When PSAA students are not participating in afternoon sports activities, they continue their learning at school, engaging in Sports Science or Total Athlete Development time.
Sports Science and TAD
What is Sports Science?
The Parkland Student Athlete Academy is proud to partner with the University of Alberta to provide students with advanced curriculum depth and knowledge of cutting-edge sports science practices and health-related fields. During Sports Science time, the experts at the University of Alberta Green and Gold Sport Systems present to our students on a variety of topics.
Sports Science topics may include (but are not limited to):
- Sports psychology
- Exercise physiology
- Sport nutrition
- Athlete monitoring
- Load management
- Gap analysis
Students are then asked to take this knowledge and apply it to their personal development by completing cross-curricular projects and assignments.
As students grow in the program, they will be asked to use the scientific method to track their progress, determine the effectiveness of various training modalities, optimize their training habits and otherwise conduct sports science experiments before communicating their findings.
What is Total Athlete Development?
Although Sports Science and Total Athlete Development time may appear to be interchangeable, they differ in scope. While Sports Science is designed to facilitate authentic learning experiences in the realm of sport science, Total Athlete Development is focused on the holistic development of student athletes.
During Total Athlete Development time, we may explore:
- Best practices in leadership, time management, teamwork and other concepts relevant to sport
- Careers in sport, including physiotherapy, journalism, analytics, events management, and business
- Lesser-known sports and activities within the physical education curriculum that build on students' general physical literacy