Athletes and Education

High performance training and post-secondary education

This is our story...

From the day we opened our doors back in May of 2012 we committed to a performance-inspired biathlon program that would develop quality athletes for Canada’s Junior and Senior National Teams. That goal, in our minds, could only be achieved by developing quality individuals first, and that is nearly impossible without continuous education.

Now, nine years later, we are just as committed and invested in our athletes’ education as we were in 2012. Our training philosophy is based upon and revolves entirely around one simple concept… the higher education and high performance training are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary, if planned, designed and implemented the right way. We strongly encourage our athletes to pursue post-secondary education after high school and not focus entirely on training. Our training program is designed around our athletes’ school or university schedules as we aim to be as flexible as possible in delivering quality coaching that does not interfere with academic goals.

Over the course of the past few years we have been able to develop athletes that represented Canada on the international stage at World Youth and Junior Championships, Junior Cups and IBU Cups while going to university either part- or full-time.

This is a relatively unique approach in the upper performance echelons of Canada’s biathlon community as most of the programs that offer high performance training stress… well, training over education, and limited opportunities for continuous education past high school. Calgary Biathlon Racers are designed to provide a development path in the sport of biathlon that will allow athletes to grow from an early age and progress to high performance stages (if desired of course) without sacrificing their education. Investing in higher education while training in the sport produces lasting dividends in our opinion, and contributes to our athletes complete development, both athletically and academically.

While it is most certainly not an easy task to juggle school and training schedules we firmly believe that if planned right the outcome of such an ambition will be far greater for the athletes that pursue higher education versus those who elect to just train full time.

Please, visit us again in the near future as we continue bringing stories of CBR athletes excelling in the sport of biathlon while attending college or university.