Knowledge Nuggets

The financial cost of sport participation is frequently cited as a barrier to access for low-income families in Canada. School sport is often the most accessible form of sport programming, however schools are increasingly adopting pay-to-play models that restrict access. Canadian researchers conducted a study to understand the extent to which school sport supports low-income...

Canadian research found that building mental health in the off-season can help varsity athletes maintain their well-being during their sports season. Some strategies athletes can use to help build and maintain their mental health include making time for friends and family, building social networks outside of sport and taking a break from training for their...

On top of having many physical benefits, sports participation can improve athletes’ abilities to cope with difficult situations. Research from the University of Alberta found that sports can provide athletes with higher confidence, positive distractions, and social support, all of which can help them handle adversity in their everyday lives. Highlighting the benefits of sports...

Have you ever been on a run and suddenly started experiencing pain in the side of your abdomen? Many people refer to this as a side stich, but the proper name is exercise-related transient abdominal pain (ETAP). To help decrease the chances of ETAP, don’t eat a large meal an hour before your run, avoid...

Para sport has grown substantially in the past decades with increases in athlete participation as well as training intensities and sport performance (Patricios & Webborn, 2021; Fagher et coll., 2016). Yet, there is still limited research to help inform practice, especially concerning sport physiology and health in Para athletes (Gee et coll., 2021). This blog...

The 2011 film Moneyball was a critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated, box office success. This is quite something, given that the movie centres on debates over baseball strategy and statistics. This article explores sport after Moneyball, meaning sport at a time when Moneyball’s disruptive ideas are widely accepted, and often celebrated. It’s true that the statistical...

How do we know a female athlete’s energy availability is in a good place? Until recently, menstrual cycle patterns were touted as one of the main indicators of energy availability status in female athletes. So, what has changed? Menstrual cycle patterns remain an important element in understanding energy availability status, with missed menstrual cycles ringing...

While Canadians are used to severe winter weather, 9 of the 10 warmest years on record in Canada have occurred in the last 25 years. This has real world implications for outdoor sport events. For example, even the best triathletes in the world struggled with the extreme heat in Edmonton in July of last year,...

What can public health and rehabilitation learn from elite sport? In this article, researchers identify 22 areas in which sport science research might aid public health, including: exercise prescription, monitoring of fatigue and monitoring of adaptation.

Alexandre Hayward’s successful transfer from national level wheelchair basketball to national level Para cycling is proof of how important it is to have broad development pathways in sport. It’s particularly important in Para sport, where a “scarcity mindset” tends to exist surrounding athletes. Hayward’s experience shows how collaborative coaching across different sports can nurture athlete...