Blog

  • Interview with Dr. Naraine – Sport Gambling Webinar

    Wednesday, February 02, 2022 | By

    We sat down (virtually) with Dr. Naraine from the Sport Management Department to chat about the upcoming Sport Gambling Webinar. The webinar will be held on February 9th at 3:00 pm EST.

    In our interview, we had a chance to speak with Dr. Naraine about his connection to sport as well as what participants would gain from attending this event.

    1) What is your connection with sports gambling, and what excites you about it? 

    Being a researcher and seeing the advanced and mature environment of sports gambling in Australia, my interest was rejuvenated. While in Australia, the research I conducted consisted of looking at the way brands were connecting with consumers through the use of digital and social media. There were many different elements at play that had to be considered, such as what app or company to choose when betting.

    What really excites me about sports gambling is that it is truly new territory for North America. This is something Canada has been talking about implementing for years, and legislation has slowly come about. Now we are finally in a place where it is no longer illegal, although regulations are province by province, this market in Canada is just at the starting line.

    I am interested in seeing the dynamic going forward considering the development that sports betting has undergone in other countries. It can be the next big thing to help sports teams and leagues develop new fans and galvanize older fans. It is not only going to increase profits but will also help to create more awareness in the sports industry.

    2) Why should people attend this webinar?

    Everyone should attend this webinar, whether they, A) know nothing about sports gambling, or B) know lots about sports gambling. Both students and community members will hear from professionals to gain knowledge about the industry; contrasting their usual consumer perspective.

    This webinar will allow people to get a better sense of what’s about to happen and what we will be seeing within the next year from these brands in terms of job prospects. It will also allow people to simply get more familiar with the future of sport in Canada.

    Sports betting is going to have massive implications for the next generation in terms of ensuring responsible gambling and holding these brands to proper standards (giving back to their community.) All things considered, this webinar is about learning more from two high-profile individuals who are very knowledgeable about the sports betting space in Canada.

    3) What can participants expect this webinar to look like?

    The webinar is going to be an industry-focused conversation. Participants can expect the discussion to be insightful and provide a behind-the-scenes perspective. All too often, discussions hosted at the academic level tend to gravitate towards both the research and theoretical substances, but this webinar will focus on the practical implications.

    This webinar aims to be a fluid conversation that we would expect students, alumni, and community members to all be able to identify with, from both a research and scholarship standpoint, as well as the more practical implications in terms of finding a job, leveraging the opportunities to grow different sports properties, and much more.

     

    Categories: Blog, Webinars/Forums

  • January Member Showcase – Dr. Rob Millington

    Tuesday, February 01, 2022 | By

    Background

    I’ve been involved with the Centre for Sport Capacity (CSC) for about a year now. I was eager to join the CSC because of the tremendous activities they’ve been engaged with, and because of the collaborative nature of the Centre. The people I get to work with are amazing and the webinars that they have hosted are such great resources for everyone.
    I am in my third year at Brock University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. My focus is on the socio-cultural stream of Kinesiology, so I am interested in the role of sport as an agent of social change. In my research, I do a lot of historical and policy analysis of how sport contributes to international development goals. In recent years, we have seen an increasing formalization and institutionalization of the role of sport within the international development sector, whereby organizations like the United Nations (UN) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) have sought to use sport as a tool to promote a range of positive social outcomes, including HIV-AIDS education, gender equity, and employment skills, amongst others. In my most recent project, I have been interested in how sport can contribute to sustainable development, with a specific focus on the environmental side of sustainability. For example, sport is now connected to all 17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which includes things like environmental protection, remediation, clean waterways, food security, and combatting climate change. However, the goals in these policy documents are quite ambitious and the sport sector doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to the environment. Sport has a profound environmental impact for its carbon footprint, food waste and impact on local ecosystems. I’m interested in exploring these types of disconnects further.

    Classes

    I currently teach KINE 2P91: Social History of Physical Education and Sport, KINE 4P61: Sport, Development and Sustainability, and a Graduate qualitative methods course.
    Kinesiology students are fortunate that they can take a range of courses including, Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, Sociology, History, and Phys-ed courses. I think this variety in their coursework leads to well-rounded students. The second-year course I teach is an interesting way for students to get exposure to social history. The course helps in developing a critical toolkit to explore how sport both reproduces and challenges broader power dynamics, and ongoing histories of colonialism, race and racism, gender (in)equity, social class and commercialism.
    The fourth-year KINE 4P61 class that I teach has emerged out of the research interests I noted above. The course provides an opportunity to explore how sport is positioned as a tool to combat climate change, yet how it also needs to be accountable for its own deleterious environmental impacts – all while engaging students in the topic of sport and environmental action.

    Current Research

    My current research program is funded through an SSHRC Insight Grant in collaboration with my colleague, Dr. Simon Darnell (University of Toronto). Its goal is to try to explore how stakeholders in the “sport for development” sector view the role of sport in contributing to sustainable development objectives through interviews with policy-makers and practitioners that run sport for development programs, particularly in the global South. Through the project we hope to better understand sport’s potential and limitations in promoting environmental protection and remediation strategies.
    I am also now in the process of submitting a new SSHRC grant with Dr. Brad Millington (Department of Sport Management, here are Brock University) and Dr. Simon Darnell (University of Toronto), focused on sport and environmental action in Canada. We are interested in exploring if and how sport organizations in Canada (e.g., Hockey Canada, Aboriginal Sport Circle, Right to Play), are taking up the call from the UN to use sport as a positive force for the environment.

