Professional Documents
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8393
KICKBOXING MASTER!
Darren Robson
MEMBERSHIPS
Calgary’s BEST Value!
Included in this edition
WINTER 2008
PROGRAMS &
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current opportunities, visit New Dance,
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www.talismancentre.com Swimming Programs
Robin Mitchell
President & Chief Operating Officer
Simple! We offer a wide variety of membership types to cater to the ever changing and dynamic environment Calgary has to Benefits
´5 Complimentary friend passes
offer. Whether you are looking for something in the short term or training for that Ironman competition and need long term ´One-month free membership gift experience
for a friend
commitment, Talisman Centre gives you the ability to customize your health and wellness needs to your schedule. ´Referral program
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With as few as 5 employees signed A Christmas Party A Gift for our ´Corporate rates available
´Includes drop-in classes
up, your company is eligible for
corporate rates. at Talisman Centre Annual Members! ´Day use lockers
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Monthly Payment Plans Available And you’re invited! Refer a friend today Four-Month Memberships
Call 233-8393 for more information and we’ll extend your Adult $299 Family $499
or stop by Customer Service November 25th 1to 4pm membership! Prices subject to change.
Come in to Talisman Centre and pick up Benefits
4 Month Adult $279* floatables, bouncers your referral card. Give it to a friend. If they ´3 complimentary friend passes
4 Month Family $449* face painting, tattoos sign up for an annual membership we
extend your pass by one month for free!
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Annual Adult $589*
special membership rates! ´10% off Personal Training
Annual Family $999* ´Includes drop-in classes
“
Prices subject to change. ´Day use lockers
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Automatic Adult $89 Family $179
Membership Renewal Prices subject to change.
Benefits
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convenience!
Corporate Team Building Talisman Centre is proud to announce that we
´Free parking
For monthly payment details ask one of our Customer
Bring your company in for a social club event or Corporate Volume now offer memberships that automatically Service Representatives or visit talismancentre.com.
intramurals! Book the Sears Nutrition Kitchen and have renew for your convenience. Please ask one of Before expiry, one-month and four-month members
tasty team building events with a twist of lemon, a pinch Purchase Discount our Customer Service Representatives for more who wish to purchase a longer term membership
of salt and a whole lot of fun! Inquire at the Customer Service Desk for more information. information. receive a pro-rated credit toward their purchase.
and learn more rapidly than in any other program. Sears I Can Swim Stage 2
Ages 6 to 14 years
Guaranteed. Enhance your child’s skill development! Already oriented
to the water, your child will become an expert in the basics
Pre-School Ducklings of swimming strokes while learning the joy of streamlining,
Ages 3 months to 1 year underwater push offs, treading water and introductory dives.
Give your baby the timeless gift of comfort and safety in the 8 classes $49 (member) $61 (non-member)
water! You and your child will learn holds and essential skills For dates, times and to register jump to talismancentre.com
Staff Profile while enjoying water games and songs – an unforgettable
learning experience! Sears I Can Swim Stage 3
With the next Winter Olympics in Canada’s own backyard, it is no wonder the bar has been raised when it comes to Canadians
achieving success in sport and in developing key athletic disciplines at an early age. Canadian athletes and sport organizations
are no longer accepting mediocre participation on the world stage. Talisman Centre has taken the lead from National Sport
Organizations across the globe with their implementation of an athlete model based on Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD), a
model that focuses on teaching young athletes the fundamental building blocks for future sport development and success.
Three new programs being offered at Talisman Centre – gymnastics, dance and swimming (designed after the LTAD model)
gives kids exposure to activities that will assist in their healthy development. “These activities all provide valuable grounding
in the concept of physical literacy… akin to the ‘3R’s’ in school” says Dr. Stephan Norris, Director of Sport Physiology and
Strategic Planning with the Canadian Sport Centre Calgary. “It equips youth with the basic tools needed not only for the possible
opportunities in high performance sport, but with simply being active for life and enjoying sport and activity as a recreational and
healthy endeavor.” Norris explains how the components of the LTAD Model – agility, balance, coordination and speed– coupled
with movements such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, kicking, wheeling, spinning, gliding and skating allow exponential
growth in a child’s physical development.
Talisman Centre’s new gymnastics and dance programs will unleash a child’s creativity, boost their self-confidence and bring
a wealth of practical skill sets along with it. “Dance is important because it usually involves all body parts, a high degree of spatial
awareness, balance while moving (as opposed to static positions) and pressure sensitivity on the soles of the feet all coupled
with a need to understand rhythm, both internally and externally with music” says Norris, adding that dance and gymnastics are
essentially intertwined. “Gymnastics extends the movement skill set beyond those established by dance…both of which require
competent flexibility.”
Learning skills such as balance and spatial awareness are completely different when immersed into an aquatic environment.
