SIRC articles provide evidence-based and actionable insights from sport researchers, athletes, coaches, sport organizations and thought leaders to advance sport in Canada.
Move Her Mind: Creating Inclusive Spaces for Women and Girls
The more we move, the better we feel. In 2022 a global study commissioned by sportswear company ASICS, The State of Mind Index, studied people’s physical activity levels and mental wellbeing across the globe. In their first Move Every Mind Report, not only did ASICS learn that physical activity has a powerful impact on our…
Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey legend, is famous for the quote “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” Behind this saying is the thought of instead of chasing what’s already happened, try to get a...
Over the last 50 years, significant progress has been made in access and opportunities for girls and women to participate at all levels of sport in Canada. Despite this progress, the number of women in coaching remains alarmingly low (Banwell...
Too often we hear older generations, especially in sports, use put downs like “snowflake,” “entitled,” “soft,” sometimes accompanied by swear words and homophobic slurs. All forms of bullying. What many coaches and parents do not realize is that from a...
Francis Routledge, Runqun (Helen) Zheng, Callum Denault, and Rebecca Renwick
Belonging has been understood in many ways across lived experiences and fields of study. The sense of belonging, or lack thereof, can feel different for everyone. Carter (2021) explored 10 dimensions of belonging described by people with intellectual and developmental...
SIRC’s Paula Baker sat down and interviewed the Canada Basketball team spearheading the organizations EDI strategies and advancement to share their innovations. In recent years, Canada Basketball has embarked on a transformative journey towards equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), reflecting...
By Mathieu Bélanger, Ph.D. and François Gallant, Ph.D. Images created by Michaël Garcia
It turns out that what we thought was evidence-based… was not. You heard it loud and clear many times before; we should encourage children to engage in a large variety of sports and avoid falling into the trap of early...
A Canadian flag draped around her shoulders, a beaming, then-18-year-old Marina Stakusic is flanked by captain Heidi El Tabakh and Gabriela Dabrowski on the hard courts of Estadio de la Cartuja. Just minutes earlier, Leylah Annie Fernandez flung her racquet...
Overview To achieve excellence, athletes must dedicate themselves not only to honing their physical fitness, but also to mastering the intricacies of their psychological skills. While extensive research has probed into the psychological attributes, states, and competencies of elite athletes,...
Mentorship is a powerful resource with the potential to positively influence the growth and success of people in sport. Mentoring is a relationship where one or multiple mentors (i.e., a senior person in age or experience) provide guidance and support...
In the halls of BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Scott Ramsay witnessed a disconcerting pattern: children with concussions were being referred to the hospital too late, their symptoms already complex and challenging to manage. For Ramsay, a former professional hockey...
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