Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity 3.0 Communique

We want you to know that Sport for Life is in the process of developing the third edition of the Long-Term Athlete Development resource document. We submitted the text of the resource to Sport Canada for our March 31 deliverable, but then during the layout and design process, we determined that there were some existing issues with the content that had to be addressed and remedied before we could share the material with our sport partners. The resource will be launched at the 2019 Sport for Life Canadian Summit, at the end of January, and at that time made available to all of our sport partners. We recognize that NSOs are in the process of updating their LTAD frameworks and that MSOs are updating their documents for alignment processes, and that a number of these organizations have inquired about the status of this edition. However, due to the continued revisions occurring within this edition, it has been necessary for us to take more time and ensure we are accurate, comprehensive, consistent and inclusive.

Please be aware that this resource—and the name of Sport for Life’s framework going forward—will be called Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity. The change of name is to be more inclusive. We recognize that for people in high performance sport, the term participant marginalizes those who train hard in the pursuit of sporting excellence; we also recognize that the term athlete can marginalize those who take part in physical activity and sport for health, personal enjoyment, or social interaction. That said, we will continue to acknowledge Long-Term Athlete Development and its other iterations (e.g. Long-Term Participant Development, Long-Term Player Development) when working with you, our sport partners, and we encourage sport organizations to use their existing LTAD and/or this new language as it fits their circumstance.

Once you receive the completed version of this third edition, you will see that we have made other substantial changes to other aspects of the framework. Sport for Life and its experts will be available to help you interpret and work with the new material, ensuring you are able to use it effectively as you advance LTAD in your sport.