    Ice Breakers

    Favourite TV Show – This is a tough question, there’s so much good stuff out there these days, but I’d have to say Succession is up there for me.
    Hobbies – Sports is a big one. I’ve been enjoying watching this Raptors team and think they can make some noise in the playoffs, if they get in. I’m also trying to stay active (or at least saying that I am) by exploring the many nearby trails to run and hike.
    Favourite sport – Basketball is my favourite sport, it’s the sport I grew up playing the most. Although it is being rivaled these days by baseball: the Blue Jays are on a fun trajectory and I’m excited to see the team develop over the next few years.
    Clubs associations – I am helping out with a few different organizations focused on the connection between sport and the environment: the Canada Games Council, the Canadian signatories of the Sport for Climate Action Framework, Parks and Recreation Canada, have all been active in this area. I think there is momentum behind the idea that sport can be a positive force for environmental sustainability, so it’s an exciting time.
    Achievements – I’ve been helping to put together a new Seminar Series at the CSC titled: Sport and the Environment Webinars. The series is being led by Dr. Brad Millington and it speaks to the different sides of some of the issues we’ve talked about today. Our guest speakers include journalists, academics, policymakers, and more, who will be sharing their insights on how sport can drive sustainability initiatives forward. The first one is February 3rd and I encourage everyone to check it out.

    Categories: Blog, Member Showcases

  • Interview with Dr. Rob Millington and Dr. Brad Millington – Sport and the Environment Webinar

    Tuesday, January 25, 2022 | By

    We sat down (virtually) with Dr. Brad Millington and Dr. Rob Millington from the faculty of applied health science to chat about the Sport and the Environment Webinar series. A group of discussions on the topic of sport within the global climate crisis. The first webinar of the series will be held on February 3rd at 12:00pm. Dr. Brad Millington, a professor who studies sport and environmental sustainability at Brock University, will be moderating the first webinar in this exciting series and asking questions from the audience to facilitate a great conversation.

    In our interview, we had a chance to speak with both of the Millington brothers about their connection to sport and the environment as well as what participants will gain from attending the webinar series.

    What is your connection to sport & the environment, and why is this topic important to you?

    As is often said, the climate crisis is something that affects us all – though it’s important to remember it is having, and will continue to have, uneven impacts. The projections from entities such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are alarming, and increasingly so. The window is closing to enact meaningful changes across society. This is where sport comes in.

    On the one hand, sport itself is environmentally impactful. For example, our first speaker in the series – David Goldblatt – has estimated that the carbon emissions of global sport are on par with those of various countries, such as Denmark. On the other hand, sport at all levels of participation is certain to be impacted by the climate crisis in the years ahead. Indeed, it seems this is already happening. Sports fans will remember the Canada-Sweden soccer gold medal game at the 2020 Olympics being moved to an evening kick-off to avoid Tokyo’s sweltering daytime heat.

    In recent years, influential actors from the commercial, governmental, and non-profit sectors have taken interest in the role of sport in the context of climate change (e.g., the United Nations Sports for Climate Action initiative). Sport is important: the most optimistic accounts imagine not just climate mitigation and adaptation in sport, but a leadership role for sport in modelling ideal environmental changes and outcomes.

    Why should people attend this webinar series?

    We are fortunate to have wonderful and influential expert speakers leading us through this timely topic of discussion. Furthermore, with multiple webinars, the series aims to cover an array of sub-topics under the broad heading of sport and the environment. The full series title is, ‘Sport and the Environment: Politics, Practices, and Preferred Futures’, meaning speakers might address sport in different forms, politics in different ways (e.g., environmental policies, power dynamics, or theoretical perspectives), practices of different kinds (e.g., people’s everyday practices or organizational strategies), and/or preferred futures at different scales (e.g., small-scale changes or larger-scale transitions).

    The webinars might therefore be of interest to those studying sport and the environment, to those working in the sport sector (e.g., in sport organizations, in policy-making roles, etc.), and to a general audience interested in sport and/or environmental sustainability.

    What will this webinar look like for the average participant?

    Each webinar will feature a presentation by the invited speaker (25-30 minutes or so), followed by a moderated Q&A (another 20 minutes or so). This means a blend of dialogue and expert-informed insight. Indeed, the intention of the series is to create a forum for accessible, thought-provoking, and constructive discussion to help in realizing sport’s potential in relation to the climate crisis.

    Categories: Blog, Webinars/Forums

  • Jason Corry – Communications, Marketing and Business Development Coordinator (Intern)

    Monday, January 24, 2022 | By

    When I think about the Centre for Sport Capacity (CSC), I think about the projects the CSC has hosted and longing to be apart of them. I think about how my own experiences with sport have been influenced by programs like the Centre. As I look ahead, to the projects I will oversee and deliver I know that I will positively impact others’ lives as the new Communications, Marketing and Business Development Coordinator Intern at the CSC.