Heart thumping, easy on the bones ‘swimmercise’ is being reinvented and more highly regarded as a top-notch training tool for
elite athletes, and that, according to Dr. Norris, should start at a young age. “Swimming puts children into an environment where
they have to learn to use other senses throughout the body like pressure sensitivity on the surface of the limbs as opposed to
simply on the sole of the foot as in much land-based activity,” says Norris, “The sensation of being buoyant and how to move in such
a situation is critical as is more advanced skills such as breath control in an a-typical environment.”
Jason Poole, strength coach for the Canadian Sport Centre, trains the Canadian women’s hockey team as well as the Olympic
luge team. He has incorporated both swimming and gymnastics into his athletes’ off-season training. “Beyond natural talent, it
is an athlete’s overall athleticism that will determine what levels of success they achieve and for how long. It’s imperative that
their body and their systems can tolerate a much more advanced type of training specific to their sport…and that means having
the basic athletic components in place such as spatial and body awareness, balance, flexibility, strength and speed that can be
leveraged when we are training sport specific movements.”
One of Poole’s athletes, luge Olympian and medal hopeful for 2010 Jeff Christie, says cross training in the pool and doing
gymnastic movements directly simulate the core components he needs on his sled. “Gymnastics was a great tool in learning spatial
awareness and balance specifically. When we’re traveling over 120 kilometres per hour on our sleds, it’s critical to be aware of
every movement our bodies and our sleds are making to be able to react accordingly and quickly enough!” In the pool, Christie
explains how using the buoyancy of the water enables the team to work very specifically on certain luge movements such as
‘paddling’ (a technique used as part of the start). “The water is an interesting environment that demands a lot of athletic control. It
requires strong core stability, the pressure of the water itself makes your muscles work and, of course, for us anaerobic athletes, it
guarantees a pretty grueling aerobic workout!”
You also coach and instruct. What do you enjoy most about it? Kickboxing Plus
Ages 17 years +
I feed off the positive energy of others. It is part of what draws me into this facility. I need my music or a body Kick and punch your way to better
running beside me to train well. I love coaching those willing to push past what they believe is their limits and fitness and stamina! Geared toward the
accomplish great things. I find the power of a woman’s will to achieve particularly inspiring. I try to empower intermediate level and beginners who
my athletes to push past their threshold. have a background in the basic skills.
Cover Story Prerequisite: Kickboxing Basics or previous
Kickboxing experience.
Emily . . .
I’ve seen a lot of gyms in the past few years and I have trained and slid around the world through a season on the Americas Cup Skeleton
Circuit and a second season on the Europa Cup Skeleton Circuit. From doing squats in a rough gym in eastern Germany to doing power cleans and
bench presses in a makeshift weight room we set up with our own equipment at the side of the road in beautiful Sestriare, Italy, training for the
big goals means being flexible, adaptable and motivated 12 months of the year to get the job done on and off the skeleton track.
During the off-season I get to work through the hardest part of our training year in the comfort of my own gym. No more rustic weight
rooms and battered tracks during the seven months of intense weight lifting, sprinting and overall strength building. As a personal trainer with
the Wellness Department and Athletic Performance Enhancement Team, I have helped shape the Athletic Training Zone at Talisman Centre into
a virtual playground for hard working athletes. With training sessions that sometimes reach three or more hours in duration, having the right
equipment at your fingertips is critical. Our training at Canada Olympic Park is also a key venue where we practice our starts in the world class Ice
House and do weekly strength training with our coaches. Having an ideal training environment right at my fingertips, at my workplace, is a truly
unique situation as an athlete. Not only does it make training easy and accessible but it also allows me to bring my first hand experiences as an
athlete into my training programs and relationships with my clients.
Finding the motivation and perseverance to maintain the rigid training schedule for the hot summer months is difficult. Keeping goals in
sight is key. Having the environment that stirs your soul and sparks excitement is a training advantage that I capitalize on. To train among fellow
athletes who have Olympic experience in swimming, bobsleigh, skeleton and a multitude of other sports is both motivating and humbling.
Surrounding yourself with people giving their all to reach goals, from the recreational participant to the Olympian, keeps the fire going within
– the fire that fuels the Olympic dream to 2010 and beyond.
Jack VanDyk
Talisman Centre ETS Coordinator and Coach
When it comes to endurance competition Jack has a keen understanding of the power and the passion within.
In the Beginning side of him, inspiration to anyone within earshot to put on a wet suit. “As I
While working on his Bachelor of Human Kinetics degree at the traveled down to Coeur d’Alene, I was super excited as I knew I was ready for
University of British Columbia, Jack became immersed in triathlon, the challenge,” Jack states. “I had no negative feelings, no hesitation of starting
which, at the time, was the sport to be involved in. Through his despite the race officials offering competitors the option of not swimming in
triathlon training he learned how to swim and developed a love of the rough water.”
running. Due to time restraints from increased academic workloads
however, he subsequently moved away from triathlon and joined
an inline speed skating team, a discipline he approached with equal Triathlons seem to offer so much more to competitors
passion. Training and competing in and around Vancouver (including than bicycle racing does. The support from fellow
the inside of several UBC parkades during the rainy months!) and down
into Washington State, Jack worked at many of the same forms of competitors, the cities and towns and the spectators
racing he later discovered on his bike. who come out to celebrate the event are amazing.
