Knowledge Nuggets

There are many things that go into a podium-level performance. Interestingly, World, Olympic, and Paralympic champions report that mental skills were more critical to their performance than physical factors. Interpersonal support, performance strategies, and lifestyle are other factors that can help develop high-performing athletes.

Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day, a day to raise awareness and combat stigma surrounding mental illness in Canada. According to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as many as 35% of elite athletes experience mental health symptoms and disorders. Fortunately, conversations about mental health are becoming more normalized in high performance sport. Check out the...

The Winter 2022 SIRCuit is now available! The SIRCuit is designed to highlight important research and insights to advance the Canadian sport system. With Bell Let’s Talk Day on the horizon, this edition of the SIRCuit takes a deep dive into the topic of mental health. Get up to speed on the new Mental Health...

In the journey to achieve excellence in sport, there’s a tendency to focus on performance-related factors such as medal counts and marginal gains. But those are only 2 pieces of the puzzle. Mental and physical health and well-being, physical safety, psychological safety and self-determination are key person-related factors that contribute to successful high-performing sport cultures.

Did you know that travel to-and-from practices and competitions accounts for more than 80% of emissions in sport? The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity for the sport sector to work towards a new ‘environmental normal’ that limits its climate impact. Check out the Sports for Climate Action Framework to learn more about how your sport...

Many top performers experience perfectionism, the need for their performance to always be perfect. While striving for flawless performance may seem like a good thing, research shows that perfectionism positively predicts burnout among competitive athletes. Burnout is also more prevalent among athletes who perceive their coaches as perfectionistic.

Due to warming temperatures and diminishing amounts of snow, winter sports are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Research from the University of Waterloo suggests ski resorts in Ontario and Quebec could be faced with winters too short to remain economically viable within 50-60 years if current emissions trends are not curbed. Learn...

“Engaging (athletes) and treating them as the important stakeholders that they are will not only be good for the athletes but also good for the viability and the long-term longevity of sport.” Beckie Scott, 2002 Olympic gold medalist in cross-country skiing and a stalwart in the international anti-doping movement, reflects on the value of having...

A study of soccer players during the 2018 World Cup explored the impact of tattoos on performance. Researchers found that there were significantly more players with tattoos on the teams that qualified for the knockout rounds. However, there was no correlation between tattoos and individual performance.

Athletes competing in sports that are aesthetically judged, body-weight dependent, and weight classed, are considered at high risk of developing relative energy deficiency (RED-S). However, research shows RED-S is still a concern for athletes in any sport, and can occur at any competitive level.