How biological sex and gender affect concussion risk and management
Highlights Concussion recovery depends on many factors, including biological factors (for example, anatomy) and gender-based factors (for example, societal norms in sport). Research shows that female athletes have a higher risk of concussion than male athletes, male and female athletes experience concussions in different ways, and female athletes may take longer than male athletes to…
Safe Sport strategies
Over the past few years, national sport organizations have implemented several strategies to advance Safe Sport and optimize the sport experience for all. To create safe, welcoming and inclusive sport environments, top strategies include building and strengthening policy to align with documents such as the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in…
Referees’ mental health
Referees and sports officials, in both professional and amateur sports, experience high levels of abuse. Researchers in Europe have found that a culture of abuse towards referees is a principal reason for referee discontinuation and that this harms all levels of sport, highlighting the importance of mental health support for officials.
Summer 2021 SIRCuit
The Summer 2021 SIRCuit is now available! The SIRCuit is designed to highlight important research and insights to advance the Canadian sport system. With the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo on the horizon and the winter Games in Beijing just around the corner, this edition of the SIRCuit dives into issues and trends that will…
Building a culture of excellence in high performance sport
Highlights In sport, culture can determine a team’s focus and how members communicate and deal with conflict. Culture also establishes norms of acceptable behaviour and directly influences functioning and performance. Own the Podium, alongside partners the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Canadian Olympic Committee, identified sport culture as an important performance factor for Canadian athletes to…
Tokyo, Beijing and a global pandemic: How 4 sports are advancing Safe Sport
Highlights In recent years, national sport organizations have been hard at work on Safe Sport policies and initiatives. They’re designed to ensure the safety and well-being of sport communities, from the grassroots level all the way up to national teams. Sport organizations have several opportunities to advance Safe Sport, including: Revising existing policies to ensure…
Independent Safe Sport Mechanism
The Government of Canada announced that the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) has been selected to establish and deliver a new Independent Safe Sport Mechanism. Thank you to Canadian sport leaders, all stakeholders and participants that have helped the Canadian sport system reach this important milestone in making sport safer.
Athletes’ Anti-Doping Rights Act
The 2021 Canadian Anti-Doping Program (CADP) incorporates the World Anti-Doping Agency’s new Athletes’ Anti-Doping Rights Act. Developed by athletes, for athletes, the Act outlines various athlete rights with respect to the fight against doping and to further support athletes worldwide in their right to compete in clean, fair and ethical sport. Learn how the CADP…
The Operationalizing Intersectionality Framework
The Operationalizing Intersectionality (OI) Framework provides guidance for putting intersectional approaches into practice. Visualized as a wheel, the OI Framework identifies four points of traction: (1) Learning, (2) Harm Reduction, (3) Accountability & Transparency, and (4) Transformation. Learn about how you can apply these concepts to improve programs, policies, and spaces in the SIRC blog.
Egale’s 2021 Guide to International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia for Sports Organizations
Sport communities across Canada and the world have experienced a year like no other. Lockdown and isolation have left all of us eager to begin playing and training again. Now, more than ever, we understand how sport serves as a tool to bring communities together to support physical and mental health outcomes (Eime et al.,…