SIRC articles provide evidence-based and actionable insights from sport researchers, athletes, coaches, sport organizations and thought leaders to advance sport in Canada.
Beyond the Stats: Understanding Sleeper Athletes with Dr. Joe Baker
In a sports culture obsessed with early success, Canada may be missing out on some of the best athletes, sleepers, those who develop later, defying the traditional timelines of talent. Dr. Joe Baker, a leading expert on talent development and professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, says…
Joanne Kay, Lindsay Larue, Klara Steele, and Benoit Gendron, Sport Canada
Highlights Over the past few years, the racism and discrimination brought to light throughout society and within the sport sector have forced a necessary reflection on policies and practices. There’s a renewed urgency for sport stakeholders to adopt new policies...
This is the fourth blog post in a series designed to increase sport organizations’ capacity to govern well in an increasingly complex world. Check out the previous posts about the role of the board, strategic foresight and the keys to...
Highlights The Mental Health Strategy for High Performance Sport in Canada aims to improve the mental health outcomes for all Canadian high performance athletes, coaches, and staff. The strategy was developed by Canadian experts in mental health and sport based...
In its inaugural season, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, a team of so-called “misfits” patched together from 30 other National Hockey League (NHL) teams, reached the Stanley Cup finals. One reason for their success was that they didn’t assign traditional on-ice...
This is the third blog post in a series designed to increase the capacity of sport organizations to govern well in an increasingly complex world. Check out the previous posts about strategic foresight and the keys to gold medal governance....
Wesley Chen and Kerry Macdonald, Volleyball Canada
Highlights Along with current educational and technological initiatives, sport organizations have the opportunity to introduce specific strategies to protect against the risks of concussion within their respective sports. To develop effective prevention strategies, it’s necessary to understand the extent of the concussion problem and research the factors and...
Highlights In summer 2021, the Sport Information Resource Centre launched the Community Activation Grants program to help sport organizations promote Safe Sport and concussion initiatives at the community level. This article spotlights 6 of the 25 successful grant recipients from across Canada. These...
You’ve carefully planned your evaluation, collected data and compiled results. Now what? Brock University’s Corliss Bean and Caroline Hummell spoke with Chris Penrose of Lay-Up Youth Basketball for SIRC’s Experts in the House mini-series on Mastering the Art of Evaluation,...
David Legg and David Finch, Mount Royal University
Highlights Despite its status as an Olympic city, attitudes towards sport and recreation initiatives in Calgary have been mixed. A city’s active economy includes all organizations and individuals who directly or indirectly contribute to the development and delivery of sport...
Highlights In sport, culture can determine a team’s focus and how members communicate and deal with conflict. Culture also establishes norms of acceptable behaviour and directly influences functioning and performance. Own the Podium, alongside partners the Canadian Paralympic Committee and...
