For the second year in a row, a local training centre will be giving back to Collingwood and area sport teams while also putting their players to the tests.
The Collingwood Combine, hosted by Active Life Conditioning, returns May 4 and 5 as a fun fitness competition for youth and adults.
Put together last year by Sarah Applegarth and Rob Buxton of Active Life Conditioning as a way to encourage youth to be more active, the Combine includes four tests for each participant, and the scores will be ranked according to age category –U14, U16, U18 and open.
“The athletes that are participating will get a chance to see how they compare to their peers and with other sports, which is kind of cool,” said Applegarth. “When we started this in 2022, we knew that some of the local sport organizations were kind of struggling to try and get back up and running after COVID and we were noticing our youth programs were quite a bit lower.”
She said she and the other staff were getting a bit concerned about youth-aged athletes coming out of pandemic restrictions and wanted to do something fun and engaging with a festival environment.
There are four tests including the pro agility run between three pylons, the vertical jump, the single leg pente jump (four single leg jumps in a row for distance), and 60 seconds on the assault bike.
Buxton said he and Applegarth picked those four tests because they didn’t favour any one sport and offered a well-rounded test of an athlete’s strengths.
The final test, a one-minute push on the assault bike, is just as much mental as physical, he said.
“It doesn’t favour anybody,” said Buxton. “It’s just who can put their head down and grind it out the hardest.”
Here’s a video from last year’s event demonstrating the four fitness tests.
Secondly, but as important as the fitness exercises, say Buxton and Applegarth, is the community sports component.
“I thought it was important to start [the Combine] just so that we could get the youth a little bit more involved in the community, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Buxton.
Any youth who register to participate in the program can also note what local teams or organizations they play for, and their $10 registration fee will be donated to their sport club. The costs of the event have been covered by local sponsors.
“Some great, great businesses have come on board to help support the initiative,” said Applegarth.
Sports organizations are also invited to the event to set up an information table to promote their details and registration.
There will also be baseline concussion testing offered for anyone who would like to do it.
The Combine will run in waves all day long, and it will take approximately 60 minutes for each athlete to complete all four tests. To register, visit the Active Life website here.
Prizes will be given to top athletes in each category.
