Canlan Sports

Stories

• Self-care tips to get ready for Camp.

  There are so many questions you may have in order to fully prepare yourself and your child for what comes next. What will a full day of camp look like? How will my child feel? Will they be able to socialize and make friends?

  Let us help you navigate, and feel confident that your child will get the most out of their camp experience. Have any questions? We're always here for you, fill out the form here for any covid related inquiries.

  

  Get prepared for play!

  By getting into a routine and practicing healthy habits, you can help foster positive qualities in your children to help them cope through challenging times.

  With a little help from resources like School Mental Health Ontario, we've prepared some self-care tips to help you and your child/ children keep strong & healthy, bodies & minds. 

  SLEEP

  Recharge + Repeat

  Sleep is your body's way of recharging from a full day of activity to get prepared for the next! It plays a vital role in your overall health. According to the Canadian Paediatric Society your child should be getting 9-12 hours of sleep each night. Do you know what can help with this? Physical activity! When your child has used up all their energy playing sports, games, or activities, they'll naturally fall into a good rhythm for sleep. One tip to note: having a set schedule helps to regulate the body, so make sure you have a regular time for going to bed & waking up.

  NUTRITION

  Eat + Hydrate

  3 meals, snacks in between & lots of water! Food is such an important part of your everyday self-care routine. It's how we fuel our bodies. We partnered with Seanna Thomas, Holistic Nutritional Consultant from Hockey Snacks to give us some tips on healthy snacks to keep your child energized for a full day of camp.  She says that a good diet of whole foods with essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats all helps to promote a strong body and mind. And of course, we can't forget to stay hydrated. Many times we feel drained because our bodies aren't receiving enough, so next time your child or you're feeling sluggish try a glass or two of H2O.

  ROUTINE

  Move + Enjoy

  Being physically active and doing activities that are fun, makes life so much more enjoyable! Incorporating movement into your daily activities, whether it be a walk, stretching or gameplay has so many benefits. Physical activity helps to increase overall energy, enhances your immune system, and even stimulates brain development! Most importantly being physically active increases your serotonin: the happy hormone! When you move your body, you release both dopamine and serotonin which improves your mood and can even be particularly helpful for those that deal with anxiety or panic attacks.

  

  FRIENDSHIPS

  Support + Connect

  We cannot leave out how vital socialization is to have as part of our self-care routines. It's a basic human need to connect with others, and we know how increasingly difficult it's been to do so during a pandemic. Ensuring we are making a conscious effort to keep and engage with our friends and family also helps with our overall mood & well-being. Camp is a great way to encourage and foster social connections for our children. By being surrounded by like-minded children, your child can begin to establish trust while building these new relationships, gain confidence and improve their self-esteem. Support healthy friendships for your child, and encourage staying connected through virtual games, meet-ups & more!

  COMMUNICATE

  Recognize + Reflect

  Take good care of yourself! Being mindful is definitely a difficult practice to implement. Now more than ever we are constantly on the go and being as flexible as we can to roll with the punches. However, now more than ever is the time to start mindful practices and build them into your child's routine too! Take a breath, do it. Right now! Be present at this moment. Or make time to enjoy the now with your family. Create an environment to openly talk about emotions, we're all feeling a lot and it's important to talk about it. Once you've discussed how you and your child are feeling, make action plans to mitigate negative feelings and maintain positive ones.

  Practicing self-care is great for your child’s overall wellness, and of course yours too! We hope you enjoyed these self-care tips and that you (if you're not already) build a routine to incorporate them into!

  

   

  If you're interested in additional resources on self-care, mental health, and alternate coping strategies, we've prepared the following list provided by the Toronto District School Board to help you and your families manage your overall mental health and well-being.

  Additional Resources:

  Student Mental Health Action Kit for Families

  Mental Health and Wellness Services for Indigenous Children and Youth

  Naseeha Mental Health Hotline, Muslim and non-muslims

  Islamic Circle of North America Relief Canada

  Community Family Services of Ontario

  Tropicana Community Services

  Anishnawbe Health Toronto OSHKII OKITCHIIDAK (YOUTH) PROGRAM

  Hong Fook Mental Health Association

  Stella's Place Young Adult Mental Health 

  LGBT YouthLine Resources

  TAIBU Community Health Centre

  Black Youth Hotline

  Central Toronto Youth Services

• On Your Marks & Get on Track with Our Top 5 Energy-Fuelled Snacks!

  Snacks are an amazing and easy way to provide our young athletes with energy. Not only can we fill nutritional gaps, but we can also make sure our snacks contain essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats, to ensure energy all day long!

  Fresh Fruit

  Fruit is the perfect snack for energy. Not only are they pre-packaged, pre-portioned, and full of fibre, vitamins, and minerals, they also contain natural sugars which are easily digestible carbohydrates and essential for energy! Carbohydrates, like the ones found in fruit, are easy for our body to recognize and turn into energy. Fruit is an excellent option an hour before any activity.

  

  Fruit Smoothie

  A smoothie is an excellent choice for energy! No matter if your young athlete enjoys banana, berries, or tropical fruit, you can find a smoothie they will enjoy. Smoothies are also an excellent way to include carbohydrates from fruit and protein from milk (or a milk alternative). A great option for kids that don’t like to eat first thing in the morning.

