The fellowship, first offered in 1982, is multifaceted and includes clinical exposure, course work, research, teaching, community work, and medical education. The clinical time is split between primary care sports medicine, orthopaedics, and physiotherapy, with the emphasis on primary care. The fellow, once familiar with the specific sports oriented history and physical, assesses and reviews the cases with one of the primary care doctors and is available at follow up. Training in research is an important part of the programme, and the fellow is required to complete, or have completed, a programme of study leading to a Master of Science degree. The fellow is also expected to organise for publication a clinical or basic science research paper. This paper is often generated from the thesis required for the masters degree.

Sports medicine courses are offered through the School of Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia on a credit basis. They cover all musculoskeletal and organ systems and how these are affected by sports injury. A further component of the fellows training is teaching, both within and outside the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre, with family practice residents and in the medical and lay communities where the fellow is encouraged to participate in presenting lectures and seminars on a myriad of sports medicine topics. The fellow also participates in a number of sports medicine conferences organised each year by the centre and in national and international conferences.

Community service in the form of medical coverage for a team (either varsity or community based) and for sporting events (tournaments, runs, athletic meets, etc) is also a requirement for successful completion of the programme. The format is flexible, with the fellow spending 2.5 days per week in clinical training and the remainder of the time for course work, research, and sports medicine coverage. We encourage full time participation in the programme. The fellows take the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine diploma examination on completion of their training at the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre.