OTTAWA, ON: As part of Skate Canada’s strategic plan, the high performance program has set sights on integrating leading edge sport science into the training and monitoring of Canada’s top figure skaters. The Mark Lowry Memorial Sport Excellence Fund has allowed Skate Canada to work on motion analysis, one of the sport sciences being integrated through a generous grant.

The Mark Lowry Memorial Sport Excellence Fund is an influential leader in high performance sport in Canada, which works off Lowry’s original vision: To allow our athletes to have the very best in all aspects of their training.

Integrating full motion analysis in figure skating without losing the important intricacies of choreography and musicality has meant challenging the science beyond that typically used in other sports. The funds provided by the foundation will allow key aspects of full-rink motion analysis to be completed so that Canadian athletes can access the best motion analysis. The new initiative will be available at the Skate Canada National Performance Centre in Toronto as early as October of 2015.

Monica Lockie, National Performance Centre Director has highlighted the importance of this technology being available as a service at the centres, “As our skaters aspire to maintain their top ranking in the world, it is essential to be able to give them as many advantages as possible in their training. Using a state of the art motion analysis system will allow our skaters to evaluate more key performance indicators to hone their technique both at the top level and on the development pathway. Being able to offer this service at our National Performance Centres is ideal for athlete growth in the in the critical area of motion analysis.”

Skate Canada High Performance Director Mike Slipchuk stressed the importance of this new technology, “Giving our athletes valuable feedback through the motion analysis system will be critical in the success of our program leading into the 2018 and Olympic Winter Games and our next generation athletes striving for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and beyond. We are thankful for the support of the Mark Lowry Memorial Sport Excellence Fund and look forward to seeing this program come to fruition.”

Skate Canada also wishes to acknowledge the continuing support of outstanding partners like Sport Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), and Own the Podium (OTP) with whom we strive together for excellence in high performance.