BCU High Performance Development Program

Mission Statement

BC Ultimate High Performance Development Program creates a foundation for dedicated and committed ultimate athletes in their pursuit of excellence. The program promotes best practices by providing specialized training from expert coaches designed to enhance the development of athletes within the sport as they move towards achieving podium performances.

Goals

  1. Place more BC athletes on National Teams than any other province
  2. Create a culture of excellence among athletes
  3. Have BC Club teams win more medals at Canadian Nationals then any other province
  4. Achieve a majority of program athletes who stay connected with the sport

Overview

High Performance focuses on system alignment and delivery of training programs to assist athletes as they strive to compete at the national and international level.

This is achieved through extensive training utilizing the expertise of sport science to continuously improve knowledge and the application of: Mental and Physical Preparation, Strength Training, Power Techniques, Speed and Endurance Training, Physical Literacy, Nutrition, Sports Psychology and advanced Offensive and Defensive strategies.

This program is primarily aimed at athletes in the 19-24 age range as they tend to be under served in terms of development opportunities following participation with High School & Junior Clubs.

Program Focused Training Areas

  • Warm Up and Physical Preparation
  • Strength Training
  • Plyometrics
  • Power/Jumping Technique
  • Sprint Training
  • Physical Literacy (Movement)
  • Endurance Training
  • Nutrition and Hydration
  • Mental Skills and Sports Psychology  
  • Offensive Vision, Positioning and Cutting
  • Defensive Vision, Positioning and Marking

Athlete Evaluation and Metric Tracking

A key component of the High Performance Program is ongoing testing and measurements for the following activities:

Objective Testing

  • 10 Meter Sprint
  • 40 Meter Sprint
  • 100 Meter Sprint
  • Agility Test (5-10-5)
  • Vertical Leap
  • Max Vertical Reach

Subjective Testing

Throwing

  • Leading Outs
  • Flat Gainers
  • OI/IO Fading Hucks
  • Leading Laterals
  • Mark Breaking

Cutting

  • EndZone
  • Initiating
  • Give/Go
  • Continuation
  • Resets

Defense

  • Lane
  • EndZone
  • Resets
  • Protect your turf
  • Marking

The program focused training areas will provide athletes with the coaching and resources to improve their performance in these areas.

General Eligibility

The BCU High Performance Program will on-board athletes following their Junior eligibility, and continue their development and ultimate journey towards participation with high level club and national teams.

  • Athletes are over 17 years of age;
    AND
  • Athletes have participated at BC High School Ultimate Provincial Series in at least one of their final 2 years in High School;
    OR
  • Athletes have participated in the CUC Ultimate Series in the previous two years.
    AND
  • Athletes maintain a level of commitment to the program as well as meet and maintain minimum standards in all metric tracking areas.

Athlete Registration

BC Ultimate will inform the community when specific programming is open and will provide registration information at that time.

Program Coaches

Danie Proby – Danie began her ultimate career late, starting in her first year at the University of Victoria, and has never looked back. Danie captained UVic for four years, played for Skysharks, Traffic, and SHH. These playing opportunities have allowed Danie to compete at Canadian and USA college and club nationals winning some championships along the way. After completing her degree in Physical Education, Danie immediately took her playing passion and turned it into a passion for coaching. She has since left teaching to co-found Elevate Ultimate in Vancouver. She’s coached at the high school, club, and college level, and has run coaching workshops globally as a Coaching Director with Ultimate Peace (UP). She’s coached with UP in the Middle East for 6 years and is an integral coaching member and consultant in the development of Ultimate Spirit (US), which aims to strengthen lasting relationships with Indigenous communities through play and connection by sharing the spirit, culture and sport of Ultimate. More recently, Danie was named the assistant coach for the U20 Team Canada girls team and was selected as an athlete for the 2020 TCXM

Matthew Berezan – Originally from Edmonton, AB, Matthew first discovered Ultimate in his high school gym class. He started his competitive career at the U of A (2007-2008) and with the Edmonton mixed team PsychoPlastique (2008-2010). He went on to play for UBC (2011) and Furious George (2011-2015). Matthew was lucky enough to compete at the WUCC in 2010 (Invictus) and 2014 (Furious George), the WUGC in 2012 (Team Canada Open), and was an alternate for the Canada World Games team in 2013. After retiring from playing he continued to pursue coaching with the Vancouver women’s team Zypher (2016) and Furious George (2018-2020). Matthew also has a variety of coaching experience in both Basketball and Ultimate at the youth level. Matthew’s interest in coaching is rooted in a desire to help others develop, reach their potential, and meet their goals.

