UNews - Pronghorns

The study of sports academies: Impact upon students

darcy.tamayose — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 22:13:26 +0000

Dr. Danny Balderson, a small town basketball star who led the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns to the national championships in 2000, is the only player in Pronghorn history to have his jersey retired.

Dr. Danny Balderson has been instrumental in helping to establish sports academies at schools throughout the region.

Today he instills in pre-service teachers his love of sports, and his philosophy that all children, regardless of circumstances, have the right to physical activity.

Balderson’s community spirit and commitment to inclusivity led naturally to his study of sports academies – schools offering sport-specific instruction as part of regular programming. Some academies begin as a way to keep students in school; others to keep schools from closing.

“They’re all different,” says Balderson. To gain context he visited ten academies throughout Western Canada. His findings so far reveal that academy students not only tend to remain in school, but they demonstrate greater dedication to all studies.

“School enrollments have increased,” says Balderson, “which means more teachers and possibly added programs and facilities all students can use.”

Educators also benefit. “When teachers who are passionate about a sport are invited to start a program, they’re engaged and invigorated,” he says.

Although initial outcomes are promising, Balderson plans to fully investigate the challenges academies face as well. Due to the nature of his research he has become recognized as an authority.

“I get a call every couple of weeks from someone starting an academy and wondering how,” he says.

He puts them in touch with comparable schools already operating and encourages academies to work together.

As an educator of future Physical Education teachers, it is imperative to Balderson that he remains involved with children. Sixteen years ago he created a summer basketball camp for youth. Today, the annual camps have mushroomed from 35 participants to more than 300. Balderson hopes to apply his organizational acumen to establishing a Western Canadian Academy Conference.

“Every academy is unique, but there are common elements,” he observes. “They have the same struggles.”

In the spirit of teamwork, Balderson wants to see academies unite, offering each other guidance and support.

For more information, visit:

Hanna Hockey Academy
Vauxhall Academy of Baseball
Westwind Equine Academy
Dr. Danny Balderson research website

Pronghorn swimmers medal at Canada West

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:47:11 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns swim team returned home with two medals and two more qualifiers for the CIS Championships (Feb. 20-22, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto) after weekend performances at the Canada West championship meet.

Senior captain Ryan Thornley earned the lone individual medal, winning bronze in the 50-metre butterfly event on Friday night. Thornley was also a member of the Horns' 400-metre freestyle relay team that produced a bronze medal later in the meet.

“We had a good championship with our best point total since the 1990’s and our first relay medal in many years," says Pronghorns head coach Peter Schori. “Both the men’s and women’s teams improved on last year’s scoring and added new CIS qualifiers. Overall I’m pleased with our team's performance and we took another step closer to the top programs in the CIS. I think the men’s free relay will be very competitive at nationals next month.”

Thornley narrowly missed a second individual medal in the 50-metre freestyle, finishing fourth by just two one-hundredths of a second. He was also sixth in the 100-metre freestyle.

The Horns men’s relay finished fourth in the 400m medley relay and fifth in the 800m free relay.

Other notable performances on the men’s side: Nick van der Sloot finished fifth in the 50-metre backstroke and sixth in the 100-metre backstroke; David Errington earned three top six finishes with a fifth place performance in the 50-metre breaststroke and sixth place in both the 100 and 200-metre breaststroke; Tiha Konyves also had two ‘A’ final appearances and finished sixth in both the 50-metre freestyle and backstroke events.

On the women’s side, Keri-Ann Cowan led the way with two top-five finishes. She placed fourth in the 50-metre backstroke and fifth in the 100-metre backstroke. Also making ‘A’ final appearances were Kara DeClark and Kiara Bodell. DeClark finished fifth in the 50-metre backstroke and Bodell was seventh in the 200-metre backstroke.

On the relay side, the women had a strong meet, finishing fourth in both the 800 and 400-metre freestyle relays and sixth in the 400-metre medley relay.

In the team standings, the Horns women’s side moved up one spot from last year’s result and finished fourth in the conference with 294.5 points, while the men finished fifth again this season but improved their point total from 293.5 last season to 310 this year and closed the gap between themselves and the Victoria Vikes.

With a couple more weeks left for other team members to meet the CIS qualifying times, the Horns currently have 11 swimmers qualified for the CIS Championships in Toronto.

Bailey, Reiter earn athlete of the week honours

trevor.kenney — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:37:05 +0000

Megan Bailey and Logan Reiter earned recognition as the Subway Pronghorns Athletes of the Week following their strong performances in Canada West action this past weekend.

Despite dropping both games at home this past weekend, Megan Bailey of the Pronghorns women’s hockey team earned the nod as the female athlete of the week.

Friday night, Bailey kick-started a Pronghorn comeback attempt that eventually fell one goal short. She scored once in the second period and then again with just over a minute to play in the third to cut the Manitoba Bison lead to one goal. While the ‘Horns were shut out the next night in a 3-0 loss, Bailey continued to be a consistent threat offensively and recorded three shots on goal.

The Pronghorns men’s basketball team was also swept on the weekend, dropping two close contests to the Winnipeg Wesmen on the road. Fifth-year guard Logan Reiter had a solid weekend for the ‘Horns, combining for 34 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists in the two games.

Reiter scored 17 points in each of the losses, which were by a combined six points, while adding four rebounds and four assists Friday and then two rebounds and three assists Saturday.

Through three weeks of his final season with the Pronghorns, Reiter is second on the ‘Horns in scoring, averaging 14 points per game, which also places him 12th in conference scoring.

UNews - Pronghorns

The study of sports academies: Impact upon students

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Pronghorn swimmers medal at Canada West

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Bailey, Reiter earn athlete of the week honours

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