If National Sport Centre Calgary President, Dale Henwood, gets his way, the recipe for international sport success currently at work at the University of Calgary could soon be adopted across the nation.

That recipe - the unique blend of sport scientists, psychologists, physicians and other important sport specialists evident within the Faculty of Kinesiology - has worked so well that Henwood hopes to see it adopted as a model for the creation of a new Canadian High Performance Sport Council (CHPSC) which will oversee elite sport in Canada.

"The direction we're going with the expertise available here is, I think ,the model we must implement nationally," said Henwood. "If we can lead the way and continue to show that it can provide results then I think we are on the right track."

Henwood introduced the concept of a Canadian High Performance Sport Council along with COA Executive Director for sport and programs, Mark Lowry, at the Investors Group Sport Leadership conference that took place in Calgary from November 18-19.

The importance of developing a high performance system for tomorrow that is fundamentally different from what exists today was emphasized if Canada can expect to succeed on the international sporting stage.

"As a nation, we need to become synonymous with excellence. We are known as a great place to live or work, good competitors, polite - but we are not known for excellence. We need to create an attitude and climate of excellence in Canadian sport," said Henwood.

First on the list for creating that attitude and climate is centralization. "Being by yourself, in isolation, without world class training partners will not get you to the top repeatedly," states Henwood. "It's a tough decision, based on our geography, but we must make the tough decisions if we expect to compete and win internationally."

The centre of excellence model, where top athletes train and compete against other top athletes every day has been at work at the Olympic Oval for some time, and has already started to reap its rewards. Athletes have access to world class facilities, comprehensive services, and top coaches - which has all contributed to producing some of the world's top athletes.

In order to sharpen the focus on performance results Henwood emphasizes that an independent group of credible sport experts is required. This group, the CHPSC, would have independence and responsibility for performance monitoring, evaluation, strategic deployment of resources, and would adopt a business model for achieving targets.

The CHPSC would be independent of, but would still be accountable to the government and the partners in the Canadian sport system who would contribute to its funding and support. "In order to raise the bar we need an independent unit to guide high performance sport. Right now we are way too dependent on the government. We need to depoliticize sport, but still remain accountable to our main supporter," says Henwood.

Right now though, says Henwood, we need to make sure that high performance sport is part of the new National Sport Policy. "Once that is there, we can worry about creating our council of experts. But the founding partners must be on our side."

The National conference on sport, chaired by the Prime Minister, will be held in April of 2001.