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SIRC articles provide evidence-based and actionable insights from sport researchers, athletes, coaches, sport organizations and thought leaders to advance sport in Canada.

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Cirque du Soleil: Bridging the gap between athletes and artists

Cirque du Soleil is renowned for its breathtaking performances, combining artistry, athleticism, and storytelling to create unparalleled spectacles. But how does this world-class organization find and transform its talent? André Lachance, Senior Director Casting and Artist Contract Management at Cirque du Soleil, shared insights into the fascinating process of talent acquisition and development, where elite…

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The challenges of shifting to a safer sport culture: High performance coach and administrator perspectives

August 21, 2023
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Eric MacIntosh, Shannon Kerwin and Alison Doherty
Highlights High performance coaches and administrators are key stewards of a shift to safer sport In our research, coaches and administrators identified 6 challenges to culture change in high performance sport: Sport is inherently unsafe Turbulent, unstable sport environment Lack...

How to harness the power of team cohesion in sport

June 21, 2023
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Erika Degabriele and Cailie McGuire
In sport, we often hear athletes and coaches talking about how “united” their team is and the great “chemistry” that they have. Broadly, these terms reflect the concept of cohesion. Cohesion is frequently described as the glue that holds a...

Clearing the air around air quality and outdoor sport safety

April 24, 2023
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Sport Information Resource Centre with Health Canada
Highlights In 2022, Health Canada and the Sport Information Resource Centre partnered to create educational resources to raise awareness about air quality and the safety of outdoor sport participation Air pollution can impact the health of all Canadians, but some...

Supporting injured athletes and their team: How to use a group dynamics model to protect social cohesion

March 29, 2023
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Jason Clare, Thomas Leaf and Jordan D. Herbison
When helping an athlete recover from injury, it is common for those in supporting roles (such as, coaches, practitioners or parents and guardians) to separate the needs of the injured athlete from the larger team. This makes sense, considering the...

Sport Information Resource Centre, Coaching Association of Canada and Health Canada Launch Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) E-learning Module

March 21, 2023
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Canada’s most trusted partner in advancing sport knowledge is raising awareness of the importance of the AQHI as it relates to athlete health and empowering sport leaders to make informed decisions about air quality. March 21, 2023 Ottawa – The...

The development and implementation of a mentoring program for parasport coaches

January 9, 2023
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Gordon Bloom
Introduction and context Partnering with a provincial coaching association in Canada, we explored the experiences and perceptions of 15 mentor and 29 mentee coaches who participated in a formal virtual parasport coach mentorship program. Mentor coaches built a virtual relationship...

Barriers and facilitators to coaching certification in Canada

November 9, 2022
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Caela Fenton, PhD and Joseph Gurgis, PhD
Joseph Gurgis is an Assistant Professor at Nipissing University. He completed his doctorate at the University of Toronto, where he explored Canadian stakeholders’ interpretations, experiences, and recommendations for advancing Safe Sport. His findings suggest the Safe Sport movement would be...

Collaborative coaching is key to successful Para athlete transfer

October 19, 2022
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Caela Fenton, SIRC
This blog is a part of a series created in collaboration with the Canadian Paralympic Committee and the Paralympic Athlete Transfer Task Force, spotlighting the opportunities and challenges of Para athlete transfer and multi-sport participation. When COVID-19 hit, like the rest of us, Alexandre...

Actions speak louder than words: Non-verbal communication in sport

August 3, 2022
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Lexi Gottlieb and Luc Martin, Queen’s University
Communication is most associated with purposeful, verbal interactions. However, a big part of how we communicate in life, and sport, is non-verbal (Mehrabian, 2017). For example, simple acts of eye contact or body language are just as important than the...

How coaches and sport organizations can create a better experience for LGBTQ+ youth

June 29, 2022
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Dawn E. Trussell, Kyle Rich and Jake Quinton
Participating in sport can have many benefits for lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGBTQ+) youth. Sport has the potential to bring joy, distraction and mindfulness that frees LGBTQ+ youth from worry and fear in other domains of their lives. Sport can...
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