This is always my favorite time of the year (other than the weather in Calgary - we are paying for our balmy / tropical winter !!!)  I don’t think there is another time of the year that so many of our sport programs overlap as much as they do now. As a result, we have kids / young adults of all ages and sports disciplines descending upon NSD on a daily, nightly and weekend basis. Spring Baseball, Club Basketball, Basketball Tournaments, Outdoor Soccer, Spring Hockey for Novice throught Bantam players, Hockey Tournaments, High Performance Training for all the NHL, AHL, WHL, NCAA, Junior A and Midget AAA players who season’s have just ended and their off season training begins, Boxing, Spring Football - camps, clincs, speed & strength classes, CFL draft, NFL draft, NHL draft - the list goes on and on.

It is so awesome to see all the different aged athletes pursuing and doing something that they truly enjoy. To see these kids working out, working on their list of things to improve, refining the things that they are already having success with, moving their skill sets to the next level - it is a great privledge for all of us at NSD to be a small contributor in assisting these athletes pursue their athletic dreams!!!

There have been a number of very news worthy items that have occured at NSD over the last little while and i would like to quickly give them one last plug ( Brag ).

Midget AAA Buffaloes - Won the City, Provincial and Regional ( B.C. and Alberta ) hockey championships. Won a berth to the Telus Cup for the National Midget AAA Championship - 6 teams !!! This is the second time in 3 years that the Buffs have made it to the Telus Cup. They ended up in 4th spot, just narrowly missing the medal podium. WELL DONE GUYS!!!  The Buff’s are head coached by NSD’s Director of Player Development - James Poole and all strength & conditioning was overseen by Jeff Hope - Ross, one of NSD’s Sports performance specialists.

NSD Basketball - Mark Hogan and his staff have successfully launched the Steve Nash basketball program, in conjunction with Basketball Alberta throughtout the province of Alberta and are doing a bang up job with this great development program. Club Basketball teams are at record numbers and the Tournaments that this group of people organize are second to none - when it comes to Basketball in Calgary and Western Canada - Mark, Savannah Magnussen, Mike Shaw and their army of volunteer coaches, mangers etc… absolutely RULE !!! Basketball athletes have never had the access to this level of development and basketball sport conditioning programs that this group have developed!!!

NSD Football  - Huge announcement last week - Khari Jones - was named NSD Director of Football. What a great addition to our already strong staff of Mark Killam and Joey Kwasniewski.  Mark and Joey have been working with Blake Nill - head coach of Football at the Uof C all through the off season and this is the year that the Dino’s will take a giant leap forward towards bringing home the Vanier Cup!!! Mark Dewit - U of C Offensive Tackle  - was drafted last week by the Toronto Argo’s, who trains at NSD with Mark & Joey - Congrats Mark!!!  As well,  Mark and Joey had 12 - U17 players make the provincial team and another 12 players made the Senior Bowl team - WELL DONE GUYS!!! This is in addtion to providing all the off season training for the Calgary Stampeders, U of C Dino’s, Calgary Colts, and hundreds of Bantam, Midget and High School football athletes.

Mark will also be joining the Calgary Stampeders this season as their Strength & Conditioning Coach and Assistant Linebackers Coach - Good Luck this Season, Bring home the CUP !!!

NSD SOCCER CLUB - This is the first outdoor season for the NSD SOCCER Club - they have registered over 2300 kids at all levels and I cannot say enough about all the Volunteer coaches, managers, field markers, jersey sorters and literally the hundred plus volunteers that make this club run - SPEAKING OF JERSEY’S - THE CLUB’S NEW HOME AND AWAY JERSEY’S JUST ARRIVED FROM CHINA AND NOT A BETTER, MORE PROFESSIONAL JERSEY ANYWHERE CAN BE SEEN!!! Thanks to all the people involved in the jersey process. Lastly, a huge THANKS to the NSDSC Board of Directors - the time and effort that these men & Ladies put in is countless and they do it for the love of the game and most importantly - for the love of the kids !!! This club has had some growing pains but I can tell you, they are a focused group and one by one, they are addressing each issue as it arises, thus building one of the finest development soccer clubs in the City - WELL DONE EVERYONE!!! I will be doing a seperate Blog very soon, on who the great people are behind the scenes of the NSD Soccer Club.

NSD HOCKEY and HIGH PERFORMANCE TRAINING  - WOW !!!

What a run our Hockey and HPT departments have been having lately. NSD originally began with the hockey and HPT programs. Now the first group of athletes that we had the pleasure of developing and training are starting to come into their own and we could not be prouder!!!

