Grunts & Grumbles

Gorilla News - December 2022

It is official, Elite Athlete Training Systems and Athlete Collective have merged!

It has been a busy December at the Gorilla Compound. After 4 years of Elite Athlete Training Systems and Athlete Collective working out of the same space to serve the needs of our respective clients, we have made the decision to merge the two companies. As of December 1^st, 2022, Elite Athlete Training Systems and Athlete Collective have merged under the Elite Athlete Training Systems banner. Both Brad and Rob are excited about what the future holds as they bring their respective expertise and efforts together to support the ongoing growth and development of our incredible community of athletes.

What Have We Been Doing?

• Merger of Elite Athlete Training Systems and Athlete Collective.
• Added long time athlete Carson Eddy to our coaching team.
• Busiest week in our collective history with 102 training sessions delivered.
• Developing Holiday programming for our athletes returning home for the Christmas break.
• Planning for Spring/Summer 2023 is well underway.

What’s Next?

• Gorilla Gear online store set to launch January 2023.
• New programming pathways are currently being developed.
• Learn to Train (9-12 years old) programs coming summer of 2023.

Kaizen – A brief history of how we got to where we are

What a journey it has been! In 2018 life changed for my family and me. After nearly 8 years as a manager at the TransAlta Tri Leisure Centre (TLC) I was facing a massive change and an opportunity for a new start. Changes within the management team at the TLC led to changes in the organizational structure and the elimination of my position. What now?

I have always been passionate about sport. As a kid I played multiple sports. Soccer became my early passion. I played for the then Millwoods Warriors (now, West Edmonton Warriors) and for Edmonton Scottish Men’s Premier team. School sports were a big part of my childhood and exposed me to sports I likely would not have had an opportunity to play otherwise, volleyball and basketball. In high school I was introduced to Rugby. There was no looking back, Rugby became my singular focus. At 16, I joined the Strathcona Druids Rugby Club. Rugby has provided me with so many opportunities. Winning city championships, representing Alberta at Canada Summer Games and ultimately playing rugby in Wales. It was through Rugby that I was first introduced to strength and conditioning. Most significantly, Rugby introduced me to the importance of community. The power that comes from belonging to a community of people that share the same direction, the same drive, the same passion. This sense of belonging drives me to this day.

As a husband and father my relationship with sport changed. It was my turn to support others in the pursuit of their athletic dreams. I had the privilege of not only coaching all three of our children, but of doing it along side my wife Michelle. Michelle and I coached both of our girls (Emily 17, CJ 13) when they played with the Spruce Grove Saints Soccer Club. I also had the opportunity to coach our son Mason (19) through the first years of his hockey career with Spruce Grove Minor Hockey. As our kids developed as athletes and sought out greater challenges in their sports, it was important to Michelle and me that they had the opportunity to experience more independence and seek out sport experience away from their parents. With that my sport coaching days had come to an end. 

But I love coaching. I love being around athletes, I love the buildup, the struggle, the despair, the triumph. So, I sought out ways to stay connected to sport and to continue to work with athletes. Through my own experience with sport I had become fascinated with human performance and more specifically human movement. As such I have always pursued learning about movement and specifically movement related to sport performance. I began to develop and lead the Athlete Development Project while I worked at the TLC. That initiative at the TLC served as the foundation for the creation of the Athlete Collective. When my position at the TLC was eliminated I was working with a handful of athletes. Those athletes were keen to continue working with me. But we needed a home, a facility and equipment.

Re-entre Brad Dayman. 

Why re-enter? While I worked at the TLC I hired Brad as a personal trainer. Brad had bigger plans and quickly positioned himself to open Elite Athlete Training Systems and parted ways with the TLC. And now that I had also parted ways with the TLC it seemed appropriate that I would connect with Brad about training athletes out of his facility. Brad welcomed me and the handful of athletes that wanted to continue training with me. It was at that moment that Athlete Collective was born. 

Now after 4 years of working out of Brad’s facility the time has come for us to pool our resources, to maximize our unique strengths in pursuit of a common goal. At the root of the decision to merge Athlete Collective and Elite Athlete Training Systems is a shared vision of the community we were both building. Elite Athlete Training Systems remains committed to building and supporting a community of athletes that is driven by the pursuit of elite sport performance. 

I am truly humbled by the support of the athletes and their families that have supported Athlete Collective from day 1. I am equally grateful to Brad for opening his facility to us 4 years ago as we built our future. 

Our evolution continues, December 2022 marks the merger of Elite Athlete Training Systems and I am thrilled to continue building and delivering the best athlete training programs available.