Use double quotes to find documents that include the exact phrase: "aerodynamic AND testing"

Some athletes perform better when there is an audience and others do not. According to research, men run slower without an audience and women run faster. Women were also seen to perform better in complex tasks (e.g., shooting) when there was an audience present whereas men did not.

At the Canada Summer Games 2022 in Niagara, an event for up-and-coming athletes, the power of sport to transform lives was on full display with stories that showcased the pure joy, excitement and fun sport can offer. Teenage wrestler Eekeeluak Avalak became Nunavut’s first ever gold medalist in the Games and an emotional video clip went viral as he talked about dedicating his victory to his deceased brother and explained how sport had saved his life.

That example of how sport can transform lives is a shining light in the headlines of the past few years.

The aftermath of COVID has left many of us feeling lonely or isolated. Research indicates that attending live sporting events could help with these feelings. A recent study shows that there are positive associations of subjective well-being and decreased loneliness as a result of attending sporting events. 

Canada Soccer have announced their Men’s U-17 squad for the upcoming two-match friendly series with the South American champions Brazil. As part of preparations for the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023, Canada will face Brazil on Friday 29 September and Sunday 1 October in São Paulo.

“We have a two-match series against Brazil, and that’s the kind of test that can serve as a foundation for the FIFA U-17 World Cup,” said Andrew Olivieri, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Youth Excel Director. “It’s a big opportunity for our players to play Brazil in Brazil because they are the CONMEBOL champions as well as the defending FIFA U-17 World Cup champions.”

Canada qualified for the biennial FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023 through the Concacaf Under-17 Championship in February at Guatemala. This will be the first FIFA U-17 World Cup since before the global pandemic when Canada and Brazil faced each other in the group phase on the opening day in Gama at Brazil 2019. The hosts Brazil won the tournament three weeks later at the same stadium.

“It’s been nearly seven months since we qualified and the players have been doing everything at their clubs to prepare for an opportunity to play in a FIFA U17 World Cup,” said Olivieri.

Canada Soccer’s Men’s EXCEL Program channels our nation’s exceptional players into the best soccer environments. The Canada Soccer Pathway works in collaboration with our provincial and territory partners as well as the professional clubs and academies. For Canada’s elite players, the program emphasizes player development on the pathway to representing Canada’s Men’s National Team in international soccer.

CANADA SOCCER’S MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM
Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team are three-time Concacaf champions, previously winning the 1985 Concacaf Championship, 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup, and 2021-22 Concacaf Qualifiers. Canada most recently qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar and have previously featured at the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games, the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Youth Teams have won two Concacaf titles: both the 1986 and 1996 Concacaf Men’s Youth Championships. Canada have qualified for 16 FIFA men’s youth tournaments: eight editions of the FIFA U-20 World Cup and eight editions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Canada most recently qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023 in February of this year.

CANADA SQUAD
1- GK- Nathaniel Abraham | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
2- FB- Theo Rigopoulos | CAN / Toronto FC II
3- FB- Gaël de Montigny | CAN / Académie CF Montréal
4- M- Alessandro Biello | CAN / Académie CF Montréal
5- CB- Chimere Omeze | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
6- CB- Lazar Stefanovic | CAN / Toronto FC II
7- M- Taryck Tahid | CAN / Vancouver FC
8- M- Jeevan Badwal | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2
9- F- Antoni Klukowski | POL / Pogoń Szczecin II
10- M- Philip Igbinobaro | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
11- F- Kevaughn Tavernier | CAN / Forge FC Hamilton
12- FB- Allen Saye Blegay | CAN / Simcoe Rovers FC
13- CB- Richard Chukwu | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
14- M- Tyler Londono | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
15- CB- Victor Fung | CAN / Inter Miami CF Academy
16- CB- Étienne Godin | CAN / Académie CF Montréal
17- M- Liam MacKenzie | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
18- GK- Alexander O’Brien | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
19- F- Kyler Vojvodic | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy
20- F- Lino Aklil | FRA / HSC Montpellier U-19
21- F- Lucas Ozimec | CAN / Toronto FC Academy

