We are excited to announce the Hockey Fans In Training (Hockey FIT) Program is expanding across Canada! Most recently, we have partnered with the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Varsity Reds Hockey Team! This partnership has been shared on many news releases (i.e., National Post, CTV News, Huffington Post Canada, Winnipeg Free Press, iHeartRadio), helping to recruit for the Hockey FIT program at UNB, by detailing how Hockey FIT has helped overweight hockey fans make lasting lifestyle changes.
In early January 2018, our head coach – Ash De Cruz – visited UNB (Fredericton, New Brunswick) to facilitate a 2-day comprehensive coach workshop for three undergraduate kinesiology students, who will become certified Fans In Training (FIT) coaches. These students, supervised by the program champions at UNB along with the support of Dr. Petrella’s research team at Western University, will run the program with the Varsity Reds hockey team. As background on the Varsity Reds, the UNB men’s hockey team are back-to-back national champions and play their home games in the Aitken University Centre, a 3,300-seater arena. The team is a staple of Fredericton and a rallying point for the community!
Ash’s two-day trip to Fredericton began with meeting Dr. Danielle Bouchard, UNB Kinesiology Professor and program champion. Ash and Dr. Bouchard toured the UNB campus and facilities and discussed the program delivery at UNB. Afterwards, Ash led a Fans in Training workshop outlining the key points to being a Hockey FIT coach for the three coaches being certified (Jordan Townsend, Madison Blake, & Benjamin Copitts). The coach training provides the coaches with all the tools required to feel confident in their role as a FIT coach, from in class knowledge with handbooks & use of a multi-media presentation, an opportunity to get hands on experience running a mock Hockey FIT session (with the other coaches to gain perspective as the role of participants), to online training support that is available to them 24/7, in conjunction to our team's support from Western University. All coaches were fantastic and displayed the characteristics and profile that Hockey FIT identifies as essential for successful implementation of the program.
We are very excited to be collaborating with the UNB and their Varsity Reds hockey team! We look forward to our partnership and working together with our UNB program champions to build a successful program and improve the health of Varsity Reds hockey fans.
Are you interested in becoming a FIT certified coach or would like to become part of the team and participate? Send us an email or comment below!
Keep your stick on the ice,
The Hockey FIT Team