Mini-Series: Mastering The Art of Evaluation
A sound evaluation process is critical for the success of any sport program. However, for many organizations, this process may appear overwhelming and staff capacity may feel limited. To help build confidence, knowledge, and practical skills, SIRC’s newest webinar mini-series explores all facets of the evaluation process.
In partnership with Brock University, this four-part series is an extension of SIRC’s ongoing webinar series—Experts in The House—providing opportunities to learn from experts in the field.
This collaborative project between Brock University and SIRC is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Part 4: Partnerships in Action
How research-to-practice partnerships are making a difference
Panelists
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Sophie Brassard, Career Counsellor, Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence
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Patricia Demers, Executive Director, Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence
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Véronique Pagé, Executive Director, Viomax
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Shane Sweet, Associate Professor, McGill University
Wednesday, June 23, 2021: 1:00-2:15p.m. E.T.
*This webinar will be presented in French, with simultaneous translation into English.
Sport and physical activity programs must be evaluated over time to determine their real impact. The best way to do this is through collaboration between the community and researchers.
To kick off this webinar, Véronique Pagé and Shane Sweet will share their experience and identify the elements that have facilitated the creation and continuation of a strong community-research partnership. They will explain how they managed to bridge the gap between research and the community, which are two very different realities. They will demonstrate what they consider to be the essential qualities that need to be put forward to support collaboration. As an example, they will share the steps taken to conceptualize and carry out a research project and to develop resources that will have a concrete impact for Viomax.
In the second half of the webinar, Sophie Brassard and Patricia Demers will describe various research projects that have been used to evaluate resources and programs at the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence, as well as tips and tricks for developing a beneficial partnership between researchers and practitioners in sport.
Speaker Bios
Sophie Brassard is a career counsellor, supporting the needs of athletes at the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence and for the Game Plan program since 2014. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, as well as a Master’s degree in Guidance Counselling from the Université de Sherbrooke. A former gymnast, she was a member of Sherbrooke’s club and university cheerleading teams. During her athletic and academic career, Sophie saw the lack of career transition and counselling resources available to athletes at the time, which inspired her to make this field her life’s work. She is now completing her PhD to further her knowledge on the subject and is collaborating on several research projects in the field.
Patricia Demers holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Social Sciences from Concordia University and a Master’s degree in Administrative Sciences (M.Sc.) – Management option from the same university. After having been the Director of University Programs for the Quebec Student Sports Network for five years, she has been working at the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence since 2011 and has been the Executive Director since 2016. A former basketball player for the Concordia University Stingers and Quebec teams, she finished her career as a professional player in Switzerland. A mother of three, she is very concerned about the quality of support offered to student-athletes and their overall development.
Véronique Pagé has more than 10 years of experience in the community environment, in intervention, and in team coordination and management. She has held the position of clinical coordinator for an intermediate facility that is a partner of the CIUSSS centre-sud de l’île de Montréal and has held the position of executive director of the Viomax centre, which is a partner of the same CIUSSS. The Viomax Centre’s mission is to make physical activity accessible to people with physical limitations.
Shane Sweet, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at McGill University. His research program focuses on understanding and promoting physical activity participation and well-being in adults with physical disabilities and chronic illnesses through motivational theories. He collaborates with the community to co-construct research projects and develop knowledge transfer strategies. In his spare time, Shane participates in various sports, jogs, reads fiction books, and is a comic book fan.
Past Webinars
Led by Warren Weeks, Principal, Weeks Media
May 13, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
Warren Weeks delivered the first installment of SIRC’s new
webinar series, Experts in the House. Check out the video recap.
Led by Jill Sadler, VP of Learning & Development, blueprint North America
June 17, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
Jill Sadler joined us for the second installment of SIRC’s
webinar series, Experts in the House. Check out the video recap.
Led by Warren Weeks, Principal, Weeks Media
July 15, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
webinar series, Experts in the House. Check out the video recap.
Led by Kelly McInenly, VP of Food, Wellness & Beauty Practice, blueprint North America
August 19, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
Kelly McInenly joined us for the fourth installment of SIRC’s
webinar series, Experts in the House. Check out the video recap.
