RCGA Staff Heads to Vancouver for 2010 Winter Olympics

Olympic Games to Provide Key Learning for Canada’s NSO for Golf; Team Canada Sport Science Staff to Provide Expertise to Canada’s Winter Olympians

Vancouver (RCGA) – The Royal Canadian Golf Association would like to congratulate a number of staff and members of the Team Canada sport science support team that are heading to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

While golf is not slated to make its Olympic reappearance until the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, a full complement of the RCGA’s sport science team as well as other Golf House staffers will be playing a role in support of the Canadian Olympic movement.

The RCGA contingent includes Jeff Thompson, the association’s Chief Sport Development Officer, who heads to Vancouver as part of the Olympic Familiarization Program conducted by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC). The program, first conducted in Beijing, enables key National Sports Organization personnel to experience the Olympic Games and gain a better understanding of the games’ environment as well as the COC’s game-day operations. The program provides National Sport Organizations with a key learning opportunity and helps to better prepare their sport’s athletes for successful performance at future Olympic Games.

Dr. Greg Wells will be providing on-camera sport science and sport medicine analysis for CTV and TSN. Dr. Wells serves as the Director of Sport Physiology for the Canadian Sport Centre, where he works closely with athletes and coaches in the area of physiological performance enhancement. His athletes have won numerous medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Olympic Games. Dr. Wells has served as exercise physiologist for the RCGA and has worked with the association’s National Amateur Team program since 2002.

Greg Redman, physiotherapist specialist with the RCGA’s National Amateur Golf Team is heading to Vancouver as physiotherapy consultant to the Freestyle and Speed Skating teams. Redman has had success with many Olympic medalists as well as international and national champions. He has provided his services to the Canadian Olympic squad at the Athens, Torino and Bejing Olympic Games. In addition to his work with the RCGA, Redman is also a consultant to the Canadian Sport Centre where he works with athletes training in track and field, wrestling, skeleton, luge, diving and swimming.

Dr. Penny Werther, a renowned sport psychologist who provides mental management services to the players on the RCGA’s National Amateur Golf Team, will be working with the men’s and women's freestyle ski, aerials, moguls and women's curling teams in Vancouver. A leader and innovator in international sport and in women and sport issues, Werther is a 3M NCCP Level 4/5 presenter. As a former Olympic track and field athlete, Werther represented Canada internationally from 1970 to 1981.

Nutrition specialist Dr. John Berardi, while not at the games, has provided extensive support to a number of individual athletes during their preparations for the Vancouver games. As part of the sport science staff for Canada’s National Amateur Golf Team, he provides information on nutrition to Team Canada golfers. Dr. Berardi’s continued research has focused on the interaction between nutrition, sports supplementation and exercise performance.

Milaina Lagzdins, a championship administrator who works on both the RBC Canadian Open and the CN Canadian Women’s Open coordinating volunteer programs and organizing player’s services, will be at the Vancouver Olympics serving as a Doping Control Officer in Whistler, B.C. There will be more than 100 Doping Control Officers who will conduct close to 2,000 tests to ensure the spirit of the Games is preserved.
Brian Teh, a junior accountant with the RCGA, is heading to Vancouver to volunteer as part of the Vancouver Olympic Games’ transportation team shuttling players, officials and VIP’s.

ABOUT THE RCGA NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM
The RCGA National Team Program incorporates advanced coaching, sport science expertise, training camps and world-class competition. The RCGA allocates over $1 million of its resources annually to the National Team program, encompassing strength and conditioning, sports psychology, nutrition, biomechanics and technique development. Players who are selected to the National Amateur and National Developmental Teams represent Canada at six to 10 internationally-sanctioned golf competitions throughout the year. The intent of this comprehensive program is to aid Canada’s top up-and-coming amateur players in all areas of their development, helping Canada produce the best golfers in the world.

Team Canada, the pinnacle of the RCGA’s High Performance Program, provides access to world class resources including coaching, nutrition, sport science, mental management, equipment, elite competitive opportunities and builds on the support that team members have received in their development years from their family, member clubs, personal coaches, university programs and provincial golf associations.
The RCGA’s High Performance Program and Team Canada are proudly sponsored by Titleist, Foot-Joy and Under Armour.

For more information about Team Canada or to make a donation towards the development of Canada’s future golf stars, please visit http://www.rcga.org/.

ABOUT THE ROYAL CANADIAN GOLF ASSOCIATION
The Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) is the governing body of golf in Canada, representing more than 350,000 members at 1,600 clubs across the country. Recognized by Sport Canada as the National Sports Organization (NSO) for golf in this country, the RCGA’s mission is to grow participation in and passion for the sport while upholding the integrity and traditions of the game. The RCGA conducts programs and services to help shape the future of golf in Canada. High performance athlete development, CN Future Links, Canada’s national junior golf program, turfgrass and environmental research, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum, Rules of Golf and amateur status, handicapping and course rating are only some of the initiatives the association leads for golf in Canada. In addition, the RCGA conducts Canada’s most prestigious golf championships. The RBC Canadian Open and CN Canadian Women’s Open attract the best professional golfers in the world, while regional junior and national amateur championships showcase the best in Canadian golf.

For further information on what the RCGA is doing to support golf in your community please visit http://www.rcga.org/