CANADA (A-Z)
Player | Age | City in which they grew up | Notable youth clubs
Nom de la joueuse | Âge | Lieu où elle a grandi | Début d’activité/premier clubAbraham, Nathaniel | 2007 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Vaughan SC Azzurri
Aklil, Lino | 2006 | Aix-en-Provence, FRA | US Puyricard
Badwal, Jeevan | 2006 | Surrey, BC, CAN | Surrey FC
Biello, Alessandro | 2006 | Montréal, QC, CAN | CS St-Léonard
Chukwu, Richard | 2008 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Bradford Eagles SC
de Montigny, Gaël | 2006 | Montréal, QC, CAN | CS Mascouche
Fung, Victor | 2007 | Caracas, VEN & Weston, FL, USA | Escuela Campo Alegre
Godin, Étienne | 2006 | Montréal, QC, CAN | CS Mont-Royal Outremont
Igbinobaro, Philip | 2006 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Glen Shields FC
Klukowski, Antoni | 2007 | Warsaw, POL & Palma Mallorca, ESP | Escola Varovia
Londono, Tyler | 2006 | Aurora & Toronto, ON, CAN | Hurricane Weston
MacKenzie, Liam | 2007 | Comox, BC, CAN | Comox Valley United SC
O’Brien, Alexander | 2006 | Toronto, ON, CAN | North Toronto SC
Omeze, Chimere | 2006 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Brampton East SC
Ozimec, Lucas | 2006 | Oakville, ON, CAN | Oakville SC
Rigopoulos, Theo | 2006 | London, ON, CAN | London Norwest
Saye Blegay, Allen | 2006 | Brampton & Barrie, ON, CAN | Brampton YSC
Stefanovic, Lazar | 2006 | Oakville, ON, CAN | Oakville SC
Tahid, Taryck | 2007 | Maple Ridge, BC, CAN | New Westminster Africa United FC
Tavernier, Kevaughn | 2006 | Brampton, ON, CAN | Brampton YSC
Vojvodic, Kyler | 2006 | Port Coquitlam, BC, CAN | Port Coquitlam Eurorite SA

MEDIA CONTACTS

Marianne Gagné
Women’s National Team Communications Manager |
Responsable des communications de l’équipe nationale féminine
mgagne@canadasoccer.com
m. +1 613.402.3869

Philomène Sully-Bitsi
Communications Coordinator | Coordonnatrice des communications
media@canadasoccer.com

Paulo Senra
Head of Public Relations & Communications |
Responsable des relations publiques et des communications
psenra@canadasoccer.com

Does hosting the Olympics result in a higher medal count for the host country? A recent study examined purported home advantage at the summer Olympics from 1996 to 2021. The findings suggest that assumptions about the “host effect” are exaggerated.

Highlights

The calls for culture change across sports in Canada are persistent and louder than ever. Through our program of systematic research, we have listened to and shared high performance athletes’ perspectives about what appear to be accepted (or at least tolerated) unsafe behaviours and practices in sport. Tolerance of unsafe behaviours and practices reflects a “how things are done around here” attitude that stands in the way of culture change (MacIntosh & Doherty, 2005). Effectively pushing sport culture forward must continue to be informed by an evidence-based understanding of the context of change that is needed.

Culture can be shifted over time, by refocusing and entrenching new and different behaviours and practices, and the more positive underlying values they represent (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2016). In a recent SIRC blog, Jennifer Walinga outlined some mechanics of cultural change that rely on an “audit [of] the culture by peeling back or drilling down through the layers of values and beliefs in order to expose, and then challenge and change, some of the governing assumptions within sport.” Such an audit must include consideration of high performance coaches’ and administrators’ perspectives given their direct involvement in shaping and reinforcing high performance sport culture, and ultimately shifting that culture toward safer sport.

