We at Sarnia/Bluewater Wrestling ascribe whole-heartedly to CAWA’s Long-Term Athlete Development model.

The model is used to shape what skills, competencies, and capabilities coaches, parents and athletes should strive for at each stage of athlete growth, from our youngest athletes all the way up to Olympic contenders.

If you’re interested in learning more about this, please check out CAWA’s LTAD Webpage at: https://wrestling.ca/coaches/long-term-athlete-development. Most notable is their complete 32-page manual.

From CAWA:

What is Long-Term Athlete Development?

LTAD is a new wave in athlete development, based on the integration of sport science research with experience in working with athletes and coaches to develop a comprehensive set of development principles. LTAD takes the concept of periodization (the integration of competition, training, recovery, nutrition, and other elements of preparation to create a long-term training plan) to the next level, by integrating preparation over an entire career or lifetime, and considering the holistic development of the individual as well as his/her development as an athlete.

Today, every Canadian sport organization is using LTAD as the basis for their long-term planning. More information can be found in the document “Canadian Sport for Life”, as well as other LTAD resource papers published by the Canadian Sport Centres and available at www.canadiansportforlife.ca/.