December 7, 2010 – The Canadian Cycling Association (CCA) has fully developed its Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model for cycling (non-discipline specific). It is in our organizational plan for 2010/2011 to create a five year implementation strategy to integrate this model in all areas of our association, including athletes, officials, coaches, and the club system. We have received a Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport (MHP) grant to engage an expert consultant as a facilitator, and with his help we will document an implementation plan covering all LTAD stages except Train to Win, specific to the disciplines of road, mountain bike, track and BMX. This document will guide us in achieving full LTAD compliance in all aspects of our programming with the guidelines set out by the CCA.

The OCA has begun working with Paul Jurbala to implement LTAD fully. Paul is an expert in LTAD and has been responsible for a lot of the great work done at the National level.

We are creating a working group to help with information and buy-in from all of the OCA stakeholders.

The OCA is looking for 2-3 individuals who will be willing to support this working group. We would like interested individuals to send a brief description of their involvement with cycling and why they would be interested in supporting the Sport 4 Life and Long Term Athlete Development implementation.

Candidates are asked to email their information to Josh Verch, Development Coordinator at the following email events@ontariocycling.org by Tuesday December 7th at 5pm.

The OCA wants to thanks the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport for supporting an important step in the future of Sport 4 Life in cycling.