In this article, we share findings of our recent research that focuses on the voices of coaches and administrators regarding safe and unsafe aspects of high performance sport culture in Canada. First, we describe the challenges that high performance coaches and administrators view as opposing culture change in sport. Next, we provide evidence-informed strategies to address those challenges. Building on our research examining high performance athletes’ perspectives of safe and unsafe sport environments, these findings add an important layer to our understanding of high performance sport culture and athlete safety.

Our study: Coach and administrator perspectives

Coaching, rugby or happy man writing with a strategy, planning or training progress with a game formation.Coaches and administrators are key stewards of a move toward safer sport. They are entrusted with the responsible management and administration of a safe sporting environment through the development, implementation and reinforcement of policy and behavioural practice in their organizations and on their teams. High performance athletes have drawn attention to the critical role of these leaders for ensuring a positive sport space.

As stewards of high performance sport culture, and thus culture change, these leaders have direct experience and insight into the challenges associated with the calls for a new direction. To tap into their experiences and insights, we interviewed 27 coaches and administrators (referred to collectively as “sport leaders” in this article) from 23 high performance sport organizations, primarily national sport organizations (NSOs). We asked them about their perceptions of unsafe and safe sport practices, what can be done to shift to a safer sport culture, and the challenges of doing so.

The challenges of moving to a safer sport culture

The coaches and administrators we interviewed shared what they perceive to be unsafe behaviours and practices in the high performance sport setting, including:

They also shared that, in their view, safe sport is characterized by:

We present our findings as a process of shifting from unsafe to safer sport (see Figure 1) with a focus on the perceived challenges of this shift. The sport leaders we interviewed highlighted several challenges to the process of successfully shifting to a safer sport environment, defined as an environment that is inclusive, supportive, trusting, and enables optimal performance by all stakeholders. We share those findings here, along with supporting quotations.

Figure 1. The challenges of shifting from unsafe to safe aspects of high performance sport.

Challenge #1: Sport is inherently risky, unsafe

Coaches and administrators noted the challenge of creating a completely safe environment, despite best efforts, as sport itself is inherently unsafe. For example, one sport leader described the need to focus on making sport “safer” rather than “safe” while complying with safe sport policies and requirements: “But even once we deal with all of that, it still doesn’t mean that safe is actually possible. You know, there’s inherent risk in sport and in life, so it really is about safer.”

The sport leaders commented on the importance of acknowledging that sport has inherently unsafe features within competition and training. Shifting to a safer sport context requires reflection on what the risk involved in competitive physical activity means for athlete safety. There are undoubtedly gray areas to navigate. For example, to prepare athletes for risky situations in competition, coaches may need to simulate risky situations in training (as safely as possible) so that the athletes can learn how to navigate the situation while mitigating the risk. This is often the combat sports, as described by this sport leader:

“The coaches are in the corner barking out orders because they see something that’s going to take place because they’re experienced… So, in order to prepare athletes for the competition, at that level that they’re participating in, you need to simulate the exact same environment that is going to occur… So, if you are saying, ‘if you please, would you stop doing that behaviour because I think it’s not good for you.’ Or you can say, ‘Hey, do it now. And do it real fast.’”

Challenge #2: Turbulent, unstable sport environment

The sport leaders described the difficulty of moving to a safer sport culture when the current environment continues to be so turbulent and unstable, a place where individuals are afraid to act. “I think that if we found a way for people to not operate in this fear space and in this very threatened space, then we would implement safe sport practices that aren’t just like a show,” said one of the leaders we interviewed. “I feel like right now a lot of people feel incredibly threatened in their roles and incredibly afraid to make a mistake, and therefore are very cautious in terms of how they actually engage in true, safe sport,” the leader added.

The leaders also talked about feeling left behind amid the instability of calls for change and reform efforts and having difficulty sorting through the new dialogue and information. They described feeling reactive and unprotected, rather than supported, when trying to do the “right thing.” According to one leader:

“I think right now, everyone’s kind of just in this reactive zone. [And because of that] you have to rely on, you know, your association to back you if you’re doing the right thing, and I don’t find, I think a lot of times, the associations don’t do that. They don’t really back the process, you know.”

