Knowledge Nuggets

Athlete Development Self-regulation is an undeniably important to achieving athletic excellence. However, in endurance sports such as middle distance running, self-regulation is particularly important for the development of pacing skills within a race. To develop this skill and ultimately improve performance, coaches should support athletes to reflect, plan, monitor, and evaluate their races on a...

Blog Effective alumni programs are a critical component to any organization’s long-term success. In today’s blog, learn how to enrich your organization’s relationship with this key stakeholder group, whether they are athletes, coaches, staff or volunteers.

Insider Perspective Do you ever wonder what’s needed to create and support an Olympic men’s hockey team? The Summer edition of the SIRCuit provides an insider perspective from a member of the Integrated Support Team (IST). From scouting missions to Canadian themed accommodation, the IST considered every detail.

Promising Practice The Athletes Connected program at the University of Michigan was designed to increase awareness of mental health issues, reduce the stigma of help-seeking, and promote positive coping skills among student athletes. The program involved presentations by mental health professionals to every varsity athletic team, featuring mental health education, videos highlighting former student-athletes’ struggles...

Athlete Development Where do you stand on the debate between low-volume, high-intensity training (Quality) versus high-volume, low-intensity training (Quantity)? Findings from research exploring the philosophies and practices of professional swimming coaches support quantity training programs to build an aerobic base, promote technical development through a focus on slower swimming, and enhance recovery from training or...

“Stage-appropriate officiating” creates a team approach to the delivery of quality youth sport whereby officials “guide and remind” athletes during the FUNdamentals and early Learn to Train stages; “warn then enforce” during late Learn to Train; and enforce traditional rules in the Train to Train stage. Stage-appropriate officiating could also help retain officials by tapping...

Blog The Responsible Coaching Movement advocates for the “Rule of Two”, background screening, and respect and ethics training to ensure the safety and protection of athletes and coaches. In the second of a three-part series, this week’s blog focuses on background screening. The Coaching Association of Canada’s Background Screening Matrix provides guidance about what the screening process should involve based...

Injury Prevention Are hamstring injuries cutting your athletes’ season short? Research supports the use of Nordic hamstring exercises to prevent hamstring injuries in competitive soccer players.  

Leadership 2018 has already been an exciting year, with four major international games – the Arctic Winter Games hosted in the South Slave region of the Northwest Territories, Canada; the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games hosted in PyeongChang, South Korea; and Commonwealth Games hosted in Gold Coast, Australia. In the Summer SIRCuit, SIRC sat down...

Did you know? The concept of “marginal gains” has been the catalyst for exciting innovations, as teams search for improvements in areas not considered before. However, it is tempting to look for those gains exclusively through direct interventions with athletes, rather than turning the lens on the organization and systems that support the athletes. This...