We just don’t get that in Alberta for bicycle racing.
I first discovered cycling when I was training
for cross-country skiing in high school. I never
Passion Behind Numbers
enjoyed the running in my training program but
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will.”
I always loved the cycling because I could go so This quote by Gandhi is near and dear to Jack’s heart. As an athlete and coach,
much further and explore so much more of my Jack attributes success to a willingness to prepare, a great deal of self-reflection
and an ability to overcome obstacles. He has enormous respect for the actual
surroundings. I never considered bicycle racing. work that goes into preparation for an event, for the “need to fail” almost every
athlete will experience. It is these experiences that boost an athlete’s baseline of
knowledge and confidence, pushing them to better competition.
Riding Bikes
Jack’s love of cycling underlies his passion for triathlon. He was first drawn Noting he himself is not a genetically blessed athlete, the drive to prepare needs
to criterium (crit) racing, a lap race held on a short course on closed-off to be stronger than that to compete. If there is a lack of passion and a goal, he
city streets and time trials quickly followed. Jack moved his way up the questions what remains to do it. “Make sure it comes from the heart,” Jack once
ranks of the Alberta Racing Circuit as a member of Terrascape Racing, a told an athlete.
performance based cycling team in Calgary. He trains and races over the
full 12 months of the year, moving to indoor facilities, particularly the Making a Business of It
Athletic Training Zone at Talisman Centre, when the weather turns nasty. Jack made his start with Talisman Centre over eight years ago as a Weight Room
Attendant. After getting his Masters in Kinesiology at the University of Calgary,
Achieving the Dream he turned his knowledge of human performance and his passion for sport into
Jack recently got back into the water, put on his running shoes and designing and running the highly sought after Endurance Training Systems, a
achieved his life-long dream of completing an Ironman and running program that helps athletes develop and train for all kinds of endurance sports.
through the finish line with his daughter Madison. Although this humble What’s next on the menu for Jack? He plans to race in the 2009 Ironman Canada
athlete advises he went to solely complete the event, his time of 11:25:58 Triathlon in Penticton but not before he competes in the Sylvan Lake Half-
at Ironman Coeur d’Alene in June this year brings out an excited-to-share Ironman event next year.
Kitchen!
Sorry everyone – trick question. I had hoped to find one of the
d) DQ Grilled Chicken Salad with DQ Honey Mustard brandslisted to have a lower salt amount. The adequate intake for
dressing sodium has been set at 1.5 g / day. The tolerable upper intake level
(UL) for sodium is around 2.3 g (5.8 g of salt per day). A recent statistics
2. Which coffee beverage has the equivalent to 28 tsp Canada Survey found that Adult Canadians consume on average 3100
of sugar (4 bottles of coke!) mg of sodium per day, 35% more than the upper limit. Want to know
a) Venti Shaken Tazo Iced Tea beverage how much sodium is in food? Read the Nutrition Facts Label. It may
b) Venti Strawberries and Crème Frappuccino without shock you!
whipped cream 4. d
c) Venti Caramel Apple Cider without whipped cream
Those store bought smoothies can be deceiving. Although juice has
d) Venti Soy milk Cappuccino
vitamins other drinks may be lacking, the high sugar content of these Fresh Seasonal Products
3. Which soup has less than 500 mg of sodium per 1 oversized beverages is alarming. 24 oz of juice equates to 91 g of Check Out Our Daily Specials!
sugar. Smoothies can be a great way to pack in the nutrients with very
cup serving?
little prep time. Look at options to add protein, healthy fats and some
Replenish your energy with our
a) Knorr Tuscan Bean Soup
b) Campbell’s Gardenney Roasted Sweet Pepper and complex carbohydrates to the smoothie. Make your own – it takes less nutritional menu options.
Tomato than 5 minutes. Great take-home option for
c) Soup to Go Campbell’s Garden Tomato If convenience is your way to go, remember . . .
Read the label What is the serving size and does the product
those on the run!
d) Mr. Noodles Spicy Chicken Book your group of 30 people or less for an
contain nutrients that your body needs. Go on line to seek out fast
interactive cooking and wine-tasting event.
4. How many servings of juice are in a 24 oz juice based food restaurant nutrition facts, your favorite dish may be an artery
the
Ask us about RD
smoothie? nightmare! Imagine all the fun with no clean up!
WA
MEMBER RE
a) 3 What’s the flavor Fast food items, whether at a restaurant or in the
FREE COOKING CLASSES FOR
b) 4 frozen food aisle, typically use fat, sugar and salt for flavor
c) 5 Portion control! This one is not going to get old. Until a small
beverage is defined appropriately, every nutrition professional will be
ANNUAL MEMBERS!
Watch our website for details. CARD!
d) 6
on the case of portion control. More is not better.
Calgary’s BEST Membership Value! Calgary’s BEST Daily Admission Value! articles on our members, athletes and staff, and some of the related programs and services
that we offer here at Talisman Centre. We’ve also enhanced our website tremendously to