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John Thomson  

Thomson report

What began as a vision for two nationally recognized sports physiotherapists has taken flight in the Okanagan. In its first year of operation, Pinnacle Elite Athlete has become one of Canada’s premier training facilities for athletes from all levels of competition.

With the announced opening of the H2O Adventure & Fitness Complex next to the Capital News Centre in Kelowna, Directors Randy Goodman and Roy Gillespie saw an opportunity to develop a world-class athlete-training centre. Goodman and Gillespie began by scouting some of the most highly trained staff in the industry, each specialists in their own fields. The two then turned their attention to attracting athletes from a wide spectrum of sports to train with Pinnacle. After just one year of operation, the results have been nothing short of remarkable.

“We have had phenomenal success in our first year," says Shane Pizzey, Pinnacle Elite Athlete’s Director of Sport Sciences. “We have trained grassroots to professional athletes, including over 20 current professional hockey players in the NHL, AHL and from Europe. We take pride in being the most current and knowledgeable coaches in Western Canada," adds Pizzey, “and having some of the best players in the world such as Shea Weber, Blake Comeau, Josh Gorges and Vern Fiddler rely on us to prepare them for next season is an indication of the quality of my team."

Since opening its doors a year ago, Pinnacle Elite Athlete has been quietly contributing to the success of many athletes from their CNC location. The off-season training last year for UBC-O teams helped the UBC-O Women’s Volleyball team repeat as National Champions, and the Men’s Volleyball National team achieve a bronze medal. Overall Pinnacle helped the UBC-O sports program celebrate their most successful year ever.

Alex Basso, the Canadian College Athlete of the Year for all sports has trained at Pinnacle for 2 years and is a strong advocate for the Pinnacle program.

“Training at Pinnacle during the summer months really helped me improve my game this past season. Shane and the rest of the staff are knowledgeable and were extremely helpful, and pushed me and my team mates to work hard every time.”

Prior to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, two Olympic teams hosted training camps at Pinnacle. Kelsey Serwa, Canadian Olympic Ski Cross team member, also trained at Pinnacle Elite Athlete as she strived to dominate the World Cup Circuit.

Jessica Campbell, captain of the Canadian U-18 Women’s hockey team, and Danny Watkins who was selected fourth in the CFL draft by the BC Lions are both Pinnacle clients and endurance athletes like Gillian Moody, who placed 8th in the Arizona Pro Ironman competition, honed her skills through the Kelowna facility.

Most recently, Pinnacle Elite Athlete client, Maddison MacCammon won the Women’s Overall Waterski title at the US Open Championships.

Among Pinnacle’s long list of first year achievements are 12 BCAA players of the week, 6 CCAA all-stars, 1 National and 3 Provincial swimming champions, The BC Midget AAA hockey champions, the men’s BC Cross Country running champion, and the Midget AAAA Hockey team. They even train the Western Canada Irish Dance Champion.

“Our goal in the first year was to help local athletes get world class training advice to help them excel”, said Randy Goodman, who just a few short months ago supervised Therapy for the Athlete Village at the 2010 Winter Olympics. “It shows success comes from properly designed, professional, training programs... and we’re as proud of our grassroots and recreational athletes as we are of the Olympic Champions. We just want to train people in the most effective way possible for their sport, whether its men’s league soccer or the NHL.“


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About the Author

John Thomson is the Okanagan's pre-eminent business columnist writing his column, Rumours and Things, for over 24 years. Plugged in to the valley's who's who, John keeps his readers coming back for more with his straight talk and optimistic perspective on where we are headed next.

When John is not writing his column, he runs a sixteen year old think tank called the Executive Roundtable and holds his popular "Thomson Presents" quarterly business speaker seminars.

Have a comment, question, or tip for John? 

E-mail John at
[email protected]
or send him a fax at 250-764-8255.

 



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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