Led by Beckie Scott, Founder and CEO, Spirit North
September 16, 2020, 1 – 2:30 p.m. ET.
Beckie Scott joined us for the fifth installment of SIRC’s
webinar series, Experts in the House. Check out the video recap.
Led by Jill Sadler, VP, blueprint North America
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. ET.
Beckie Scott joined us for the sixth installment of SIRC’s
webinar series, Experts in the House. Check out the video recap.
Led by Dr. Chantale Lussier, PhD, Mental Performance Consultant, Founder & CEO, Elysian Insight
Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 1 – 2:00 p.m. ET.
Fabien Abejean, Senior Mental Trainer/ Applied Sports Scientist
Marc-André Monette, Coach at the Canadian Regional Training Centre for Short Track Speed Skating
Wednesday, December 16, 2020, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. ET.
Fabien Abejean and Marc-André Monette joined us for the eighth installment of SIRC’s webinar series, Experts in the House. Check out the video recap.
In February & March 2021, join us for a two-part workshop series focused on building confidence: Part 1 explores how to lead virtual meetings with confidence, and Part 2 offers a special focus on ‘courageous confidence’ supporting female leaders in sport.
Each session is led by Jill Sadler, VP of Learning & Development, blueprint North America. These will be interactive, workshop-style webinars. Get ready to roll up your sleeves and actively participate!
Part 1: Leading Effective Virtual Meetings
Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET.
This three-part coaching series is a joint collaboration of SIRC and Sport North.
Part 1: Coaching the Multisport Athlete 
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
About
Effective multisport participation requires cooperation among athletes, coaches, parents, and sport administrators to ensure that the benefits of a strong athletic foundation are realized. Challenges such as adequate rest and recovery, avoiding injury and burnout, and determining if and when to prioritize a single sport become important considerations as an athlete moves through Train to Train and into later stages of long-term development in sport. This webinar will equip you with the key tools for coaching the multi-sport athlete.
Led by: Heather Ross McManus, Long-Term Development Advisor, Sport for Life Society & André Lachance, Business, Sport Development and Women’s National Team Director at Baseball Canada. Guest coach was Thorsten Gohl, Table Tennis Coach for Team NT.
Part 2: Being a Good Sport Parent
Friday, March 12, 2021
About
Parents play an undeniably important role in the lives of young athletes. Parents provide opportunities for participation, serving as role models, and helping athletes make sense of their sport experiences. The car ride home after a game or practice offers a “window of opportunity” for parents and athletes to debrief about games and practices – how they did, what they saw, and how to make sense of what happened. The ways that parents engage with their children after the sport event has the potential to impact their child’s enjoyment and ongoing participation in sport. This webinar will discuss some suggestions for messages you can share with your athletes to enhance their experience with sport.
Led by: Dr. Katherine Tamminen, University of Toronto with guest athlete Michael Gilday, 2014 Olympian, Short Track Speed Skating
You’re a high performer too!
Those working in sport often experience a double-edge sword. Leaders, coaches, and other staff often gravitate to these roles because we value being of service and athlete-centered in our daily operations. On the flip side, we often neglect our own mental wellness as high performers ourselves.
The purpose of this workshop is two-fold:
- to explore mental wellness considerations as they apply to you as a high performer at work, rest, and play; and
- to discover how to optimally integrate mental health literacy, mental skills training, and mental performance consulting across our sporting ecosystems.
Led by: Dr. Chantale Lussier, PhD, Mental Performance Consultant, Founder & CEO, Elysian Insight with guest athlete Dr. Sharon Anne Firth, C.M., O.N.W.T., the first Gwich’in Indigenous woman to compete in four winter Olympics
Courageous Confidence – a Blueprint for Growth
Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET.
Confidence is critical to personal and professional success. However research has shown that confidence levels are lower in women than they are in men even if their competence level is equal. This webinar is designed to provide female leaders within the sport community the fundamentals of self-confidence, the obstacles we face in achieving it and the tools & techniques for building and sustaining confidence levels over time. Content is geared toward women but is applicable to all.
Led by Jill Sadler, VP of Learning & Development, blueprint North America. These will be interactive, workshop-style webinars. Get ready to roll up your sleeves and actively participate!