    My name is Jason Corry, and I am a fourth year Sport Management (honours) student at Brock University. I am extremely excited to complete my internship at the Centre for Sport Capacity where I can continue to engage and build strong relationships with many different people. I hope that in my new role I can be a part of providing experiences and interactions that I was lucky enough to enjoy during my undergraduate experience.

    While at Brock I volunteered with many great organizations in the Niagara region. I volunteered as a station coordinator at the Niagara Barrelman Triathlon, and as a coach for youth hockey organizations to help grow the sport. Most recently I have worked as writer and editor of the Brock University (BU) law Review. This role appealed to me because it offered me a chance to improve my verbal and written communication skills while also providing other students with assistance in pursuing their own career goals. I collaborated with others to alter the format of the BU Law Review, making the review more appealing to readers, and providing more learning opportunities to help others achieve their law school dreams. Through these experiences I have developed skills that will help me succeed in this role and provide meaningful interactions with sport to children across Canada.

    What intrigues me the most about the CSC is the wide array of functional areas they are responsible for. The CSC works with a wide range of researchers who conduct both academic and applied projects to identify ways in which sport organizations across the country can improve. They host events to disseminate information regarding the best practices in sport and are at the forefront of developing new ways that society thinks about sport and recreation. When the opportunity to join this organization presented itself through the Sport Management internship program, I knew that the meaningful work done within this organization aligned with my future aspirations to assist sport organizations across Canada in creating a positive experience for all.

    I am excited to get in at the ground floor and help introduce new services and programs that will transform the sport industry. At the Centre I will be given the ability to use my problem-solving skills and communication skills to connect with others in the sport industry and develop new ways of using groundbreaking research to successfully assist sport organizations across the country. I am very excited about this opportunity because I will help many people on a regular basis while at the same time developing skills that will assist me in the future.

    In this role I will be given the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects. From complimentary informational webinars to corporate training programs, I will build experience working in many functional areas of sport management. Regardless of where my career takes me, these skills are essential to succeeding in almost all roles. Building communication and problem-solving skills early on is key to becoming the best version of myself. Through this internship, I will be afforded an opportunity to work with experienced people in the communications and marketing field and improve my skills within the social media sphere. I have been tasked with creating social media content for the Centre for Sport Capacity on various content creation platforms. This is something that I have not yet done for an organization. I am very excited about the opportunity to improve the organization’s reach through social media.

    The Centre for Sport Capacity offers a unique experience for students to learn important skills and work with others in a collaborative fashion that will aid them in developing both transferable skills and real-world experience in a variety of sport related industries. I am proud to be a member of the CSC team and am excited for the opportunities that await me in my new role.

    Categories: Blog, Students

  • Ryan Hyndman – The Importance of Data Management and Information Literacy Skills

    Friday, December 17, 2021 | By

    Do you want to learn hard skills that could provide a comfortable lifestyle and a productive attitude? My experience with data management and information literacy throughout my independent study has not only been a complete culmination of my studies at Brock, but it has also taught me practical skills. I was able to learn hard skills such as spreadsheet analysis with crosstabs and gain knowledge of industry standards for economic impact assessments from both professionals in the field and academic supervisors. I found developing these skills to be rewarding in the short-term while also providing a financially comfortable path for the future. This combination of exposure has led me to a newfound confidence to join the work force and pursue what I am passionate about.

    Hello! My name is Ryan Hyndman, and I am currently a fourth-year Sport Management student with a minor in Economics here at Brock University! During my last term here at Brock, I had the opportunity to conduct an independent study (SPMA 4P99) under the supervision of Dr. Julie Stevens. A major component of this individual study revolved around a research project in partnership with non-profit organization, Community Researchers (CR).

    The Centre has a Memorandum of Understanding with CR where students work on projects to support sport and recreation organizations. CR pairs student researchers with organizations who are looking to have a complementary research study done. Because of my love of sports and my involvement with the Centre for Sport Capacity (CSC), I was paired with non-profit organization, Play On! Canada.

    Play On! Canada organizes and stages large-scale street hockey tournaments across Canada and claim to be the largest experiential sports festival in Canadian history. To back this up, they hold the world record for the largest street hockey tournament in terms of participants! My first step was to meet with Play On! and determine what they wanted to have studied about their organization with a needs assessment meeting.

    Once, this was completed we came out of the meeting with three objectives for this study: Quantify the economic impact of their events, quantify the social impact of their events, and determine if there is interest in an attendee online portal. From there I worked with the partners to create a survey that effectively asked questions about these three topics. Dr. Stevens provided great guidance here as she helped with the structure of questions, wording of answers, and introduced me to resources that made the survey writing process much smoother.

    When the survey was released to the public, it was open for 10 days and closed with over 600 responses! Now came the hard work. I mapped my analysis and the relationships I wanted to examine. This was an important step because with such a long project, it was crucial to have a plan to stay on track and make sure deadlines were met. In addition to the objective questions, we also asked demographics-based questions of respondents. This gave me a baseline to conduct analysis and develop crosstabs to demonstrate the relationship between two or more variables. For example, when asking attendees what their interest level was in an online portal, I was able to dissect the data and report the demographics for the various answers (i.e., 20% of respondents that answered “significant interest” in an online portal identified as a woman).

    The economic impact section was a little more difficult. Play On! was interested in studying how much additional spending was brought to communities because of their events. For this, I sat down with Michael Harker, Executive Director of CR, to develop a plan of how to report this. Next, we gathered feedback from Play On! and I gathered feedback from Dr. Stevens on how to move forward.

