Policy Research Initiatives

Our researchers explore the effectiveness of stimuli, policy and results of the policy in organizational contexts. Sport organizations, from youth sport to the professional leagues, develop rules and regulations that govern operations and behaviour. Sometimes these policies are proactive but just as often they react to current events that demand an organization or league stance. Recent research produced by the department, for example, has pointed to Major League Baseball’s mishandling of a cocaine epidemic among its players during the 1980s as a missed opportunity to create a meaningful drug policy that could have helped prevent the steroid era that has created a troubling legacy for the league. Our research has also examined the harmonization of anti-doping policies, rules and regulations within sport organizations and among public authorities. Further, we have examined how community sport clubs are approaching the implementation of the Long-Term Athlete Development model as a governing mandate for how sport is administered to Canadians.

Our researchers are providing policy-related insights and recommendations to governing bodies and sport practitioners across all levels of the sport system. For instance, researchers are drafting annual reports to national sport organizations and multi-service sport organizations on the impact of professional development on the individual, organizational, and systemic performance of Canada’s national sport leaders. This research has contributed to changes in Federal funding allocations and the prioritization of workforce development in our sport system.