Summary of our 2023-2024 Lifesaving Sport Season Kickoff Webinar

Thank you to everyone who attended our 2023/2024 Sport Season Kick-off Webinar on Thursday, October 12th.

For anyone who was unable to make it, the following will summarize the key discussion points and messaging from the webinar.

If you have any questions regarding the meeting, please reach out to us at Experts@Lifesaving.org.

We look forward to seeing you at upcoming competitions!

 

Meet the New Members of the Program Team!

Michelle Sydney is the new Program and Development Manager, and Sara Sylvestre is the new Lifesaving Sport and Training Coordinator.

Sara will be your primary contact for anything Sport-related. She plans to attend all the Lifesaving Sport Competitions this year and will be shadowing official key roles at competitions.

To get in touch with Sara, please email her at Sport@LifeSaving.org

 

Website

The functionality of creating a competition and adding events has not changed. Please remember to hit save and to request sanctioning.

To register for a competition, you must accept the invitation from the hosting club.

The functionality of registering athletes for the competition season also remains unchanged. However, it is now easier to enroll athletes! You can now select all athletes and enroll them in the competition.

When registering multiple athletes for the season, click the checkboxes beside each athlete’s name and use the actions at the top of the page. The athletes will then be automatically enrolled in all of the events that they are eligible for.  

You are also able to individually enter and change athlete registration as needed. To register individuals or teams, you can search for athletes by name or member ID. For both individuals and teams, you can manually enter unofficial seed times.

Please keep in mind that the website does not allow teams of mixed genders. Mixed gender teams will need to be submitted manually to the Meet manager. Therefore, if you want to run an Open Competition, please email Sport@LifeSaving.org so that we can support you on set up.

We are developing a FAQ document for the Sport website. Please stay tuned!

 

Season Calendar

The Max Bell Lifesaving Sport Competition in Lethbridge on November 3-5th has been sanctioned and is available for registration. The deadline to register for this competition is October 30, 2023, at 9:00 p.m.

The current competition schedule is available on the website. There will be updates to the calendar as competitions are sanctioned, so, please check our Sport calendar regularly.

The current list of competitions for the 2023-2024 year is as follows:

  • November 3 - 5, 2023 (Lethbridge)
  • November 18, 2023 (Hinton)
  • December 2 - 3, 2023 (Cochrane)
  • January 27 - 28, 2024 (Wetaskiwin)
  • February 9, 2024 (Calgary)
  • February 10 - 11, 2024 (Calgary)
  • March 2, 2024 (Drayton Valley)
  • March 16 - 17, 2024 (Camrose)

 

Concussion and Harassment Training

Concussion and harassment training is somewhat of a hot topic in sport and recreation, and we believe is something that should be addressed in all sports.

We want to equip our coaches, staff, athletes and parents appropriately to ensure their protection. Therefore, the Lifesaving Society will be implementing a phased approach to concussion and harassment training protocol that will begin to roll out ASAP.

For this season, we will utilize two resources that will be required to be reviewed by all staff, Sport Coaches and Lifesaving Instructors leading, coaching or interacting with Lifesaving Sport clubs this season. These resources will also need to be shared in some form with your clubs' athletes and parents.

The required resources are:

Clubs will be required to provide proof of completion for this review via survey. Club Administrators must complete the survey linked below indicating their staff have received and reviewed the resources, as well as confirm that their athletes and parents have received both resources before being eligible to register athletes for any competitions this season.  

Last, we recommend that this season, every club has a minimum of one certified Sport Coach attend each sanctioned competition with your club. Lifesaving Instructors may still lead Lifesaving Sport clubs as well as attend competitions.

However, having one certified Sport Coach attending each competition per club ensures that the clubs always have someone with a background and understanding of the events, as well as the safety and organization of the competition.