  

  Energy Bites

  Want a make-ahead snack that will provide your player with sustained energy for hours? Energy bites are awesome! Made with only four ingredients (recipe below), they contain loads of fibre and protein, plus are completely customizable to your player’s likes and dislikes. Swap out the natural peanut butter for an allergy-friendly alternative, and you have a quick and easy snack that can be taken to camp.

  

  Eggs

  Eggs really are the perfect energy source. As a protein, they are easier for our bodies to digest than other protein sources like meat or dairy. They are also incredibly versatile! There is an egg recipe for everyone. Scrambled, hard-boiled, in a wrap, devilled, or egg salad-they are all great ways to get some protein and vitamins. Eggs will keep the energy going all day if eaten in the morning, and are excellent as a recovery snack or meal.

  

  Trail Mix

  Customizable and perfect for on-the-go, trail mix includes carbohydrates, protein, fibre, healthy fats, and tons of vitamins and minerals. Plus you can keep it in the car! Have your young athlete make their own by putting all their favourite nuts, seeds, and dried fruit in a jar so it’s ready to go! You can add some fun components as well like dried cereal, popcorn, or chocolate chips as a treat.

   

  Keeping our kids fuelled throughout the day is so important for their energy levels and their focus. Whether your kids are great eaters and finish their meals, or you have “grazers”, that like to nibble all day, snacks can be a solution to provide more nutrition, and the right nutrients for our kids to grow and be the best version of themselves.

  Energy bites Recipe from Hockey Snacks Inc 

  Ingredients:

  1/2 cup natural peanut butter or alternative

  1/4 cup real maple syrup

  1/4 cup hemp hearts

  1 cup rolled oats

  Add-ins: dried fruit, coconut, chocolate chips, etc. (optional)

  Directions:

  Stir together peanut butter and maple syrup until combined.

  Add hemp hearts and oats and mix.

  Stir in your add-ins, if using, and roll into golf ball-sized balls. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer and grab 2-3 whenever you need a pick-me-up! Just remember to allow time for digestion, if eating before activity.

   

  For more information, you can contact Seanna Thomas, founder of Hockey Snacks Inc at [email protected] or follow Hockey Snacks on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.

  Looking to register for Canlan Sports' Camps? Don't miss your mark! Learn more about getting set for an unforgettable summer here.

• Progressing through the Play Forward Pathway

  

  The early mornings. Waking up at the break of day to be the first ones in the parking lot. The late nights. You may be exhausted, but there's always the sense of coming home being fulfilled. You do it all for your family, your kids, and yourself because you believe in self-development and putting in the work to achieve the results.

  These are the same values we believe in. Through our programs, we provide you and your children the tools to get you on a path to a better you.

  The Power of Play

  At Canlan we strive to provide the best programming so that you can focus on your skill and enhance your learning in a fun way. This is why our entire curriculum is rooted in play-based learning because play makes learning fun.

  When we researched play-based learning methods we were blown away by the strides in improvement and the impression left on an individual by completing just one class!

  To give you a better understanding of how great play is, it:

  Helps to develop motor and social skills. During an activity, you're in a scenario where you're engaging with your peers, and working on a task. For example, calling your teammate's name to receive a pass while focusing on getting that pass to go in the direction you intend it to! It's all about multi-tasking and multi-skill building.

  Gives you the motivation to learn. We all have that drive to work on our skills and push our boundaries to be the best.  When put into game mode we build confidence to keep going and reach our goals to score that goal!

  Focuses your attention. Introducing play into learning really helps to hone in on the objective. By increasing your level of focus to narrow in on completing a task, you can build a wider range of skills more effectively.

  Brings a level of curiosity and creativity to think critically and problem solve. The most important part of play is bringing back that level of excitement and thrill. Putting yourself or your child into a child-like mindset expands your creativity and challenges your way of thinking. It brings clarity to how you want to achieve your goals and flexibility to make it possible.

  We knew that play was something we wanted to implement into our programming because we could see firsthand how games and activities developed the skillset tenfold. Play is the best way to help you learn and grow, and have fun while doing it!

  Introducing the Play Forward Pathway

  Having play as the foundation of our programming was just the beginning towards creating a progressive structure.

  We are life-long learners and know the value of continuous development. We believe that growth never stops, and it is continually worked on. This is why we created a pathway, to guide you along your sports journey and keep learning. To push your limits and break boundaries. To become your best.

  The Play Forward Pathway is Canlan's ecosystem of progressive programs.

  In our Play Forward Pathway, you start with the basics of learning how to play in Play to Learn. Gaining the foundational skills you need in order to get to the next level of development.

  As you broaden your skill-set you enter Play to Develop. Transitioning from basic knowledge to an enhanced level of skill. Here you will perfect the staples and start to introduce more technical moves.

  Our pathway leads you to advanced learning in Play to Perform. Taking all the skills you have acquired, building upon them and challenging yourself every step of the way. This is how we perform at our best.

  Our three pillars in the Play Forward Pathway were designed for everyone no matter their age or skill level. Our coaches are here for you, to teach and guide you through the Play Forward Pathway. They are passionate about equipping you and your children with the skills to learn and grow.

  Join your Canlan Sports™ Community.

  Whether you're trying something new or coming back from a long hiatus, we encourage you to begin your sports journey with us, because we are a community of sports enthusiasts that care. We see the drive and determination in you, and we want to help you flourish, to grow your skill, get to that next level and perform at your best.