Sport Newfoundland and Labrador held its annual general meeting last weekend at the Holiday Inn in St. John�s. Friday afternoon�s session was highlighted by a keynote address by the Honorable Tom Hedderson, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. He spoke about the new Provincial Sport Strategy that will help guide sport in the future. Also on had for Friday�s session was Istvan Balyi who provided a presentation on the Long Term Athlete Development Model.

Since 1994, Balyi has been the resident sport scientist of the National Coaching Institute at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He has also worked with several Canadian national teams as their high performance advisor and he has also been a planning and periodization consultant for a number of major games. Balyi is a world renowned coaching educator and his series on Long-term Athlete Development and periodization have been published in Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Balyi is currently the Long-term Athlete Development (LTAD) advisor for sports coach UK (National Coaching Foundation), sport scotland, the Sports Council for Wales, and the Sports Council for Northern Ireland. He is a member Sport Canada�s expert advisory group of Long-term Athlete Development and presently works with eleven Canadian sports to develop LTAD models, including Athletics Canada, Basketball Canada, Canoe Kayak Canada, Curling Canada, Field Hockey Canada, Gymnastics Canada, Karate Canada, Rowing Canada, Rugby Canada and Speed Skating Canada.

Saturday�s session was business as usual with some resolutions being brought forward that will improve some programs and services currently administered by the Organization.

The annual general meeting finished up Saturday afternoon with the election of its Board of Directors. They Include:

Tom Godden, President; first Vice-President is Doug Fowler, with Rod Nichol also returning to the position of second Vice-President. Carol White returns for a third year as Treasurer. The position of Secretary is vacant. Angela King returns to the position of Director At Large, Felicity O�Brien continues as Eastern Director as does Northern Director Trevor Paine. John Pickett is in his second year as Southern Director. Aden White returns for a second year Western Director and Bill Burke will serve as Central Director. Dave Brenton is Past President.

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For further information, contact:
Troy Croft
troy@sportnf.com
709-576-4932