MIKE HADDOCK B
Y: NAOMI REDMOND
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Ultimate Canada recently announced the contracting of Mike Haddock, Toronto-based fitness guru, to be the official strength and conditioning coach. As someone who has been playing Ultimate and studying exercise science since high school, Haddock has been scrutinizing the way Ultimate players could benefit from training for years. While he was touring in the club system himself, he began to put together training programs for a small handful of Toronto Rush players, which steadily expanded every year as interest grew. Now, Haddock works with most local elite players in the men’s division. With the World Games and U24 tournaments on the horizon, he has been developing programs and resources for athletes across the country.
Q: Why Ultimate? When did you start playing, and when did you start investing time in training Ultimate players? A: I started off playing all sports when I was younger, but I think like a lot of people, I really fell in love with Ultimate right away. At my high school, I was able to take Exercise Science, which led me to Kinesiology. By Grade 12, I knew that I wanted to train Ultimate players. After I had finished at York University, I went through Olympic lifting and high- performance training courses, where my mentor encouraged me to find my niche. That’s when I wrote my first proposal for the Rush, but it was the following season
that I started helping with their physical preparation.
Q: What inspires you to train athletes? What do you think is the best way to improve an Ultimate player? A: The players are a major incentive. I have worked with professionals in other sports, and they have a sense of “I am a professional, so I know best.” It’s the opposite in Ultimate, where there is a deep sense of gratitude and desire to be better, and a willingness to put in the time and effort.
What really makes this “job” fun is the enthusiasm from both the coaches and athletes. Because those athletes take everything you advise, and implement it, which makes me want to work harder, do more, and help as much as possible. It really is the environment and atmosphere
Gym training photo contributed by Crispin Haskins.
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