Toolkit: Mastering the Art of Evaluation
Part 1: Partnering for Impact
How to Foster Partnerships and Engage Stakeholders
Panelists:
- Jenny Davey, Manager, Paralympic Pathways, Canadian Paralympic Committee
- Femke Hoekstra, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia Okanagan
- Sarah Lawrason, PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia Okanagan
Did you know that evaluations have the best chance of being useful and improving program delivery and outcomes when stakeholders are actively engaged in the process? Collaborative approaches to evaluation help to enhance the relevance, practicality, and impact of sport programs.
This webinar features a panel of researchers and practitioners with extensive experience facilitating and evaluating cross-sector partnerships. Drawing on their work with the Canadian Disability Participation Project our panellists will discuss the challenges and opportunities of partnered research, as well as practical tips for making connections that work.
Check out the video recording of the enriching conversation on how to foster partnerships and engage stakeholders to get the most out of your programs!
Part 2: Accessing the Evidence
Getting Creative with Data Collection
Panelists:
- Marika Warner, Director of Research and Evaluation, MLSE LaunchPad
- Maji Shaikh, PhD Candidate, University of Ottawa
- Lucie Lévesque, Professor, Queen’s University
- Brittany McBeath, PhD Student, Queen’s University
Drawing on the expertise of researchers and practitioners working in a diverse range of sport and physical activity settings, this webinar will feature strategies and best practices for meaningfully engaging youth and Indigenous Peoples in program evaluations.
In this webinar, evaluation expert Maji Shaikh will discuss how to leverage data from sources that most sport organizations already have access to, as well as practical and creative evaluation methods for when time and resources are limited. Through a practitioner’s lens, Marika Warner will provide insight into the innovative evaluation practices used at MLSE LaunchPad, including the MISSION Measurement Model and the digital gamification of youth engagement using MLSE Scoreboard. To wrap up, Dr. Lucie Lévesque and Brittany McBeath will highlight ethical considerations and culturally relevant approaches for collecting data with Indigenous peoples in Canada.
Part 3: Put Your Learnings into Practice
Learning From and Communicating Evaluation Findings
Panelists
- Kathe Rogers, Program Director, Youth Research and Evaluation eXchange (YouthREX)
- Nicholas Holt, Professor and Vice Dean, University of Alberta
- Marco Di Buono, Assistant Vice President, Programs and Operations, Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities
Wednesday, June 2, 2021: 1:00-2:15p.m. E.T.
You carefully planned your evaluation, collected the data, and the results are in… but what do you do with the findings? This webinar will focus on how sport organizations can learn from their evaluation findings to make meaningful changes and improvements, as well as communicate the findings to stakeholders. A carefully and intentionally crafted story can be a powerful tool to share the impact of an organization’s work.
In this webinar, YouthREX’s Kathe Rogers will provide simple but important tips and strategies for turning evaluation findings into learnings that can strengthen a program and effectively sharing evaluation findings (including graphic design tips for non-designers!), internally and externally. As a practical example, Dr. Nicholas Holt will showcase PYDSportNET—an online network that links researchers with practitioners, sport organizations, parents, and coaches, and provides evidence-based resources for enhancing the sport experiences of Canadian children and adolescents. Finally, Marco Di Buono will provide insight into evaluation findings (and the ways in which they are presented) that are most relevant to funding bodies such as Canadian Tire Jumpstart, particularly in the pandemic landscape of sport and recreation programs in Canada.
Video Coming Soon!
Building capacity for evaluation with students and volunteers
An essential part of improving sport service delivery is program evaluation. Program evaluation allows sport organizations to understand how their programs or initiatives work in different ways. However, many organizations receive insufficient training or lack the capacity (staff, funding or time) to engage in evaluative work (Carman & Fredericks, 2010). One way that sport organizations can boost capacity for evaluation is to involve students and volunteers. Indeed, there are many examples of graduate students partnering with sport organizations to evaluate programs as part of fulfilling their degree requirements. These include evaluations of the True Sport Foundation’s initiatives (Lawrason et al., 2021), Golf […]