On Monday, May 13th, the Fortius Athlete Development Centre welcomed partners and tenants to the brand new Burnaby facility.
“We thank Fortius Sport & Health for the kind welcome.
As a premier founding partner, it really is an exciting time for SportMedBC. Our new space at Fortius not only offers a beautiful work environment, but an opportunity to connect and collaborate with the best sports medicine people around.
With a variety of organizations and partners on board and the excellent resources offered, SportMedBC is thrilled to call Fortius home.”
– SportMedBC Chair Dr. David Cox
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Fortius Sport & Health today announced an inaugural roster of Resident Sport Partners spanning six sport-specific organizations and a soccer academy.
The inaugural group of provincial sport organizations and multisport organizations will represent the single largest sport system cluster in British Columbia.
The group is led by Premiere Founding Partner SportMedBC, the provincial network of more than 600 sport medical practitioners and paramedical professionals in British Columbia, and BC School Sports, the provincial governing body for inter-scholastic sport.
It also includes BC Athletics, Curl BC, Canoe-Kayak BC, Karate BC, BC Water Polo and Synchro BC.
(SportMedBC Manager of Communications, Mike Martignago (L) with Fortius Director of Clinical Operations, Randy Goodman (R))
The eight provincial organizations are joined by the Roman Tulis European Soccer School of Excellence, an internationally – recognized soccer academy established by the late Roman Tulis, Sr. in 1993.
“Our vision is to collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations who believe in the power of sport to transform lives,” said Scott Cousens, Founder & Chair of Fortius Sport & Health. “That’s why it’s only natural for us to have provincial sport organizations dedicated to the development of athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers share in the canvas that is the Fortius Athlete Development Centre.”
The Fortius Athlete Development Centre is the flagship facility for Fortius Sport & Health. The $61 million philanthropic project is an asset of the Fortius Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to funding sport & exercise medicine facilities, resources and other initiatives. It features the Fortius Institute, an integrated team of sport & exercise medicine and science leaders, including many of those practitioners who served the sport medical team at Vancouver 2010.
“A major pillar of what we’re all about is athlete development,” said Dr. Rick Celebrini, Co-Founder & Chief Sport Officer of Fortius Sport & Health. “Launching the Fortius Athlete Development Centre with an inaugural series of Resident Sport Partners that are responsible for the growth and development of their respective sports is what we’d like to think is a win-win proposition.”
Dr. Celebrini noted that there are plans for other provincial sport organizations to join the project as Resident Sport Partners and Non-Resident Sport Partners.“
The Fortius Institute is designed to deliver the services of our integrated team of sport & exercise medicine practitioners to people of all ages and levels of ability, from active youth to performance athletes to weekend warriors who are active for life,” said Randy Goodman, Director of Institute Services for Fortius Sport & Health. “We’re interested in however we can complement the existing sport system, fill gaps in terms of athlete services and partner with sport groups on innovative new programs.”
Additional Resident Sport Partners and Non-Resident Sport Partners at the local, provincial and national level will be announced in the coming months as the Fortius Institute and Fortius Athlete Development Centre ramp up towards their grand opening in September. Among the key partnerships already in place is the collaboration between the Fortius Foundation and B2ten, announced last month.
