Knowledge Nuggets

Outdoor play is a basic childhood need, and taking risks is an essential part of play. Whether sledding down a hill, building a snow fort, or playing pond hockey, children are often happiest when playing, and this type of risky play contributes to children’s health, development and wellbeing. Unfortunately, research indicates only 37% of children play...

From February 15th – March 3rd 2019, the Canada Winter Games, Canada’s largest multi-sport and cultural event, will be hosted in Red Deer, Alberta. The Games will welcome 3,600 athletes, managers, and coaches, as well as over 100,000 visitors and spectators. Canada’s elite young athletes will compete for gold in 19 sports across 14 different venues...

The “relative age effect” (RAE) advantages relatively older individuals in an age group while disadvantaging the relatively youngest. This age inequality can have significant impacts on sport and educational performance, and long-term health and wellbeing. Learn more in the SIRCuit.

In 2016, after a season of controversy, the World Curling Federation (WCF) and Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) investigated the effects of curling brush head technology on ice surfaces and their potential effects on where stones come to rest. During three days of testing, the NRC’s ice and materials technologies experts analyzed various manufacturers’ broom...

Sport is often celebrated as a platform through which to develop life skills, such as communication, teamwork, and respect. Approaches to develop these skills are either implicit – where the inherent dynamics of sport provide opportunities for practicing life skills; or explicit – where intentional design provides opportunities to practice life skills. Learn more in...

Many athletes and leaders continue to believe that hazing contributes to team cohesion. Yet research reveals that hazing can have the opposite effective and can fracture relationships amongst teams and between players. Coaches and athlete leaders can use education to debunk the mythical relations between hazing and team cohesion, and use alternative activities to build...

Coaches have a responsibility to provide a safe environment for their athletes. Parents have the right to speak with the coach or the coach’s employer if they have questions or concerns about interactions with their child. Learn more about the Responsible Coaching Movement, a collaboration between the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) and the Canadian...

The Sport Leaders Retreat is a “leadership development boot camp” for sport leaders from provincial/territorial, national and multi-sport organizations, hosted by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and the Sport Law & Strategy Group, with funding from Sport Canada. Today’s blog, by Sport Leaders Retreat facilitator Dina Bell-Laroche, shares insight from previous participants about...

Walking for transportation or leisure can contribute to the health of our nation. “Walk Score” is a scientifically validated method for measuring the walkability of any address based on proximity to nearby amenities and pedestrian friendliness (i.e. population density and road metrics such as block length and intersection density). Click here to check out the...

Research from the University of Manitoba reveals a number of important issues relating to the participation of trans athletes, including a lack of awareness about current inclusion policies, uncertainty and skepticism relating to the science behind current regulations, and persisting transphobia amongst athletes, coaches and decision makers. Unfortunately, the burden of educating stakeholders and advocating...