Motion Is Part of Who We Are
In the Bow Valley, movement is more than a choice. It is part of who we are.
People here ski before work and hike after dinner. We build, guide, patrol, teach, train, and explore a landscape that calls for strength and resilience. Moving is how we live, connect, and feel like we belong.
Here, a torn ligament is more than a medical issue. It can mean missing a season of work, losing time with family, or losing a scholarship. And if the injury happens again, the impact compounds. Recovery takes longer, results are tougher, and getting back becomes harder.
It was this truth, that community health requires the same long-term preparation as sport, that brought Glen and Ann Sather to partner with the Banff Sport Medicine Foundation. Partners for over 53 years, this decision, like so many before it, was made as a team. They trust BSMF's approach: combining clinical care, research, and education to build systems that are prepared, not reactive.
Hockey Hall of Famer Glen Sather built the Edmonton Oilers' 1980s dynasty and revived the New York Rangers in the early 2000s, with decades of experience as a player, coach, and executive.
"The strongest teams are built before the pressure hits. You prepare, invest, and you protect what matters. Community health should be no different." — Glen Sather.
From Clinic to Foundation
Since 1992, the physicians of Banff Sport Medicine have treated thousands of bone and joint musculoskeletal injuries. Over time, they became one of Canada's leading centres for knee and shoulder reconstruction, and an important truth became clear. The first injury matters, but the second injury changes everything.
Research shows that after an initial injury, the likelihood of another increases. You are about 2 times more likely to sustain a musculoskeletal injury after a concussion. With the right support, recovery can become a story of transformation: restoring confidence, rebuilding relationships, and inspiring others.
"Every successful recovery strengthens more than one person. It strengthens a family, a team, and the community around them."
— Sarah Kerslake BPhty MSc
That question, what if we could prevent the second injury, shaped everything that followed. After over 25 years of surgery, research, and postoperative care, the doctors found that the best results came from combining clinical care, research, and education.
In 2018, they established the Banff Sport Medicine Foundation with a clear mission: to advance research, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal and sport injuries among people of all ages and abilities. Their vision is equally ambitious: to eliminate recurrent bone and joint injuries through world-class clinical care, research, and education.
In a place like the Bow Valley, that goal matters deeply. Recurrent injury affects mobility, mental health, livelihoods, and community participation. Preventing the second injury is where lasting impact lives.
That commitment is already producing measurable results. In 2023 to 2024 alone:
- 11 academic journal articles were published
- 7 new research studies were launched
- 649 participants engaged in community education events
- 20 healthcare professionals and students were trained
Sustaining this work requires long-term investment. For Glen, this was not only about supporting a cause. It was about backing an approach he trusts and an organization he believes in. In sport, success comes from preparation long before the moment of pressure. That same thinking shaped his decision to give.
Why Glen Chose to Establish the Sather Fund for Banff Sport Medicine Foundation
Glen’s decision to establish the Sather Fund is grounded in a simple truth. Healthy outcomes do not begin in the operating room. They begin in the community.
Glen Sather’s life and leadership reflect the discipline, resilience, and long-term thinking that sport requires. The Fund marks a change in how we value prevention and wellbeing.
With the Glen Sather Fund for Banff Sport Medicine Foundation, community education initiatives, prevention programs, research partnerships, global collaborations, and wellbeing efforts can accelerate.
Making sure that injury prevention is not just an extra, that community education happens year-round, that research partnerships are ongoing, and that wellbeing work is central. This important work moves from the sidelines to the heart of the Foundation's work, building health and strength in the Bow Valley. In all these efforts, the Foundation works to foster collective health—ensuring that individual wellbeing leads to a stronger, more resilient community. This is not symbolic philanthropy. It is structural change.
It recognizes that eliminating recurrent injury requires more than excellent surgeons. It requires informed coaches. Trained healthcare providers. Accessible education. Data-driven research. Youth programming that builds strength and awareness early. Partnerships that connect local insight to global expertise.
The Sather Fund gives community members, partners, and supporters a way to invest in keeping movement at the centre of our shared wellbeing. For Glen, the thinking is simple: "The best investment I ever made was always in people. That is what the Bow Valley is built on."
For Glen and Ann, that belief has always been shared. This gift reflects not just one person's commitment, but a partnership built on the same values that have always guided them: invest in people, protect what matters, and think long term.
That belief runs through the entire Foundation. Julie-Anne Fritz PhD speaks to the long view: "Our goal is to keep people moving for decades. That is how you build a healthier community."
The Banff Sport Medicine Foundation is working to eliminate recurrent bone and joint injuries and foster collective health across the Bow Valley. The Sather Fund makes prevention, education, research, and wellbeing central priorities, not afterthoughts.
Better outcomes. Stronger systems. A community that keeps moving.
