Pickleball problems

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…

Strategic planning tips

Strategic planning can be a helpful tool in navigating changing and dynamic environments, particularly as community sport organizations begin the process of COVID-19 recovery. Talking to stakeholders, evaluating club resources, considering the community profile, and examining the competition are important steps to consider when beginning the strategic planning process.

Formal and informal leadership roles

Formal leaders usually receive their assigned role from the coach or team’s selection process. Informal leaders emerge based on their interactions and behaviours with teammates. Athletes can be task-oriented, motivational, social, or external leaders. Discover how role diversity can allow many athletes to fulfil a leadership position and distribute the leadership load.

Board accountability

A board of directors is 100% accountable for everything that happens in an organization. However, being accountable for everything doesn’t mean the board must do everything, or even specify how to achieve its purpose. When determining how the organization will best accomplish its purpose, the board must differentiate between responsibility, authority, and accountability. Check out tips…

Empowering athletes for Safe Sport

A significant culture change in sport is needed to address athlete maltreatment, experts say. One way to bring about change is to amplify athletes’ voices. Including athletes in decision-making can help address the power imbalances that often underpin maltreatment in sports.

Steward-leadership in sport

The issues that face sport organizations are complex. A sport organization board needs to engage in dialogue, listen to its full spectrum of stakeholders, and be patient enough to transform its understanding of complicated issues. A steward-leader board is uniquely equipped to listen and lead to a desirable future.

Let’s talk about air pollution: Keeping outdoor sport participants safe

In honour of Clean Air Day (June 8), SIRC partnered with Health Canada to present information about air pollution and how it can affect the health and performance of outdoor sport participants. We also highlight the ways coaches, officials and sport organizations can adapt to keep all participants safe during outdoor sporting activities. In recent…

Building teams

Building a successful team involves identifying, selecting and integrating people with complementary skills and characteristics that improve team dynamics. First, identify the skills and characteristics that your team needs. Second, select people with these skills and characteristics, and consider how they fit together as a group. Third, integrate teammates by establishing clear roles and expectations,…

Board governance

While management is about “getting the work done,” governance ensures organizations pursue the right purpose, in the right way, and continuously develop. In any sport organization, the board of directors’ role is to govern the organization. When board members are also on the management team, it can help to divide meetings into 2 parts. One part…

Independence in Safe Sport

The importance of Safe Sport and how it can be further integrated into Canadian Sport is an ever-evolving process for many sport organizations. A key question for many organizations centers on what “independence” means in the context of investigative processes related to Safe Sport. A group of researchers at the University of Toronto led by…