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Centralizing the voice of the athlete is a critical step in ensuring Safe Sport is realized. This was the primary theme of our talks on the panel “The future of safe sport: Hooked on hope not fishing for problems” at the 2023 Sport Canada Research Initiative (SCRI) conference.  

An athlete-centered view of sport, while not a new concept, remains an area of deficiency within management and governance models in sport. This includes athletes’ contributions to policy formation, environmental design, and sport services. Supporting the safe sport movement also requires a deep dive into what athletes experience, their beliefs and the values held as most important which they feel is driving behaviour (both good and bad). As the Canadian sport system grapples with several changes, it is even more critical that the athlete voice comes to the table to be a part of shifting the culture and understanding the various problems while working towards the ideals of safe sport. 

In Nova Scotia for instance, the voice of the athlete has been an integral piece in policy and safe sport education. In 2021, Sport Nova Scotia held an Athlete Safe Sport Summit to engage athletes throughout the province to discuss their values and to learn what was important to them. Following the Summit, an Athlete Advisory Committee (AAC) was created and, over the last few years, the AAC has been instrumental in creating safe sport education tools and resources which includes a series of podcasts focused on athlete mental health. This diverse group of athletes representing all levels of sport, from across the province, has demonstrated a commitment to fostering the values of “safe, welcoming, and inclusive” sport environments in Nova Scotia. 

In addition to the AAC, and with the goal of ensuring athletes’ values are present in fostering safe sport, Sport Nova Scotia, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and the Canadian Sport Institute Atlantic (CSIA), created the Nova Scotia True Sport Athlete Ambassador Program (NSTSAAP). In 2020, the partners began working together with the understanding that positive values must be committed to and prioritized throughout sport in Canada. It was recognized that when sport is values-based, it has the power to positively influence behaviour and create a culture that instils character, strengthens communities, and increases opportunities for excellence. The partners choose to champion True Sport as their approach to values-based sport, an initiative of the CCES. Values-based sport places values at the heart of all policies, practices, and programs to ensure that positive experiences foster a culture of good sport in the long term.  

In practice, the partners created the NSTSAAP and over the last 3 years have engaged a diverse cohort of athletes each year who use their voices and their passion to share True Sport. These athletes are nominated by their Support4Sport vip coach, a CSI Atlantic program. This program was created to recognize the contribution of coaches in communities across Nova Scotia. vip is not a certification or requirement, but rather a proactive opportunity for coaches to continue to excel in ethical leadership. 

The NSTSAAP nomination and selection process is based upon the athlete’s activation of True Sport on and off the field of play. The goal of the NSTSAAP is to increase awareness, understanding and engagement of values-based sport. The NSTSAAP is the first of its kind in Canada and is about to announce its Year 3 True Sport Ambassadors.  

Placing values at the core of decision-making is not easy work, especially in a sport system that has placed a considerable emphasis on podiums and winning. However, doing so allows sport organizations and their leaders to reflect on the lived experience of their constituents and to emphasize the process while having an eye on organizational and competition excellence. To do this well, collaboration and communication must remain constant to help address and prevent maltreatment. A values-based approach involves understanding the culture and the perspectives of those most affected creating a need to have athletes help create comprehensive policies, training and support systems needed to shift the culture.  

Body checking is a large part of hockey, but there is a risk of concussion. The Amsterdam 2022 International Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport suggests that body checking should be eliminated in hockey for children and most adolescents. In addition, they found that mouth guards are proven to be effective in reducing concussions and should be mandatory not only in hockey, but in other contact sports as well.

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.

Sport has historically often been an unsafe space for LGBTQ+ athletes. Recent Canadian research sought to examine attitudes towards LGBTQ+ inclusion in figure skating, to assess whether these attitudes vary by gender, sexual identity, or level of participation in skating, and to examine the impact of contact with LGBTQ+ people on attitudes towards inclusion. Overall, researchers found positive attitudes towards inclusion within Canadian figure skating.

Young gymnasts are most at risk for growth-related and overuse injuries. Two risk factors of these types of injury are maturation and training load. Currently, little is known regarding coaching knowledge and practice related to these risks. This study examines coach knowledge and identifies gaps to help promote athlete safety.

Training outdoors when air pollution is high is risky for athletes. SIRC and Health Canada have partnered to create resources, including an eLearning module, to teach participants and coaches about best practices when it comes to air quality and outdoor training.

Ensuring that athletes feel comfortable voicing their opinion (and have it considered and respected) is an important aspect of psychological safety in sport. A recent study of 379 athletes showed that those who felt they could be open with their coaches and teammates were more likely to feel psychologically safe, and to have a positive coach-athlete relationship.

Coaching philosophies play a key role in athletes’ safety. Developed by Dr. Peter Scales, “Compete-Learn-Honor” is a new, evidence-informed approach to player development that promotes emotional and physical safety, fun, and growth as a person and player.

Biking is a popular form of physical activity for children that has risks for injury to the head. Research shows that children who rode bicycles without a helmet are 14 times more likely to experience a fatal crash compared to children wearing helmets. Safe Kids provides safety tips on how to ensure that your child has a properly-fitted helmet. Helmets should not rock side-to-side when shaking your head and the strap below the chin should always be fastened. When you open your mouth wide, your helmet should feel snug around your head, otherwise tighten your straps!

The athlete biological passport (ABP) was created to assist with the detection of doping in sports. Unlike traditional detection methods which are one-off and direct, the ABP is an electronic record of an athlete’s biological attributes, developed from multiple samples taken over time. Variables are monitored closely to identify any changes that may indicate the presence of prohibited substances in an athlete’s body.