    It was from here that Mr. Harker introduced me to the Province of Ontario’s Tourism Regional Economic Impact Model (TREIM). TRIEM is a program that generates economic impact information such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), jobs created, and taxes generated based on detailed visitor spending data. Because we had asked spending related questions, we had this information and were able to generate these values for an average Play On! event.

    Specifically, this part of the project was interesting to me because having a minor in economics, this was one of the first times I was able to combine the knowledge I was able to learn from my Economics courses and combine it with the knowledge I had gained from Sport Management courses!

    Mr. Harker throughout the process repeated to me that some of the work I had been doing for this report, some organizations would pay thousands of dollars to have done. Upon some basic research, I found this to be true as Americans for the Arts, a non-profit arts advocacy organization, begins their prices for customized economic impact assessments at $3,500 USD. So, not only was I working on a project that combined my two academic interests, but this project also taught me data management and information literacy hard skills that could one day lead to a good paying job.

    Building spreadsheets, analyzing data, writing reports, does not sound like interesting work, and I’ll be the first one to admit that, but there is something about the whole process that feels very rewarding. From watching the responses come in one by one, to making charts, to identifying relationships, there is a sense of completion and productiveness that made me feel like an industry professional. I still have a long way to go to get to that point, but I feel that this project and the skills I learned throughout the process helped effectively prepare myself for careers that I hope to pursue.

    If I could leave one piece of advice for students moving forward, it is to seek opportunities to gain exposure to elements of an industry that you are passionate about and pursue them. Plain and simple, without this independent study, my data management and information literacy skills would not be as developed as they are today. Learning how to use TREIM and practicing crosstabs are just a couple of the many practical skills I used, and I can say without a doubt, this experience has opened the door for me to be able to develop applicable capabilities to bring value to potential employers. Although I hope to apply this experience to the sports industry, these skills are highly transferable to almost all industries and I highly recommend that anyone looking to gain a competitive advantage expose themselves to similar professional development opportunities!

    If you are interested in connecting with the CSC, visit the CSC website for any placement/volunteer positions or directly reach out by submitting an. A CSC team member will be happy to follow up with you.

    Categories: Blog, Students

  • November Member Showcase – Cullum Brownbridge

    Tuesday, November 30, 2021 | By

    Background:

    I have lived in Niagara for over 12 years now. In 2017, I graduated from McMaster with a Bachelor of Science in their Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior (PNB) program. Following that, I began my masters here at Brock, where I worked with Dr. Curtis Fogel on looking at risk literature in football and rugby, in terms of the use of protective equipment and the risk compensation effect. I played both rugby and football when I was in high school. I know I was not as confident when it came to engaging in contact in rugby, but when I was playing football and had the equipment on, I felt more protected. So, I wanted to see if this was a shared phenomenon with others and see if there were consequences for this increased sense of safety (for example, engaging in riskier behaviour such as a bigger, more forceful hit).

    In terms of esports, it was something that I’d been following since my first year at McMaster, mostly just watching it as a fan. It was only towards the end of my master’s and the start of my Ph.D. that I was thinking about where I wanted to go in terms of my research goals and objectives. Esports is still quite young, it’s in its infancy, and so I figured I might as well jump at this opportunity to learn more about the industry. I want to see if I can add to the literature and discourse around various topics in esports.

    Current Projects:

    The esports webinar with the Centre for Sport Capacity was one of the big projects that we up a couple weeks ago, and I’m looking to do another webinar next semester in March or April around a specific topic within esports. For my doctoral thesis, I am looking at how esports teams and programs are structured and governed in Canadian colleges and universities, whether they’re run by students at the club level, merged into university athletic and recreation departments, or some other model. I hope to talk to relevant stakeholders who are involved in these esports programs to ask them about their programs and how they are structured and organized. Hopefully, the research can act as a blueprint for Canadian colleges and universities to integrate esports into their athletic, recreational, and/or academic programming.

    Additionally, I’m working with my supervisor, Dr. Curtis Fogel, where we’re looking at gender-based virtual violence in live gaming and live streaming. We will be presenting some of our preliminary findings at the inaugural Esports Research Network Conference from December 9-10, which we’re both looking forward to as an opportunity to not only present our research, but also to see what research projects are currently being conducted in esports. I am also collaborating with Dr. Nathan Hall from the Kinesiology Department at Brock on a project looking at leisure time physical activity and its correlation to video games. It’s a lot of projects on the go, but it keeps me busy and allows me to jump between projects whenever I hit a mental wall.

    Ice Breakers:

    – What clubs/organizations are you involved with?

    Well, the first, would be the Centre for Sport Capacity (CSC) and where we worked together to put on the esports webinar. The other major group I’m a part of it is the Esports Research Network (ERN). They are having their inaugural conference in December, which I’m going to help present at with Dr. Fogel. There are currently just over 200 members from across the world, I’m one of the few Canadians that is a part of it. It is a growing group of scholars and I am thrilled to be a part of this network.

    – What is your favorite TV show right now?

