Control over practice

Giving athletes control over certain practice elements is one way that coaches can increase motor learning, even when that choice is unrelated to a motor task. During a retention test, research participants given a choice of golf ball colour during putting practice outperformed participants not given a choice of colour.

Athlete development pathways

The RBC Training Ground and Paralympic Search programs are designed to build the capacity of the Canadian sport system. This includes addressing gaps and roadblocks on athlete development pathways by creating new on-ramps for those not already engaged, and supporting transfer opportunities for existing exceptional athletes. It also involves building the skills of sport organizations…

Transformational coaching

In sport, transformational leadership involves empowering athletes and providing them with the values, skills, and mentorship to achieve their full potential, both on and off the field. Coaches with greater transformational leadership have been found to produce athletes that are more independent, and less reliant on their coaching.

Assessing youth sport programs’ facilitation of positive youth development

Background / Context / Objective With growing societal concern for youths’ healthy development, extensive literature suggests organized leisure activities serve as optimal contexts to foster positive youth development (Larson, 2000), and sport has consistently been found to be the most popular organized activity among youth (Hansen & Larson, 2007). While youth’s involvement in sport is…

Giving Due Deliberation to Masters Athletes: The Time has Come

Paradoxically, Masters sport is equally celebrated and ignored. Masters athletes are celebrated because they are motivated, goal-oriented, and determined to thrive at ages when sport participation has traditionally waned – they defeat stereotypes and allow us to rethink possibilities. Yet Masters athletes (MAs) can also be an “after-thought” in sport organizations, receiving scarce attention. Our…

Self-Compassion in Sport 101

If you have been involved in the coaching or administrative side of competitive sport, chances are you have seen athletes experience emotionally difficult setbacks. These setbacks can range from devastating performance failures (e.g., “choking” during an important competition), to facing harsh, negative evaluations by others (e.g., spectators, teammates, competitors, parents) and/or themselves (the self-critic is…

Supporting Podium Dreams – Paralympian Search and RBC Training Ground

Highlights from the CPC's Paralympian Search at the Canadian Sport Institute Calgary high performance training facilities in Calgary, AB, on November 24, 2018.

To support the identification and development of future Olympians and Paralympians, two Canadian programs have been developed to fuel the Canadian pipeline of future hopefuls. RBC Training Ground and the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s Paralympian Search are athlete identification programs designed to assess participant aptitudes in various sports, and connect athletes with sport opportunities and development…

Winter 2021 SIRCuit

The Winter 2021 SIRCuit is now available!  For many, the new year presents an opportunity to set new goals, refine behaviours, or let go of something that is holding them back. This edition of the SIRCuit provides takes a deep dive into self-compassion, athlete identification, relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), engaging masters athletes, and social learning…

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2021! The SIRC team is looking forward to an exciting year of keeping you informed with the latest news, research, and jobs from the sport community across Canada. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. In case you missed it, be sure to check out our Looking Back – 2020…

Sign up to Our Newsletter

News travels fast. Stay connected to sport and physical activity-related knowledge, news, jobs and resources through SIRC’s daily newsletter — The Canadian Sport Daily — delivered straight to your inbox.

"*" indicates required fields

Groups*
Skip to content