Underserviced Youth: Sports Participation Barriers and Best Practices
According to Statistics Canada, children who live in unsafe neighborhoods, children of new immigrants and children coming from low-income families are less likely to participate in sports. For children, joining a sports team is an opportunity to learn, create new friendships, and develop fundamental skills. Being part of a sport team not only keeps kids…
Board Governance – Succession Planning: Volleyball Canada
Recognizing the importance of engaging highly qualified leaders on the Board of Directors, Volleyball Canada recently completed a succession planning process. Mark Eckert, President and CEO recognizes that, “With only 7 people on our board, it’s critical that we continue to attract exceptional directors to govern our organization.” After reviewing a number of on-line resources,…
Policy and program considerations for increasing sport participation among members of underrepresented groups in Canada
Sport should be available and responsive to the needs of all Canadians who want to participate. However, members of a number of groups do not participate at the same rates as their mainstream counterparts. Some women and girls, Indigenous peoples, persons with a disability, recent immigrants, new Canadians, socio-economically disadvantaged Canadians, older adults, members of…
From Insight to Impact
A presentation about how Sport England uses research and insight to drive strategy development and delivery through the example of the ground breaking campaign This Girl Can. Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign successfully balanced rigorous research and bold creative interpretation to create an exciting campaign that genuinely resonates with the target audience. This presentation…
Getting psyched for sport – Mental fitness strategies for the aspiring athlete
Mental fitness plays a large part in training and performance. There will be times when an athlete makes a mistake (or consecutive mistakes), is competing against an opponent that has outperformed them in the past, or the conditions of play are not what was expected. Being mentally fit encapsulates many different areas of training and…
Agility Training: Insights from the Research
High performance athletes depend on coordination and agility to fine tune their skills and abilities on the field of play. Outside of the skills needed specifically for sport, agility is often looked at as a leading factor in determining success in a sport. Athletes need to be able to react to situations quickly, with strength…
What I Wish I Knew Then – 5 Lessons Learned from a High Performance Athlete
Sport teaches us innumerable lessons. When I reflect on my own sporting journey, I cringe at some of the mis-steps I took as a younger athlete. This is not to say that today I’m past the point of making mistakes. Some of us are slow learners after all, and even those of us with years…