Chris Cannon – Chris began playing ultimate after completing a six-year enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he specialized in small-unit tactics and strategies, training that would shape his understanding of the game and later coaching techniques. He played as an undergraduate for Columbia University in New York, and in graduate school for the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia teams. After co-founding the Charlottesville mixed team Monkey Knife Fight, Chris spent a year on a sports visa playing with and coaching open and mixed teams in Australia. He moved to Vancouver in 2005, playing with a series of Masters teams over the years, coaching Hamber Secondary, Langara College, and the Vancouver Nighthawks, and teaching Advanced Throwing and Advanced Defense clinics for the Vancouver Ultimate League. Chris has played in a number of national, world, and world club games, most recently winning silver with Team Canada in the 2017 World Beach Championships.

Alex Davis – Representing Canada’s East and West, Vancouverite Alex Davis was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. Davis was introduced to competitive ultimate at Queen’s University, where he won three CEUUC and two CUUC titles during the height of the Queen’s-UBC rivalry in the early 2000s. With Queen’s Mothership , he was among the first Canadian men to qualify for the then-UPA collegiate championships in 2005. Davis has since moved to the West Coast where he has competed for the Vancouver-area club Furious George since 2009, winning four consecutive CUC Open-division titles along the way, and has also represented Canada at multiple WUGC, WUCC, and WCBU world championships. An NCCP-trained instructor, he has coached previous editions of the national U24 team in 2013 and 2017. He is also the current president of BC Ultimate and a past president of the Vancouver Ultimate League, and an author of strategy articles for Skyd Magazine. By day, an engineer and data scientist for Boeing Digital Aviation & Analytics, Davis is known in ultimate for his mathematically inspired style and strategy, often working doggedly to introduce more and better data into the national team programmes.

Associate Program Coaches

The U24 High Performance Program is a pathway for both athlete and coaching development. The program provides an opportunity for coaches to bridge the gap between initial coaching activities to Elite Club and National Team coaching positions.

Associate Coaches will learn aspects of coaching based on the Focused Training Areas from both Senior and Guest coaches, as well as tools and techniques to help develop your coaching skills and effectiveness.

BC Ultimate will support coaches with the pursuit of “outside” coaching development, either within the NCCP structure or other educational opportunities.

Position Description

U24 High Performance Associate Coaches will work with Head and Guest coaches to deliver the program to athletes by way of regular field, track and gym sessions. As your experience with the program grows you will be given the opportunity to lead sessions groups of athletes.

Commitment

  • Attend coach orientation and training sessions with Head Coaches
  • Attend a regular program sessions for duration of the program
  • Attend metric measurement sessions and provide athlete evaluations

Responsibilities

  • Act as role model for athletes
  • Provide one-on-one evaluation and coaching during sessions 
  • Give feedback to Head Coaches on player applications
  • Work with program administrators to provide feedback for athletes and to satisfy Canadian Sport Institute (CSI) requirements

Qualifications and Experience

  • Be 24 years of age or older in current year; and
  • Formal experience running athletic training programs (Camps, Clinics); and/or
  • Coaching experience (High School, Junior or Adult Club)
  • Candidates are expected to have completed or work to complete the following:
    • NCCP Making Headway in Sport (On-Line)
    • NCCP Making Ethical Decisions and on-line evaluation (On-Line)
    • NCCP Course: Ultimate Competition – Introduction
    • NCCP Course: Ultimate Competition – Development*

*Course currently being developed by Ultimate Canada, course availability in BC pending

If you are interested in applying to be an Associate Coach in 2021, please fill out the application form below:

Associate Coach Application

Program Partners