    I just finished Arcane on Netflix, which was produced by Riot Games who developed popular games like League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and Valorant. I thought they did a great job introducing characters and environments from the lore, and will hopefully get people interested in trying out their games. The next show that I want to watch is Loki on Disney Plus, just haven’t gotten around to that yet. I’m also excited for the second season of The Witcher to come out in December.

    – What are your current hobbies?

    If it wasn’t obvious already, I enjoy playing video games. I tend to jump between games, but I’ve been playing a lot of Halo: Infinite and I’m looking forward to playing more during the holiday season. I also like to cook a lot. I’m starting to make more vegetarian meals because my girlfriend is vegetarian, so I’ve been experimenting with dishes that contain things like tofu, beyond meats, lentils, and anything else I can get my hands on. I also like going to the gym, even if it doesn’t look like it! Being able to workout in a gym again after being put on hold during the pandemic has been something I look forward to each week and adds some stability to my life.

    Future Desires:

    It’s kind of hard to think about the future to be honest with you because I’ve got so much going on, which is kind of a good thing! I have multiple projects that I have an interest in learning more about and it’s allowing me to stay in the present and diversify my workload. So, I haven’t thought all too much about where specifically I want to go in the future.

    I’m just kind of working on the research and these projects, trusting in myself and the people I’m working with. Then see where the dominoes fall from there, whether I stay in academics or work elsewhere in the esports industry. I’m leaving myself open to everything. I don’t want to channel myself directly into one avenue right now. Attending conferences, doing multiple projects, and continuing my professional development will allow me to keep my options open and allow me to explore multiple career pathways.

    Categories: Blog, Member Showcases

  • Tess Armstrong – Reflections on being a Community Researcher

    Friday, November 19, 2021 | By

    Tess is a first year Recreation and Leisure master’s student and a varsity rugby player. Having graduated from Concordia University last year, she is continuing both her academic and athletic endeavors at Brock University. Read to learn about Tess’s experience conducting community-based research this past summer

    Introduction

    Upon starting graduate studies within the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Brock University, I was presented with the opportunity to work with a not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the mental health of Canada’s post-secondary student-athletes.  As a student-athlete and a novice researcher, contributing to the partnership between the Brock Centre for Sport Capacity, Community Researchers, and the Student Athlete Mental Health Initiative (SAMHI) was a fantastic learning experience. The project examined the experience of mental health professionals working with varsity athletes with the goal of understanding the facilitators and barriers to implementing this role, as well as the outcomes – specifically looking at how student athletes have benefited from this support. Within this blog, I reflect on the lessons learned and challenges encountered throughout this project. Admittedly, most of the learning came out of the challenges. Constantly reflecting and taking action to overcome these challenges, resulted in some personal, professional, and academic skill-development which I detail below.

    Reflexivity in Practice

    First and foremost, my positionality as both a student-athlete and novice researcher were important to acknowledge throughout the research process. Such a position helped me to develop a connection to the community organization, SAMHI , informed the interview guide I created, assisted in guiding the conversations, and connecting with and establishing context for the mental health professionals.

    Having spent a significant amount of time within varsity spheres at two post-secondary institutions over the past 5 years, I can relate to the context of the research and understand its significance. More specifically, I have seen athletes undergo mental health crises and suffer due to a lack of support in place. While my prior knowledge and personal experience shaped the beginning stages of the project, I had to take a step back during the data analysis and acknowledge any preconceived ideas about what the results should look like. Though my own subjectivity is likely impossible to erase from this project, I practiced reflexivity by actively listening to the voices of the professionals, by utilizing some conventional research strategies. While developing the methodology for this project, I advocated for the recording and transcribing of interviews as it provided the opportunity to stay close to the data, return to the source of the information whenever necessary, iteratively analyze the data, and showcase the participants’ direct insights and lived experiences through emerging themes and quotations. Maintaining my identity as the researcher and refraining from making assumptions based on my own personal experiences was challenging, but necessary. Taking the time to practice reflexivity and acknowledge my positionality will help me in future research I conduct.

    Redefining Success

    When considering varsity athletics, wins and losses are the predominant measures to define success. While putting such emphasis on these performance-based measures, academic institutions can sometimes neglect the less measurable implications of competitive sport participation, such as student-athlete mental health. Further, student athletes wear many hats, including being a role model and a representative of their school, community, and sport. Such expectations can result in an insurmountable level of pressure, having significant consequences on their well-being (USports, 2020). To best support athletes, we must expand the scope of success, including being able to provide a positive experience for student-athletes, helping student-athletes to graduate with transferable life skills, and building their capacity to cope with stress.

    Optimizing this redefined version of success in varsity spaces requires a commitment to listen to all stakeholders; athletes themselves, and those that work with athletes. This project sought out the voices of mental health professionals to help determine the barriers and facilitators to their work. The expertise of these professionals helped to provide insight into the daily lives of varsity athletes, the struggles they encounter, and how to best support them. Interviews aided in developing recommendations for mental health support in varsity spheres – finding the balance between what is ideal and what is realistic.

    What the position entails varies across Canadian post-secondary institutions, their responsibilities possibly including but not limited to the following: 1-on-1 counselling services, mental performance coaching, facilitating workshops, conducting research, etc. This role is limited to being occupied by one individual who coordinates a multitude of services.

    Success might look like these services being available in every college and university across Canada.