Clearly, sport organizations in Canada are facing new information, new claims of maltreatment, and updated guidelines that may leave them spinning about what to do and how to do it.

Challenge #3: Lack of system alignment

A disjointed sport system was identified as another challenge to moving towards a safer sport culture. The leaders described a disconnect between sport organizations at the community, provincial and territorial, and national levels. This disconnect may be heightened with safe sport efforts. For example, in some sports, national team athletes train independently with local clubs and come together for national team training camps or competitions a limited number of times per year. While national team staff can control the safety of the environment and compliance with safe sport policies during team events, they have little control over the daily training environment in each athlete’s club. As one leader described:

“We have a very decentralized system. We come together only a handful times a year… the majority of time, we’re not centralized. So, [the athletes are] all training at their own clubs. And so, it’s really hard for me to say, okay, like, I’ve got all of my policies and all of my things set in order. But are they actually making an impact?”

Another leader confirmed: “We don’t have necessarily a way of knowing [what is happening at the club level].”

Relatedly, the leaders described being faced with the challenge of navigating different systems and requirements for safe sport across jurisdictions within the same sport. “Technically only our national league and our national team athletes… would fall under our jurisdiction. But… if something happens at the grassroots level or the province, it’s still going to reflect back on our organization,” explained one leader. The leader continued, “We are working to try and align and have some templates available so that our provincial organizations can take the same policies as us, but we don’t really have a way to mandate it. So, it’s still optional.”

There is recognition that for policies to have any effect, there needs to be understanding of where and how they apply and who has jurisdiction over what practices. Navigating jurisdictional boundaries within sport is a mountain to climb for high performance sport leaders.

The leaders acknowledged that one size doesn’t fit all, but if common language and rules are not in place and consistently reinforced within a sport across contexts, then movement forward is stalled. In the words of one leader:

“It’s between lawyers. And the problem with so much of this is that the people at the NSO level that we are dealing with are not lawyers. And they are trying to get a one size fits all for every facet of our sport. But the problem with our sport is that we have clubs, we’ve got universities, we’ve got high schools, and every single one has different rules and obligations.”

Issues with system alignment add complexity to safe sport efforts and leave administrators confused about next steps.

Challenge #4: Different interpretations of safe sport

According to the leaders we interviewed, one of the greatest challenges to a safer sport culture is how different stakeholders interpret what is considered acceptable and unacceptable language, behaviour and practices in high performance sport. As one leader put it, “The issue is complex because there’s an issue around what is the definition of maltreatment or abuse in sport? There are different interpretations of what that means.” For example, one leader described how coaches who come from other countries to work in Canadian high performance programs may have different views about what is considered acceptable or not.

The leaders also described how they are tasked with distinguishing interpretations of safe sport and maltreatment. In the words of one leader, “It’s ferreting out what’s truly maltreatment and what’s perceived as maltreatment but are not truly maltreatment.” Overall, the leaders highlighted their struggle to define common understandings of complex concepts related to safe sport and maltreatment. As a result, the leaders described feeling unsure of how to move forward with safe sport measures like reporting and sanctioning.

Challenge #5: General hesitation and avoidance

The sport leaders we spoke with uniformly identified the need to move toward a safer sport culture, but simultaneously acknowledged a general hesitation in sport to adopt responsibility for the actions needed for change. They also described how such hesitation stands in the way of producing change: “The organization, or the team, or the group, they need to feel like there’s a need for change, right? It’s… you can’t impose change on somebody that, you know, has dug their heels in.”  

According to the leaders, people who are resistant to change often feel that safe sport is not their problem to address. “There’s this whole ‘this isn’t my problem’ tension,” explained one leader. In this vein, the leaders described how people who resist change rationalize their decisions with statements like: “I don’t want to have to deal with this. I just want to do my thing. Leave me alone,” and “You’re going overboard.”

