Knowledge Nuggets

Teaching Moment Early overspecialization, a focus on only one sport before adolescence, may help young athletes perform better at an early age, but is generally harmful to their long-term development. One particular area of concern is overuse injury, which may become chronic and career-ending injury, related to increased training and competition in adolescence and pre-adolescence....

Teaching Moment Cycling for transportation is an eco-friendly way to travel and develop your physical fitness at the same time. Some people avoid cycling, preferring to drive because cycling can be dangerous. These perceptions about the safety of cycling aren’t completely valid because driving can actually be more dangerous than cycling.

​SIRC Blog An alternative to traditional age-based divisions is bio-banding; the process of grouping athletes on the basis of growth and maturation, rather than chronological age (Cumming et. al, 2017, p. 34). Bio-banding is showing positive impact by reducing injury rates and improving an individual’s ability to improve both technical and tactical skills by adjusting...

What Do You Think? From the introduction of competitive sport, women’s and men’s participation has differed. Efforts to make sport equal have made progress; in athletics, for example, women now have the same opportunity to race 10km at national and international competitions as men do. Despite that, elite runner and coach Leslie Sexton suggests that...

Activity and Exercise Not only is strength training essential for functional movement, injury prevention, and bone health, but increased muscle mass may play a role in lowering the risk of pre-diabetes. Check out what this recent research has to say.

Activity and Exercise For many people, they either love to run, or hate to run. Having a negative perception about running – or any type of exercise – can actually be self-limiting. You might not enjoy it right not, but people’s enjoyment of exercise changes over time. Check out why a simple switch in perception...

The Sport for Life (S4L) Canadian Summit will be taking place from January 24-26, 2017 at the Hilton Lac-Leamy hotel in Gatineau-Ottawa and brings together leaders to enhance the quality of sport and physical activity in Canada. The theme for this year’s summit revolves around “Nurturing Excellence”. SIRC is pleased to be hosting a booth...

Did You Know? There are evidence-based reasons why getting outside is good for us. From cleaner air to healthier eyes to improved psychological health, being in nature has loads of health benefits.

Leadership In multiple professional domains, there exists a gender gap. Sport, too, features far more male coaches and athletes, and with higher exposure and larger salaries. Everyone is impacted, though, and closing the gender gap requires the efforts and commitment of both genders.

People often take a break from racing or competing at certain points in the year. While it’s important to have these breaks to recover, we often also want to retain our fitness. For running, what changes can you make to your mileage to keep your endurance while still letting your body recover?