Knowledge Nuggets

Parents and guardians are frequently left on the “sidelines” watching their children participate in sport. Sport organizations can help families overcome barriers to physical activity through co-participation programs. These programs offer organized, intentional opportunities for family health and well-being.

For children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, quality participation is built from six building blocks: autonomy, belongingness, challenge, engagement, mastery, and meaning. Sport and recreation programs that actively support these building blocks create satisfying, enjoyable and meaningful experiences for their participants, which, in turn, supports lasting participation.

Does age of entry into sport influence girls’ future sport participation? A new study suggests that girls who begin participating in sports from the ages of 6 to 9 have higher retention rates than those who begin participating later in life. These findings emphasize the importance of targeted retention strategies and supportive sport environments for adolescent girls...

Parents and families play an important role in Indigenous youths’ sport and physical activity participation. Involving parents and families in the development and implementation of sport and physical activity programs may be particularly important for increasing the participation of Indigenous youth.

Swim Together, a mother-daughter swim program, is an example of how sport organizations can promote the health and well-being of women and girls by allowing them to participate together in organized sport. In the SIRC blog, learn how to build a co-participation program by drawing on your organization’s capacity strengths, embracing evaluation, and developing pathways...

Women are often underrepresented in snow sports, such as skiing and snowboarding. One way to attract new participants, especially women, to snow sports is to promote wellbeing outcomes. This can include the creation of spaces to facilitate new social connections among women in the sport.

In Norway, boys and girls participate in sport at about the same rate. But while boys are more likely to talk about becoming professional athletes and going “all in,” girls are more likely to talk about their goals in terms of skill development. Cultural narratives influence girls’ and boys’ sport-related ambitions, which in turn influences...

Young adults who identify as LGBTQI2S are “game to play” sports, but frequently report experiences of discrimination and exclusion. Sport programs that are not based around biological sex or gender, but rather provide inclusive and affirming spaces that celebrate diversity, have strict zero-tolerance approaches to homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, and emphasize fun help to create...

A partnership between Brock University and the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games is raising the bar for legacies from major games. In addition to infrastructure and operations legacies, the university has invested in a number of academic legacies – research, curricular connections, and community engagement. With universities and colleges common Canada Games partners, the model...

Playing sport video games could encourage people to follow and participate in real-life sports. In a study of American college students who played sport video games, 72% became a fan of a real-life sport team and 87% said that playing video games increased their interest in playing the sport in real life.