Jason Poole won’t be in South Korea, but he certainly played a role in getting Canada’s athletes ready for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
The son of McAuley’s Wayne and Mary Poole is Director, Performance Services for the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary. An Olympic Training Centre, CSI Calgary provides training space and support services for Olympic athletes.
He is one of the region’s connections to this year’s Winter Olympics. Another, of course, is Virden’s Patty Hole. In 2014, she coached then Virden-based skaters Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers at the Olympics in Sochi. Many of their Canadian teammates and international competitors will be in PyeongChang.
Poole works with each national sport organization, such as Alpine Canada or Hockey Canada, to build a plan of support services they would like to use at CSI Calgary. Staff is placed with the athletes and teams to provide the necessary support for their training.
“For example, we will discuss how much time of a strength coach, medical services, physiological testing, nutrition, mental performance, etc., they will need,” said Poole, who noted about 20 CSI Calgary staff will be at this year’s Olympics. “Each sport has a different recipe which can depend on the sport’s requirements, level and number of athletes, resources, and other needs. My role is to make sure they have what they need and agreed upon.”
Poole formerly wasa strength and physiology consultant for nine years with CSI Calgary’s predecessor, Canadian Sport Centre Calgary. He went to the Winter Olympics in 2002 in Salt Lake City and in 2006 in Turin, Italy with the women’s hockey and luge teams.
Coach’s View
Virden’s Dwight Pollock played a part in the development of an athlete who will make history at this year’s Olympics. Brigette Lacquette is the first First Nations player on the women’s Olympic hockey team. Lacquette is from Mallard and is a member of the Cote First Nation near Yorkton. Pollock coached her in summer hockey for many years and in 2008-2009 on the Westman Wildcats female midget team.
“It sure makes watching the international games and now Olympics far more personal knowing individuals competing in the events,” Pollock said.
He is looking forward to watching her and Team Canada compete.
“Brigette, even from a very young age, had a very fiery competitive streak,” Pollock said. “As her hockey progressed she had hand eye coordination that was off the charts. The one thing that really stood out was she was extremely inventive and creative on the ice.”
Lacquette and her sister, Tara, helped the Wildcats capture the first ever ESSO Cup, Canada’s female midget AAA national championship. Coached by Pollock, the team included Oak Lake’s Megan Bailey and Virden products Kayleigh Chapman, Brandi Pollock and Valerie Stephenson.