    Maintaining Momentum

    Conducting a research project remotely was challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic has required people to be flexible with their work schedules, and to commit to an online presence to stay connected. As someone who enjoys face-to-face interaction and is most engaged with what is right in front of them, losing momentum was a significant challenge throughout this project; almost stopping in front of the hurdles as opposed to jumping over them. Consequently, internet problems, email delays, missed messages, and all other issues that arose virtually had a greater impact on the efficiency of work. Sometimes, email communications that I did not immediately address became forgotten, and the entire process slowed down. Awaiting responses from stakeholders was immobilizing. Thus, staying motivated and invested became more and more challenging. Reflecting on what I could have done differently to maintain momentum throughout the project; I would have made a more conscious effort to maintain constant communication (even if just a weekly check-in) – setting the standard for myself and stakeholders from the get-go.

    In losing momentum, it became easy to get caught up in comparing myself to my peers in the placement, who were collecting hundreds of survey responses. Interviewing less than five participants sometimes felt inadequate. The time constraint for participant recruitment was something I struggled with – having a short window, two to four weeks, to find, reach out, and interview participants. Those who were working in academic spaces were often away from their desks this summer, taking time off – meaning it was hard to get in touch with the ideal participant. In future projects, I would take a more fluid approach, by not waiting to collect all the data, and conduct all the interviews, to begin the process of analysis.

    Additionally, the loss of momentum carried over into when I analyzed the data. Transcribing and analyzing the interview recordings felt daunting. I became wrapped up in trying to find the answers right away, trying to make sense of the data by identifying one truth or reality. Completing the project required a shift in my mindset, an acknowledgement the process is as significant as the outcome, and that there are no “right answers” in qualitative research.  There is value in listening to the voices of those with lived experience. Being able to understand, communicate, and mobilize the knowledge being gained through in-depth interviews can only be achieved patiently, one step at a time. 

    Filling the Toolbox 

    Through engaging in this project, I acquired a wide variety of tools that will impact how I conduct my research in the future and how I manage projects. Below are some of these skills I developed and/or improved during the project.

    • Building confidence in conducting interviews
      • Creating space for the participants to speak freely
      • Learning how to guide the conversation and be adaptable
      • Navigating imposter syndrome and self-doubt (who am I to be talking to these professionals? What if I am messing this up?)
    • Expanding my online abilities 
      • Becoming comfortable with different video call platforms
      • Using different virtual resources to facilitate transcription
      • Getting creative in the process of data analysis (using Google Forms to sort and categorize raw data)
    • Representing knowledge visually
      • Exploring Canva
      • Practicing using graphics and images effectively
      • Presenting findings on PDF slides

    With each opportunity and experience, I can add to my “toolbox”. Moving forward, these skills will be useful in my academic life. Diversifying my online abilities and improving my ability to express project findings visually and virtually is important moving into this post-pandemic world, where hybrid teaching and learning is the new normal. Having gained confidence in conducting interviews will be key when approaching future qualitative research projects.

    Conclusion

    While at times hard, what motivated me throughout the research project was the notion that lived-experience and professional expertise can be used to directly influence action within community-based organizations. The collaboration between SAMHI, Community Researchers the Brock Centre for Sport Capacity will hopefully help build a case for the role of a varsity mental health coordinator and continue to advocate for more effective mental health services for student athletes, by mobilizing the knowledge gained through the project.

    Categories: Blog, Students

  • Interview with Cullum Brownbridge – Unveiling Esports Webinar

    Friday, November 12, 2021 | By

    We sat down (virtually) with Ph.D. student Cullum Brownbridge to chat about the Esports Webinar, “Unveiling Esports: A panel discussion on the direction and growth of a billion-dollar industry” that will be held on November 17th. Cullum will be moderating this exciting webinar and asking questions from the audience to facilitate a great conversation.

    In our interview, we had a chance to speak with Cullum about his connection to Esports as well as what participants will gain from attending the webinar.

    What is your connection to Esports & what excites you about it?

    Outside of having Esports as my Ph.D. main topic and a couple of other research topics within Esports, it’s mostly as a fan. I think is most students and faculty in the sports management department research sports management because they enjoy the sports themselves. When I was in my first year of undergrad at McMaster University, back in 2012, I began watching live Esports events, namely the League of Legends World Championships.

    There was a huge crowd and I remember there was a fan using a vuvuzela, which was popular during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. So, it was very bizarre to me at first. Since then, I’ve seen just how much the scene has grown and how more people are a part of it. In the beginning, older people might have thought “oh, you know you’re watching somebody else play video games it seems like a waste of time”, but now they see the value in it too.

    It excites me in the sense that it’s a growing industry. It’s another space for people to connect, to share, to play and to work together. It is exciting to see that people are seeing video games as a way to make connections with other people through teamwork and clubs. It’s a relatively new field and jumping into it now allows me to put my foot in the door and shape the way that literature unfolds itself around it over the next few years.

    Why should people attend this webinar?

    For students specifically, it’s a great opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at the industry. I find that a lot of people I talk to have played video games but aren’t familiar with the competitive video gaming scene. I think people are curious as first of all, how did Esports get so popular? Why is it so popular? Is it going to be a main competitor to traditional sports or other forms of entertainment?

