Knowledge Nuggets

For racquet sports like pickleball, concussion awareness may not always be a top concern. But after one player’s fall, all it took was a trip to the emergency room and a previously undetected tumour for Pickleball Hamilton to realize how important concussion protocols are—in any sport. Read the story that shifted Pickleball Hamilton’s perspective, and...

Promotion of safe sport experiences and sustaining volunteer engagement are two of the eight top research priorities identified by Canadian sport and physical activity stakeholders. By tailoring their research activities to fit the needs of knowledge users, sport and physical activity scholars can produce more impactful research.

Sports-related injuries among youth are on the rise. According to research, declining physical literacy levels put youth at an increased risk for preventable injuries. Resistance training for youth can help prevent against sports-related injuries and improve physical literacy levels.

People across the world live in areas affected by natural disasters, conflict and persecution. Sport can be used as a positive tool in these areas to promote positive change and give individuals the opportunity to be included in something meaningful. Through their Sport for Protection approach, the UN Refugee Agency uses sport for children and...

Before implementing new technology into your program, first ask yourself, can the technology be believed? Assessing the validity and reliability of a new technology is one way to determine its credibility. Validity assesses if the technology is measuring what it promises to measure, while reliability speaks to its consistency and degree of error when providing...

Sport coaches aim to build confidence in their athletes, but coaches need self-confidence to optimize the support they can provide. Mentorship offers a way to develop confidence in Black women coaches, fostering professional development and personal growth and encouraging coaches to be their best selves.

Relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) can negatively affect an athlete’s performance in many ways. For example, associated iron deficiency or iron deficiency anemia can decrease athletes’ aerobic work capacity. RED-S can also interfere with an athlete’s ability to consistently train and compete due to the increased risk of illness and injury.

‘Playing-up,’ or competing at a higher age level than a player’s actual age, can be both challenging and rewarding for youth athletes. According to new research, athletes who play up find the experience more positive when their teammates include them in group activities and coaches provide constructive feedback and encouragement.

Youth who participate in multiple sports may be able to improve their performance in a given sport more quickly than their specialized peers. For example, in a study of 12-year-old soccer players, those who participated in multiple sports demonstrated greater improvements in match-play performance over the next 2 years than youth who were already specialized...

Peer-led education programs, such as You-CAN, can help high-school students better understand and deal with a concussion. Because youth are strongly influenced by their social networks, peer education can shape students’ knowledge (what they know about concussion), attitudes (what they think about concussion), and intended behaviours (how they would act if they experienced a concussion...