Philip Sullivan

High school coaches generally know when their athletes are doping, studies have shown. But they don’t necessarily know how to deal with the problem face-to-face.

Brock professor Philip Sullivan and his research team have been awarded funding from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to address this gap between knowledge and intervention.

Through WADA’s Social Sciences Research Grant Program, the associate professor in Physical Education and Kinesiology has been given $31,200 US for a two-year research program he has undertaken with his former supervisor, Deb Feltz, from Michigan State University.

Sullivan, who has spent much of his life as an athlete or coach, said the project came as a result of a deficiency in coaching education.

Skills development and sport knowledge – including the types of banned substances in use and the symptoms they present – are apparent in many coaching education programs, he said. But many coaches lack confidence to confront athletes they suspect might be using performance-enhancing drugs.

The first phase of the project involves establishing a measurement for what Sullivan calls coaching confidence. To do this, the research team will focus on high school football players and coaches in Ontario, New York State and Michigan. Football coaches are being contacted this fall to participate in a focus group, from which a survey to measure coaching confidence will be crafted. Football was chosen because it is a common sport on both sides of the border.

Once the coaching confidence measurement has been tested for its statistical significance, the second phase of the project involves creating an intervention designed to increase coaching confidence. The intervention, likely in the form of a half-day workshop, will include such tools as role-playing, and will take place before the start of the football season. Coaches’ confidence will be measured before the workshop, during the football season, and then once the season is over.

The ultimate aim would be to develop workshops to be implemented by coaching bodies in other sports, and eventually, in other countries.

Sullivan’s research team includes a student, Kaitlyn LaForge, who just completed her Masters in Applied Health Sciences and is in her first year of the PhD program at Brock. The study will be done through Brock’s Centre for Healthy Development Through Sport and Physical Education, of which Sullivan is co-director.

Links:
• Past Researcher of the Month profiles
• Philip Sullivan faculty page