Sport Participation for Elite Athletes with Physical Disabilities: Motivations, Barriers, and Facilitators

To increase the number of individuals with disabilities participating in adapted sport it is relevant to determine the motivations and athletic development of those who do participate in sport through to the high performance level. Despite a number of research studies examining motivations, facilitators, and barriers to sport for persons with a disability, the research on those competing at an...Read more

Long-Term Athlete Development: A Primer for Coaches, Athletes, and Parents

The Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Framework was developed by Sport For Life to address several problems and gaps affecting low participation and excellence in Canadian sport, such as lack of fun, burn-out, poor skill development, and failure to reach optimal performance. Now applied by countries worldwide, LTAD provides guidelines for the “when” and “what” of skill development, aiming to...Read more

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 of experience under our belts can still get it wrong. Rather it is to highlight a few hard won lessons, offered as...Read more

Happy New Year from SIRC!

2015 has been an exciting “Year of Sport”! We’ve been fortunate to see Canada and Canadian athletes excel on the sporting stage both at home and internationally. From hosting hugely successful international events like the FIFA Women’s World Cup to the Pan and ParaPan American Games to our athletes’ successes on the field of play, our nation continues to build a strong reputation in sport around...Read more

OLYMPIC MEDAL-WINNING COACH LEADERSHIP

SIRC is pleased to be working together with Sport Canada to share current research on topics informing policy and promoting quality sport programming. This week we are sharing highlights of a recent article examining OLYMPIC MEDAL-WINNING COACH LEADERSHIP . Olympic Medal-Winning Leadership. Din, C., Paskevich, D., Gabriele, T., Werthner, P., Arnold, R., & Vella, S. (2015). International...Read more

The underwater treadmill, an alternative to supplementing your training

It is no secret that athletes are always looking for an edge. As an athlete hungry to improve your performance, sometimes you can only train so hard before it becomes necessary to find ways of supplementing your training. Some athletes enhance their workload through cross training , resistance training or even through taking up another sport. One tool that has emerged in the last decade which has...Read more

SIRC at SPIN!

SIRC is pleased to be participating in the SPIN Summit 2013 hosted by Own the Podium. This year’s focus has been on “pushing the limits on performance” and we’ve had the pleasure of hearing many interesting presentations from former athletes, Olympic coaches and sport scientists. The conference began with hearing former Olympic cross-country skier Rebecca “Beckie” Scott speak about her personal...Read more

SIRC au SPIN!

SIRC est heureux de participer au Sommet SPIN 2013 organisé par À Nous le podium. L’objectif de cette année a été mis sur «Repousser les limites de la performance» et nous avons eu le plaisir d’entendre plusieurs intéressantes présentations par d’anciens athlètes, entraîneurs olympiques et scientistes sportifs. La conférence a commencé en écoutant l’ancienne skieuse de fond olympique Rebecca «...Read more

Work-Life Balance

In today’s world of instant information and accessibility to technology, it is tough to balance work, life and family. We live in a world in which your boss can instantly send you an email when you are not at the office, or maybe call you due to some project deadline that is looming. Now add to the equation that you are an elite athlete, with aspirations of representing your country at the...Read more