Jason Weimer - In April, we were extremely proud to be able to announce that Jason had joined NSD, as the Director of Player Development.  Jason’s 12 years of professional hockey ( retired 2 yrs ago )and his complete understanding on ALL aspects of player development, just add to the current wealth that we have in our hockey dept. - this knowledge of what it takes to move and develop your game and strength & conditioning to the next level is unsurpassed in Calgary !!! We know our athletes and parents recognize and appreciate that there is not another group of Hockey Instructors and sport specific trainers that  can elevate their required skills & conditioning, that is nescessary for each athlete to become successful at the next level in their hockey pursuits, than the ones at NSD.

Karl Alzner - Calgary Hitman, Washington Capitals 1st round draft pick - wins this years WHL MVP and Defenseman of the year !!! A nicer and more committed athlete cannot be found. Well Done Karl and continued success on the next part of your journey.

Joe Colborne - Camrose Kodiaks - just won the Canadian Jr. A MVP of the Year last week ( Kyle Turris, won it last year ) and is currently in Cornwall, Ont. at the RBC Cup trying to win a national championship. They are currently 4-0 and have already locked up a semi final berth on Saturday. Joe has also secured a full ride scholarship to attend Denver University next year as a Pioneer and is currently ranked by Central Scouting as a first round draft pick in next months NHL draft. Joe is one of the original 12 athletes that started with NSD!!!

NOTE: Several other NSD trained athletes will be picked in next months NHL draft - good luck to all of them and we will report on you next month!!!

Spokane Chiefs - Just won the WHL championship on Wednesday night - The newly named, Ed Chynoweth Cup ( see last blog entry below ) what a great team !!!- Good Luck in Kitchner as they now pursue the Stanley Cup of Major Junior Hockey - The Memorial Cup !!! NSD is proud to have 4 NSD trained athletes within the Spokane Chiefs organization - Trevor Glass, Ryan Letts, Justin McCrae and James Reid - Congrats Guys - A well deserved accomplishment - Good Luck in Kitchner!!!

WHL BANTAM DRAFT - Last week, the WHL held their annual 14 year old Bantam Draft and NSD was able to have 10 local area athletes ( Out of 13 total ) that were chosen !!! Congratulations to all of you and best of luck as you move your hockey careers to the next level.

SPRING HOCKEY -  This IS NSD’s inaugural program and it is still one of our most popular programs that we offer. Hundreds and hundreds of kids are placed into age specfic and skill specific programs and our Hockey dept. - led by Director of Hockey - Rick Alexander, made ever so effcient by Hockey Administrator - Mrs. Marion Rooney ( Gus ) and the rest of the staff - James Poole, Jason Weimer and Adam Redmond, put all these up-and-coming athletes through their paces - it is a sight to behold. Watch mom and dads fly from the rinks and get down to NSD ( after Ice sessions ) to have them now put through the paces by either World renowned  sports trainer Sean Hope -Ross ( NSD Director of Strength & Conditioning ) and his staff, Jeff Hope - Ross, Steve Brandon, Carli Stuart, Laura Malinowski, Dave Bissett, Chantal Smiling and Amy MacKinnon( I DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS A SPORTS PERFORMANCE STAFF IN THE WORLD THAT TRAINS AS MANY HIGH LEVEL HOCKEY ATHLETES, AS SEAN AND HIS STAFF DO - WHAT A TESTIMONIAL !!! ) or a Boxing lesson by former Olympic and World Contender - Dale ” Cowboy ” Brown and his staff. Congratulations are already due to the ‘96 NSD Titans Spring Hockey Team, as they won the Alberta Champions Cup last weekend in Edmonton. These boys are managed by Mike Mumby and coached by who else ??? - James Poole. Well done guys!!!

SKATE TREADMILL - James Gattinger is one of the leading authorities on the proper utilization of the Skate Tredmill into an athletes sports perfomance program. James is the Director of Operations for NSD and also the Director of our NW location - check out his credentials and resume,  he is a leading figure on HPT training and the Skate Treadmill.  James and Jeff Mueller operate the multi-treadmill system in our NW location - this gives our athletes access to a piece of training equipment that no one else in Calgary can offer. Marty Gelinas swears by James’ off season STM program and that it is what has helped keep him in the phenominal shape that he is in - year after year!!!

PLEASE LOOK FOR A VERY EXCITING NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT WITHIN THE NEXT 30 DAYS - ONLY AT NSD !!!

