators), the F-P/T funding partners as
well as other technical experts (CODA, CSCs, sport scientists) using two methods:
Athlete Performance and Sport System Targets, Evaluation, and Investment Page 2