Thursday, March 14, 2019, Peterborough 

Varsity lacrosse and rugby athletes at Trent University will be the direct beneficiaries of a new partnership between Trent Athletics and Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO).

The partnership focuses on building the training environment for Trent varsity athletes and includes support in the areas of sport science, strength and conditioning, sport nutrition, and sport psychology.

"Trent University is thrilled to be working directly with CSIO to provide additional services to our varsity sports of lacrosse and rugby. The additional sport science services that CSIO will provide will be a key component to supporting our varsity student-athletes in their high performance pathway," explains Deborah Bright-Brundle, director of Athletics at Trent University. "It is crucial for the success and ongoing development of our varsity programs that Trent Excalibur form an expanded partnership with CSIO as they are a key leader in providing sport science expertise for high performance athletes in Ontario."

Over the last few months, CSIO and Trent University have worked closely together to develop and establish the partnership agreement and services. As part of the new partnership agreement, Trent's Kinesiology program will also play an important role in this partnership and delivery of services to the Excalibur program.

"CSIO is excited to be working with Trent University to support the development of their varsity rugby and lacrosse athletes," said Stephanie Jameson, manager of Performance Services at CSIO. "This partnership allows us to further engage with Ontario athletes and coaches who are striving for success, while simultaneously providing our practitioners with additional opportunities to hone their skills. We see this as a win-win opportunity for sport in Ontario and look forward to playing a role in the ongoing achievements of Excalibur student-athletes."

On January 6, 2019, CSIO delivered services for Trent University athletes, including sport-specific physical fitness testing and sport nutrition and mental performance services.

"It was a great start to our partnership with Trent University," said Jeff Louie, sport lab manager at CSIO. "The teams underwent sport-specific physical fitness testing; a combine designed to assess and monitor each player's athleticism. Two educational workshops were also conducted with a focus on sport nutrition and mental performance. We are excited to contribute ongoing multi-disciplinary sport science and sport medicine support to Trent Excalibur teams, an approach we take with the athletes at Canadian Sport Institute Ontario."

This new agreement builds on an existing relationship between Trent Athletics and CSIO. The two institutions are both part of the Rowing Canada Aviron NextGen Hub at Trent University, working with Row Ontario to work collaboratively to train the next generation of Team Canada rowers.