Legionnaires Announces New Health & Educational Programs
July 14, 2015
COMMUNITY NEWS
By Dan McCaffery
l-r Mark Davis,
Noeleen Tyczynski, Bob Farlow,
Bob Williamson, Theo Bet
photo courtesy of Anne
Tigwell/Sarnia Legionnaires
The Sarnia Legionnaires have
launched two new programs that
head coach Mark Davis says
should help the club recruit
top-flight talent.
Davis said the Program of
Excellence, along with the
Empower Play SAT Preparation
Program, will give the Jr. 'B'
hockey club a leg up when it
comes to attracting players.
"I've coached a couple of
teams,” Davis joked (he's
actually coached half a dozen
junior clubs) “and there's
nobody around who's got this.
Both programs are amazing. Once
parents take a look at this,
you're going to see a lot of
kids wanting to come to
Sarnia...This is awesome. This
is huge for the Sarnia
Legionnaires.”
Noeleen Tyczynski, who developed
the Program of Excellence, said
it will provide opportunities
both on and off the ice for
quality training time and
coaching instruction.
Among other things, the program
will do the following:
Provide players with exposure to
college and/or university
recruiters and will assist
individual players with the
appropriate skill set to explore
opportunities to play at a
higher level. All players will
have personalized hockey resumes
developed, along with a video
reel that will capture their
highlight moments throughout the
season.
The Legionnaires will offer, in
partnership with Empower Play,
the opportunity for players to
enroll in SAT (the scholastic
aptitude test or scholastic
assessment test) academic prep
classes and complete SAT
testing. Based on test results,
academic supports will be
implemented to assist players to
improve further testing results.
The team will engage with
academic advisers to track and
support players' scholastic
progress both at the high school
and college level for players
enrolled in schools within
Sarnia-Lambton.
The Legionnaires will offer
players access to a full
complement of health and
wellness professionals from the
team kinesiologist, dentist,
chiropractor, conditioning
specialist, career counsellors,
life coach, academic advisers
and public health educators.
The team will ensure each player
will have a personal assessment
at the beginning of the season
to develop a life plan.
Each player will also be
provided with access to a gym
membership and a personal
trainer.
The Legionnaires will also
provide opportunities for
players with respect to social
development, which may include
opportunities to participate in
community events, charitable
fundraisers and fan appreciation
activities.
The team will also introduce a
speakers series which will bring
in guest speakers to talk about
such things as health,
nutrition, self-care and dealing
with the pressure of playing a
competitive sport.
Empower Play
The Empower Play program will be
be led by Sarnia Collegiate
student services curriculum
leader Ryan Bedard.
It will consist of three phases
designed to prepare elite
athletes (as well as other
youth) for writing their SATS
successfully.
The program will be available to
Legionnaire players at no
charge.
Among other things, information
will be provided on writing SATS
and tips and will be based on
the curriculum provided by the
the US Colleges Board.
These sessions will be held at
SCITS, just down the street from
Sarnia Arena.
There will also be official
practice test sessions and
tutoring sessions.
New
sponsorship
The Legionnaires also announced
Stokes Bay will be a sponsor of
the club. Fans are encouraged to
come to the restaurant on game
nights, where a bus will take
them to and from the games.
There will also be specials
offered.