Linking back to the turbulent, unstable environment described in Challenge #2, another reason why some people who work in sport may be hesitant to act is the perceived risk of backlash. As one leader stated:

“I want to create a safe sport environment for coaches and athletes and staff. But… how do I do that without getting blamed for certain things that I can’t control? So, for us it’s like trying to minimize the backlash while promoting a safe sport environment.”

Challenge #6: Financial and human resource capacity constraints

Finally, the leaders highlighted how financial and human resource capacity constrained their ability to develop and implement educational, policy, and reporting practices related to safe sport. One leader summed up the issue as a matter of the organization’s survival:

“I was the, not the single employee, but we were pretty small. And we were focused on survival and keeping the lights on. And we just couldn’t do all of the things I probably knew what we needed to be doing.”

The leaders also focused on the role of staff and leadership in achieving safe sport requirements and making safe sport a priority. According to one leader:

“If we really say, you know, the most important thing is that people are safe, then the most important person in the organization [should be] responsible for safety and that [should] be their primary job. And the reality is that there’s very few organizations in which that’s true.”

Another leader commented on the challenge of compliance for organizations that rely heavily on volunteers to deliver their programming:

“Trying to get volunteers to complete some of the training and education is like pulling teeth. So having them, having volunteers trying to get other volunteers trying to comply with this stuff is going to be extremely difficult.”

Others focused on the financial challenges. For example, one leader expressed a need for funding to be aligned how safe sport is intended to be prioritized in the broader landscape of the sport system:

“I think there really needs to be a reality check and how important that will be, otherwise a sport will fail or will be a piecemeal process unless there is more funding brought to the table and that is not reducing other funding.”

Strategies to address the challenges to safer sport

To keep the wheels of culture change turning, the sport sector should undertake what high performance coaches and administrators have identified as key challenges to this process. Here we share some strategies directed at oiling the gears to keep the Canadian sport system moving toward realizing a safer culture:

It is important to be aware of, and strategically address, the challenges to building safer sport cultures identified by the high performance sport leaders in our study. At the same time, we must be open to other challenges as they come to light. This is an important piece of the culture shift in high performance sport, along with increased discussion and involvement of key stakeholders’ views to shape both policy and behaviour change. Having a shared vision for what sport can and should look like in Canada is a high priority for realizing this shift, highlighting the need for coaches and administrators, the stewards of culture, to work together in this worthy pursuit.

Social media has become an increasingly commercialized space within the sporting industry, with brands and sponsors seeking to reach consumers through athletes’ platforms.

So is social media good, or bad, for the sport industry? For athletes? For women and athletes of marginalized communities? The answer seems to be: it’s both. Or, rather, it depends who you ask.

This article outlines some of the challenges that athletes face within our increasingly digital world, and how sport organizations can best support athletes in navigating social media.

The 2011 film Moneyball was a critically acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated, box office success. This is quite something, given that the movie centres on debates over baseball strategy and statistics.

This article explores sport after Moneyball, meaning sport at a time when Moneyball’s disruptive ideas are widely accepted, and often celebrated. It’s true that the statistical revolution of the early 2000s was years in the making (for example, see Millington & Millington, 2015) but the Oakland Athletics’ then-unorthodox approach helped popularize the idea that advanced statistical analyses can improve sport performance “at the margins,” meaning in slight but still significant ways.

Research has shown the post-Olympic period to be a difficult time for athlete mental health. Little research has been conducted on the wellbeing of coaches and support staff during this same period. This study focuses on the latter’s experiences after major games, and provides suggestions for improved wellbeing.

The Summer and Winter Olympics and the World Cup are 3 of the world’s largest tourist events. These events have grown 60-fold over the last 50 years, which is a growth rate 50 times faster that the world’s GDP. What does this mean for the future of these events? Have we reached peak mega event? This article explores the future of the Olympic Games and World Cup, keeping in mind host city capacity, sustainability goals, and the influence of digital media and broadcasting.