April 14, 2020 –The SLSG is hosting weekly “Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share” where we spend an hour with sport leaders from across the country sharing information and responding to questions on employment, insurance, leadership, financial management, grief management, and other matters related to managing through COVID-19. The free, online drop-in session hosted by SLSG Partners Steve Indig and Dina Bell-Laroche will remain flexible, based on your questions, and hopefully leave sport leaders feeling informed and inspired to put in place measures to deal with the stuff that is keeping you up at night. As needed, we are also inviting members from our team or other thought leaders who can help sport leaders make better decisions. Thanks to Lauren Brett, Integral CoachTM, for providing helpful and healthy practices to help leaders navigate complexity during these challenging times. Here is what we shared during the session:

• Steve shared that he’s focusing on helping sport organizations by hosting webinars for their members. Since mid-March, the SLSG has hosted or participated in over 30 webinars to help sport leaders understand employment issues, how to access additional funding and government programs, and to plan for the future by putting in place risk management measures to deal with different scenarios, including online training. We have also been supporting athletes, coaches, officials and administrators in working through the grief that is setting in due to the accumulation of losses.

• We then explored various coping strategies and invited leaders to share their favourite practices including daily walks, talking with family and friends, poetry, music to shift energy, virtual dance parties, board games, sharing highs and lows at dinner with family members, setting up your office space and being clear on boundaries, limiting social media, and bring heart into your workplace (and home!) by practicing empathy, vulnerability, compassion, patience and flexibility. We also reminded people to practice self-care so you can continue to support those you care about during this crisis. Basic physiological needs like developing a morning ritual (meditate with Insight Timer, set an intention, journal-try 5-minute journal), taking frequent deep breaths and breaks, maintaining your physical workouts (although likely modified), drinking lots of water, and finding ways to stay socially connected while physically distanced are essential to weathering this unprecedented event.

You can access previous webinars or join our next Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share! on April 15 from noon to 1:00 PM EST where we will share a new SLSG service that you can use to host virtual AGMs.

Flow: Each conversation will begin with the SLSG Partners welcoming everyone and offering a few comments on something topical that is affecting the sport community. We will then move into providing listeners with an opportunity to ask a question or share a perspective that they would like some advice on. Dina and Steve will create a safe and engaging environment for the listeners to address some very specific topics that will most certainly benefit the entire group.

The Sport Law & Strategy Group has been providing strategic insight to the Canadian sport community since 1992. We offer a full range of management consulting, leadership development and legal services to the Canadian sport community. We are accessible, affordable, highly skilled, and bring experience and common sense to every project. Our mission is to help you achieve yours. To learn more about us please visit www.sportlaw.ca.

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For more information please contact Dina Bell-Laroche at 613-591-1246 or 613-294-4118 or DBL@sportlaw.ca.