    There is an opportunity for those who might be interested in pursuing a career in sport management. Anything they would take away and apply for the sport management field can be applied to Esports. This industry is going to continue to grow, and if students can get their foot into the door now it might benefit them a lot in the future. Especially if Esports continues to grow, and I don’t see any reason why it would stop growing.

    What will the webinar look like to the average participant?

    I think they’re going to listen to some great commentary from 3 professionals in the industry who can give them the insight that they’re looking for in terms of the direction of Esports. We’ll look into its growth, what it’s going to look like in Canada over the next five years, what it’s going to look like at the grassroots level, the collegiate level and even the professional level.

    There are three experts who work closely with teams in Esports-based organizations who can give their expertise and can share their life experiences. That will connect to the average viewer so if they’re thinking about pursuing a career in Esports or even elsewhere, they will take away lessons that will be a great benefit.

    Categories: Blog, Webinars/Forums

  • Bailey Burke – 2021 Events, Marketing & Communications Assistant Intern

    Wednesday, November 10, 2021 | By

    Bailey Burke is a fourth-year Business Communication student at Brock University. This school year, she is the Events, Marketing and Communications Assistant (intern) with the Centre for Sport Capacity.

    Hello! My name is Bailey Burke and I am a fourth-year Business Communication student here at Brock University. I have just started my experiential learning placement with the CSC. I am thrilled to be a part of this team for the next 8 months to gain experience in a field I am hoping to pursue after graduation. As a student with a growing interest in marketing and communications, I am glad to have been brought on as an Events, Marketing, and Communications assistant (intern) for the remainder of my final year.

    During my time at Brock, I have had the opportunity to learn many theories and skills throughout my courses. From improving my understanding of communication from an academic standpoint, I have also been able to develop transferable skills that I will be able to take with me into the workforce. Being part of the experiential learning course has given me a chance to apply the skills I have learned and put them into practice. That is the main reason that the experiential learning program caught my attention. Upon acceptance, I was able to go through a list of potential placement opportunities. The position at the CSC immediately sparked my interest. 

    My attention was grabbed for numerous reasons. First, the position itself aligned with exactly what I was hoping to pursue through this experience. Being able to strengthen my skills in multiple areas, such as marketing through content creation, improving my communication skills by coordinating and connecting with people, and assisting in planning events that the CSC is contributing to. Furthermore, the application process required an interview on top of the resume and cover letter submission. This was unique to the CSC as most other options did not go to such lengths. By participating in the interview it became clear to me that the members of the CSC are dedicated to students gaining as much knowledge and experience as possible during their placement. When picking a placement, it was important to me to know that I would be trusted with certain responsibilities and tasks that would allow me to further develop my current strengths and learn new skills in the process. Another fundamental component that made me realize the CSC was right for me was the team aspect. Being able to work in a team setting is a new experience for me and one that I was eager to be a part of.  As a student, I have not had an opportunity to work with a team in a professional setting and am looking forward to how I can grow from the experience. 

    A project that I will be working on this semester that I am looking forward to allows me to assist in organizing the Sport SHSM Conference day event that is being held at Brock and hosted by the CSC. My responsibilities for this event include coordinating, networking, creating content, holding meetings, etc. Already from this experience, my confidence has grown and I have had the chance to operate new skill sets. As a former business SHSM student, I remember how much these days and events meant to me throughout my high school experience and how impactful they were in helping me choose what I wanted to study. I am excited to have a part in creating this experience for other students.

    Through my internship with the CSC, I hope to further build my professional confidence, develop my transferable skills, and assist my team in creating content and events for the Brock community.

    Categories: Blog, Students

  • October Showcase – Dr. Michael Van Bussel

    Friday, November 05, 2021 | By

     

    Dr. Van Bussel is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Sport Management at Brock University. Dr. Van Bussel has over 18 years of academic, administrative, and service experience in sport management. His educational background includes a PhD focusing on Sport Law and Policy Studies from Western University. He has won awards in teaching and coaching and was named OUA (USPORT) Provincial Coach of the Year on two separate occasions with the Western University Women’s Soccer Program. His research interests include Sport Law, Risk Management, Governance and Policy, and Coach and Athlete Communication.

    Background: 

    It’s been a long journey throughout. I started intending to go to law school and I was accepted but at that time coaching and sport management became a big part of what I wanted to do. I went back and did my first masters in coaching education at the University of Victoria. Worked with our National Coaching association with the National Coaching Institute in in Victoria and worked with Canada soccer. I worked with U19’s that were preparing for the World Championships in Edmonton. I also worked in a camp with athletes that were under 10 years old all the way to professional athletes. It was a great experience for me, I got to coach my own teams and work with them. And that’s where I fell in love with graduate work, I went back and got a second masters in sport management at Western University. Then my PhD which focused on sport management in sport law, I worked with Dr. Greg Dickinson at Western again. After that, I had the opportunity to go to Jacksonville University, I taught there and worked with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the PGA and a number of different of organizations in the Jacksonville area. 

    It was a great experience, but I wanted to come back to Canada. Thankfully, Fanshawe College offered some opportunities to do that. I was a chair at Fanshawe College for awhile and then the opportunity came up to be here at Brock. Since then, it’s been a wonderful fit, I feel like I’m home here in the Brock sport management community. It’s been a fantastic adventure working with a number of different sports organizations and many wonderful researchers along the way. 

