Elite Program (Ages 9 to 18)

Northern Trailblazers Elite teams provide young aspiring athletes the opportunity to compete against other basketball clubs in a Train-To-Compete format.

Athletes enter the Train-to-Compete stage when they are proficient in sport-specific Train to Train athlete development components (physical, technical-tactical, mental, and emotional). At this stage, athletes are training nearly full-time and competing against in similar program structures.

Key Concepts

  • Participants enter this stage based on individual commitment, volume and intensity of training, and performance results as well as having achieved all the objectives of the Train to Train stage.
  • Participate in year-round, high-intensity, individual- event- and position-specific training within a high-quality training environment.
  • Learn to perform skills under a variety of competitive conditions.
  • Competition periods include traveling and competing against other clubs and teams.

Our club is based out of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Our experienced staff are selected because they love the game and can effectively teach it. All of whom have had success coaching basketball at different levels in Canada.

Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity

The Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) β€œLong-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity 3.0” is a framework for the development of every child, youth, and adult to enable optimal participation in sport and physical activity. It takes into account growth, maturation and development, trainability, and sport system alignment.  The objective of the framework is to promote both sporting excellence at the highest international level and life-long engagement in health-enhancing physical activity.

The three main goals of β€œLong-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity 3.0” are to support the development of physical literacy, strive for excellence, and empower people to be active for life.

Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity is built on four guiding principles:

Quality is key: Every child, youth and adult deserve a quality experience every time they participate in physical activity or sport. Quality means good programs, in good places, delivered by good people.

Optimal programming is critical: This means giving every participant in sport and physical activity what they need, when they need it, and in the way they need it to make the most progress. Optimization is participant centred and developmentally appropriate.

Inclusion is non-negotiable: Inclusion is both the removal of physical, cultural, economic, and attitudinal barriers to participation, and the designing of activities so that individuals are not excluded. Being allowed to take part is not enough. Every participant must feel safe, welcomed and included. Supports need to be in place to engage and support the diverse needs of participants, across all of the dimensions that make up that individual. Every program and service should be set up to welcome allβ€”inclusion is a topic because our system currently excludes. We must reframe to: everyone has the opportunity, and exclusion is the exception rather than the norm.

Collaboration makes the system better: Individuals and organizations will deliver more quality experiences when they work together. Communities, sport organizations, and the health and education sectors all benefit from alignment of programming and collaboration. For example, one participant may be active in different sports or physical activities, including recreation or club programs, physical education, as well as school sport. If the organizations pull that participant in different directions, good development is less likely to happen. Through system alignment, participants are the winners.

For further inquires about our elite program please feel free to email us at

CALL: 780-881-2968

EMAIL: INFO@NORTHERNTRAILBLAZERS.COM

U11 Elite Boys (2019-20)
U13 Elite Girls (2019-20)
U15 Elite Boys (2019-20)
U15 Elite Girls (2019-20)
U17 Elite Boys (2019-20)