Knowledge Nuggets

Lower back pain is a common experience amongst rowers. Unfortunately, new research from Trinity College Dublin uncovered a culture of concealment of pain and injury that compelled athletes to hide their symptoms, jeopardizing their physical and mental health. Education for rowers and support staff about the benefits of early disclosure and the creation of a...

True Sport is based on the values of fairness, excellence, inclusion and fun; and driven by the seven True Sport Principles: Go For It, Play Fair, Respect Others, Keep It Fun, Stay Healthy, Include Everyone and Give Back. But what does this look like in practice? Gymnastics Canada’s new Values-Based Sport Module is designed to...

Research shows self-compassionate athletes rehabilitating from injury tend to be more mentally tough, perceive having more coping resources, and experience less self-criticism. In fact, self-compassion might allow injured athletes to access a healthier version of mental toughness, characterized by acceptance and wise actions, as opposed to a mental toughness characterized by making poor decisions to...

Giving athletes control over certain practice elements is one way that coaches can increase motor learning, even when that choice is unrelated to a motor task. During a retention test, research participants given a choice of golf ball colour during putting practice outperformed participants not given a choice of colour.

The RBC Training Ground and Paralympic Search programs are designed to build the capacity of the Canadian sport system. This includes addressing gaps and roadblocks on athlete development pathways by creating new on-ramps for those not already engaged, and supporting transfer opportunities for existing exceptional athletes. It also involves building the skills of sport organizations...

In sport, transformational leadership involves empowering athletes and providing them with the values, skills, and mentorship to achieve their full potential, both on and off the field. Coaches with greater transformational leadership have been found to produce athletes that are more independent, and less reliant on their coaching.

The Winter 2021 SIRCuit is now available!  For many, the new year presents an opportunity to set new goals, refine behaviours, or let go of something that is holding them back. This edition of the SIRCuit provides takes a deep dive into self-compassion, athlete identification, relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), engaging masters athletes, and social learning...

Welcome to 2021! The SIRC team is looking forward to an exciting year of keeping you informed with the latest news, research, and jobs from the sport community across Canada. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. In case you missed it, be sure to check out our Looking Back – 2020...

Worried about the subgroup dynamics within your team? Subgroups represent those “good” groupings that show prosocial behaviours, and can be leveraged to positively influence the team culture. Cliques are debilitating, excluding or ostracizing teammates, lowering self-esteem, and promoting antisocial and unethical behaviours. Coaches should be proactive in addressing the negative impact of cliques.

In a skeleton race, improvements of fractions of a second at the start can make all the difference at the finish line. Researchers from the University of Bath recently developed the first non-invasive motion capture technology to accurately track the push-start phase of a skeleton race. The new technology could help athletes and coaches track...