    With the Centre for Sport Capacity, it’s been a great opportunity working together with Dr. Julie Stevens and Cole McClean and looking at different initiatives right out of the gate. I talked early along with Dr. Michele Donnelly and Dr. Hilary Findlay about creating a conference on safe sport and they were integral in creating that experience. We had a great team of student leaders that we were able to work along in helping develop the conference; having it as a great educational experience for them. It was great to get involved with the student experience here and to have outreach. I think that our safe sport conference was essential in terms of creating a connection. Kind of first of its kind especially in a virtual environment and being able to have outreach to too many different organizations across our country, as well as internationally was a great addition. 

    Teaching: 

    I had the opportunity to teach the second-year law classes early on when I came to Brock. It was an engaging topic, and it was great to be involved with that right away. I created the new governance course that we have here on campus, around three years ago now. It allows individuals to engage in aspects of governance across organizations and looks at how governance has a significant impact on our sport community. Students are also able to do analysis of governance on an international level. They are asked to dive into different sport organizations that they are interested in and work with their peers to find out information, potentially opening some doors for them to work in those organizations in the future as well. So those were exciting opportunities to start with.  

    I also taught the intro course for first-year students during the pandemic, so that was a major shift from in class to online and having an impact on them. We still maintained some synchronous components with seminars, which was great and hopefully our first years had a great experience with that. In addition, I taught the negotiations course for fourth-year students. Presently, we’re looking at different types of interactions and looking at the science and the art of negotiations, making sure we can have success in our negotiation environment in the future. My goal is to try to engage students and change up my teaching on occasion so they can have different experience in the classroom. Hopefully, they learn some tools that they can put their toolbox and take with them on their journey in their sport management careers. 

    Research works/projects: 

    My dissertation research dealt with safe sport and looked at relational risk management between coaches and athletes. It took a proactive approach to leveling the playing field and having reciprocal conversations between athletes, coaches, and administrators, to be able to identify relational risks and being wary of the situations that can happen. It also included these so we lso being able to adjust and grows so that they don’t spiral out of control that we’ve seen in some of those past experiences. You know, in Canada, United States, we want to make sure that we have an impact on safe sport. 

    And it generate new ways of thinking of how we can promote safe sport so that athletes are engaged in the process that administrators and coaches are engaged in the process and that there’s costs of communication that goes on. So the development of the Safe Sport Conference was. It was a key, Part 2 that we wanted to not only have the conference, but have some legacy items that went along with that, and it started off. We were lucky to receive a grant from here from Brock, a Explore grant RA in exchange. 

    Icebreakers: 

    • What clubs or associations are you involved with? 

    I’ve been a board member on some of our local soccer clubs here in London, ON. I have been consistently involved in the coaching community, running clinics and different things. I’m also assisting Boler Mountain with some of their coaching and teaching development. And they’re two and then also having an opportunity to look at. I’ve also been involved with other local sport organizations, such as youth baseball and football organizations. Whether it be in a coaching, administrative or an advisor capacity, I’m always looking for those opportunities.  

    I also have some great connections with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. Dr. Kirsty Spence and I are doing some studies looking at the True Sport Clean program, and its development. I am also assisting in leadership development with a sport and strategy law group. Lastly, I have my connections to Team Canada Soccer, I look to maintain all these relationships going forward and continue fostering many relationships in our sporting environment. 

    • What is your favourite TV show at the moment? 

    I watch a lot of sports, so that’s you know I’m a big NFL fan, so I watch a lot of a lot of NFL. I’m starting to watch Ted Lasso now as well. It’s always good to have some lighthearted comedy and some different things that come forward as well. So there there’s some great miniseries and different things on. I’m also a history buff, so I like some historical type of shows that that have a great connection too as well. So that’s some of my favourites at the moment 

    • What is your favourite sports teams? 

    My family lived in the Jacksonville area for awhile, so we are Jags fans which hasn’t been easy. Being the last place team last year and going through the bumps and bruises; but the skies are looking brighter in terms of our quarterback situation there. So excited to cheer on the on the Jags! From a soccer perspective, I’ve always been a Chelsea fans. But my original team is PSV Eindhoven, which is in Holland. That’s where my family is from before they moved to Canada. So, I have a great connection with the PSV and enjoy cheering  them on. Obviously for hockey, basketball, and baseball, I have the Toronto connection with the Maple Leafs, the Raptors and the Blue Jays; all great representatives of our Canadian sport environment. 

    Awards/Achievements: 

    My sport journey started off with coaching, when I was maybe 16 or 17 and I really fell in love with it. I was always an athlete; I played football and soccer, so to me coaching was my way to give back to sport. I was fortunate enough to be an assistant coach at Wilfrid Laurier University with the men’s soccer program and then eventually took over. As well, I was an assistant coach at Western University and eventually head coach of the women’s soccer program there. I was humbled to be honored as the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) coach of the year for 2 years in a row. Our team was ranked number one in Canada for those two years and went to nationals. All the credit goes to that fantastic team with the women’s soccer program. They not only love to play together on the field, but they also loved to be around each other, and they had the task and social cohesion at its maximal level. That was a great experience and a great shoutout to that incredible group. I owe them lots of credit for those awards as well.

    Categories: Blog, Member Showcases

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