North America’s top authorities on fitness and aging will gather
at UBC Feb. 21 – 23 for the Strength and Conditioning International
Conference entitled Changing Aging and Training the Master’s Athlete.
The conference will address a broad range of issues associated
with physical health, fitness, training and the aging population.
Conference speakers range from doctors and medical researchers to
coaches and fitness trainers.
“Fitness professionals and the public are becoming increasingly
aware of the importance of exercise in the aging process,” says
conference organizer Sonya Lumholst-Smith, co-ordinator of campus
recreation and fitness at UBC. “Programs aimed at helping people
remain fit as they age are springing up across North America. This
conference reflects the importance of this movement, beyond just
trend status, and UBC’s commitment to staying at the forefront of
it.”
Keynote speakers include: Dr. Walter Bortz, past president of the
American Geriatrics Society and co-chair of the American Medical
Association Task Force on Aging; Ken Kambis, an exercise physiologist
and director of the Borgenicht Program for Aging Studies and Exercise
Science; and Judy Glenney, a pioneer in women’s weightlifting and
commissioner for the 1998 Nike World Master’s Games.
Other speakers include Canadian adventurer Don Starkell of Winnipeg
who canoed from Winnipeg to the mouth of the Amazon River.
Prof. Mike Houston, director of UBC’s School of Human Kinetics,
will also speak at the conference. Houston has a specific interest
in the role of training and nutrition in promoting fitness and how
this role changes through all stages of life.
Lumholst-Smith says the conference will be of particular interest
to professionals in fitness and training, as well as doctors, medical
researchers, health care workers and others with an interest in
fitness and aging. For further information call the conference hotline
at 224-0227.
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