PERSONAL TRAINING - NSD’s newest addition - Ms. Edie Shephard - BE WARNED - SHE GETS RESULTS !!! Edie joins NSD as our new Director of Personal Traning & Fitness. Check out our current news release on our website for more info on Edie. Edie will be bringing a whole new dynamic to NSD that has never been offered before. PLEASE KEEP CHECKING THE WEBSITE FOR NEW INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS AND CLASSES, COMING SOON !!!

………………….. This is why, Spring is my favorite time of the year!!!

-B

I am sure by now that most of you have heard that Ed Chynoweth, Chairman, Founding Father and general Grand Poobah of the Western Hockey league ( WHL ) passed away this past Tuesday after his year long battle with kidney cancer. Ed was instrumental for over four decades in shaping the WHL in what it is today. One of his pillar accomplishments was the establishment of the WHL scholarship fund for it’s players. Ed knew that most of the players would not be playing professional hockey and he wanted to ensure that they pursued and completed their post secondary education.

On a personal note and one that a lot of people do not know - Ed and former Calgary sports TV news anchor Gary Aurther dabbled in the sports agency business in the early 1980’s - one of their early clients ??? - Yours truly - Big Ed negotiated my first pro contract with my hometown Calgary Stampeders and player personel director at the time - ” flying ” Ed Alsman. Over the years as we bumped into each other, it was funny to reminisce.

Ed - your foot print was large and will most likely never be equaled again - thousands of kids and their parents owe you a well deserved ” THANK - YOU ” for everything that you have given them!!!

You will be missed but never forgotten

Ed is survived by his wife Linda and sons Jeff ( Michelle ) and Dean ( Rebecca ) and three grandchildren

Funeral services will be held on Monday May 5th, 2008 at the First Alliance Church in Calgary ( 12345 - 40th Street S.E )

- B

Holy Horse Pellets!!! I knew when we were embarking on the unenviable task of completely rebuilding a brand new website (akin to giving your car an oil change, while flying down the highway at 100mph) we were going to be in for a ton of work.

True to form, it has been a painstaking process and one that of course has taken a lot longer than any of us planned. There were so many new things that we wanted to add into our site - with our main priority wanting to provide information on all of our different program offerings and to make the registration process for all of our programs an easier experience for our NSD clientele.

We have heard for a long long time “you guys offer the best trainers, coaches, programs and facilities in Calgary bar none!!! (I biasly agree) but trying to find regular information and trying to register for a program at NSD is !@#$$%.”

OK, well put, hard to dispute, heard loud and clear.

We designed our new website into a “portal “of websites, within a website. We have taken our major sport program departments and created their own website within the NSD main website. For example, if you want information on anything to do with our Football department - program information, start dates, times, pricing, location, what to wear, instructor bio’s, FAQ’s etc.for that sport - it will all be under the Football icon and the same goes for each of our other main sport departments. As you navigate around the site you will see that there is lot going on at NSD on a year round basis!!!

MEA CULPA - I must come clean here and admit that we are also committing one of the 7 deadly sins in website design - you are NEVER supposed to launch a website until everything is completed and it is taboo to have any ” coming soon, under construction ” banners within your website - when the time we spent designing, reviewing functionality, creating content etc. continued to move us past our launch date, we made the decision to get the site completed to a certain level and then we would launch it. There are still many things that we are going to be adding / expanding upon and we will continue to work diligently at getting these changes implemented as soon as possible.

PLEASE KEEP CHECKING ON A REGULAR BASIS FOR THE NEW ADDITIONS TO THE WEBSITE - WE WILL ITEMIZE ALL THE NEW ADDITIONS TO THE WEBSITE IN THE NEWS SECTION OF THE WEBSITE.

One of the main items that will not be finished until next month will be the complete ONLINE registration component for every single program that we currently offer at NSD and ones that we have planned for as far as one year in the future!!! This has been the biggest single item that our clientele have been asking for and I am happy to say that it is almost here. Thank you for your patience.

If there are EVER any suggestions that you think will improve our website, programs, facilities - ANYTHING - please DO NOT hesitate to email me - I will receive all emails off this blog and as I said earlier, I will endeavor to answer all of them in as timely manner as possible.

Lastly, I want to THANK all of the NSD staff for their commitment in getting our new site launched. Each department had to prepare and review all their program information, update their bio’s, provide site content etc. I believe they now have the base beginnings to continue building a very informative and uniquely special website for our valued NSD clientele.

B