Articles

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

Featured Article

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…

Search Articles

Search
Showing 21-30 of 62 Results

Lessons about mental health from the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo

January 24, 2022
|
SIRC with Teddy Katz
Highlights For athletes, coaches, and others who worked tirelessly to make the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games a success, the global COVID‑19 pandemic increased stress and added to the already pressure-packed environment. When USA Gymnastics legend Simone Biles put her...

Why youth sport isn’t just for kids: it benefits mom too!

January 24, 2022
|
Jordan Sutcliffe, University of Wollongong
Highlights With approximately 75% of Canadian youth involved in organized youth sport, it’s uniquely positioned to promote mothers’ mental health and wellbeing. Youth sport offers opportunities for moms to: gain meaning through coaching and leadership experience pride and joy from observing...

Blossom where you’re planted: Mental health considerations for Indigenous sport participants

January 24, 2022
|
Veronica Allan, Sharon Anne Firth and Chantale Lussier
Highlights: The first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation took place on September 30, 2021. This day honours the survivors of the residential school system, their families and their communities. Reflecting on truth and reconciliation in Canadian sport, this article...

Opportunities for mental health promotion in Canadian university sport

January 24, 2022
|
Kurtis Pankow, Tara-Leigh McHugh, Amber Mosewich and Nicholas Holt, University of Alberta
Highlights Evidence suggests that university student-athletes experience poor mental health at higher rates than the general population. To better understand and support mental health in the university sport setting, a research team at the University of Alberta studied how mentally...

The mental health strategy for high performance sport in Canada: What national sport organization leaders and staff should know

January 24, 2022
|
Natalie Durand-Bush and Krista Van Slingerland
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...

Unexpected, but not a surprise: Anticipating stressors in competition

October 27, 2021
|
Benjamin Sereda, Nick L. Holt, and Amber Mosewich, University of Alberta
An athlete’s ability to cope with stress is crucial for performing well in competition. Many stressors can arise for athletes, including training demands, pressure to do well, conceding points, and discomfort. Most of the stress that athletes experience during competition...

Building a culture of excellence in high performance sport

July 19, 2021
|
SIRC with Own the Podium
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...

The Ripple Effect of the Pandemic: Supporting Athletes With a Holistic Approach

February 9, 2021
|
Sophie Brassard, Game Plan Advisor, INS Québec/FAEQ
“Athlete career excellence” is a concept from sport psychology concerned with an athlete’s ability to sustain a healthy, successful, and long-lasting career in sport and life. It means the athlete is striving to achieve meaningful goals in sport and life...

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport: What Coaches Need to Know

January 11, 2021
|
Megan Kuikman, Registered Dietitian
Mary Cain, a former record-breaking phenom, made a different type of headline when she spoke up about the pressure she faced to lose weight that caused her to disappear from the running scene (Cain, 2019). Cain’s willingness to speak up...

Self-Compassion in Sport 101

January 11, 2021
|
Nathan Reis, Kent Kowalski, Amber Mosewich, and Leah Ferguson
If you have been involved in the coaching or administrative side of competitive sport, chances are you have seen athletes experience emotionally difficult setbacks. These setbacks can range from devastating performance failures (e.g., “choking” during an important competition), to facing...
Skip to content