tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/ice-hockey-21886/articlesice hockey – The Conversation2024-01-29T21:26:18Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2219572024-01-29T21:26:18Z2024-01-29T21:26:18ZHockey Canada’s issues go beyond a few bad apples — the entire system needs to be re-engineered<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/hockey-canadas-issues-go-beyond-a-few-bad-apples-the-entire-system-needs-to-be-re-engineered" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Five hockey players from Canada’s 2018 gold medal-winning world junior team are <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-michael-mcleod-charged-sexual-assault-world-juniors/">facing charges</a> in connection with an <a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/ex-london-knights-star-turns-himself-in-to-police-amid-sexual-assault-probe-reports">alleged group sexual assault of a woman</a> after a gala event in London, Ont. six years ago.</p>
<p>Lawyers <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-world-juniors-sexual-assault-charges-1.7099554">identified their clients</a> as current and former NHL players: Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils; Dillon Dubé of the Calgary Flames; Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers; and Alex Formenton, currently of Swiss team HC Ambri-Piotta and previously of the Ottawa Senators. </p>
<p>The players’ lawyers have released individual statements saying their clients are innocent or will plead not guilty. </p>
<p>London police say they will hold a <a href="https://www.londonpolice.ca/en/news/anticipated-press-conference.aspx">press conference</a> about the investigation on Feb. 5. </p>
<p>Regardless of what follows, it has become increasingly clear that charges of sexual assault can no longer be silenced or swept under the rug in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10075758/chicago-blackhawks-coach-sexual-assault-lawsuit-kyle-beach/">sport</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41594672">other contexts</a>. </p>
<p>Hockey Canada paid a still-undeclared settlement to E.M., the claimant in a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/hockey-canada-settles-sexual-assault-lawsuit-nhl-1.6467658">$3.55 million sexual assault lawsuit</a> against members of the 2018 world junior national team. Another $6.8 million was devoted to settlements related to Graham James, the junior hockey coach <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/graham-james-sex-assault-parole-theo-fleury-sheldon-kennedy-1.3762624">convicted of sexually assaulting young players he coached in the 1990s</a>. </p>
<p>Hockey Canada has spent a total of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hockey-canada-house-of-commons-committee-1.6533439">$8.9 million on 21 sexual abuse settlements since 1989</a>. Of that total, $7.6 million came from membership fees and the investment generated by the National Equity Fund, and $1.3 million came from its insurance. Hockey Canada has since announced <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockey-canada-reserve-fund-sexual-assault-claims-1.6526862">it will no longer use funds from membership fees</a> to settle sexual assault claims.</p>
<h2>More than a few bad apples</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ethicalsystems.org/the-lucifer-effect/">Psychologist Philip Zimbardo’s “Lucifer Effect”</a> contends that, when dealing with abuse, it’s not just a matter of removing a few “bad apples” — often, the whole barrel is spoiled. The entire barrel-making system must be re-engineered to produce only the finest barrels to hold and preserve apples with integrity.</p>
<p>Sport safeguarding advocates argue that, while efforts like the recently announced <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2023/12/backgrounder-the-future-of-sport-in-canada-commission.html">Future of Sport in Canada Commission</a> may address systemic issues by re-engineering sport leadership and governance structures, the remaining bad apples will continue to abuse power, derailing real change in Hockey Canada. </p>
<p>Those who abuse their power and benefit from power imbalance will exert that power to preserve the status quo. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2507052/Destructive_Leadership_and_The_Penn_State_Scandal_A_Toxic_Triangle_Perspective">Researchers have identified</a> that the typical leadership responses to abuse claims include complicity, collusion, control and cover-up. </p>
<p>There is evidence of this within many Canadian national sport organizations attempting change, including <a href="https://youtu.be/L6EGvl8-nA4?t=2">Hockey Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/gymnastics/gymnastics-canada-leadership-changes-1.6757969">Gymnastics Canada</a>, <a href="http://integratedfocus.ca/?p=1470">Rowing Canada</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-soccer-mishandles-sexual-harassment-allegations-1.6534967">Soccer Canada</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/bobsleigh/storey-adjourns-heated-bobsled-skeleton-agm-1.6602960">Bobsleigh and Skeleton Canada</a>. </p>
<p>According to Zimbardo’s theory, leaders must remove the bad apples while addressing systemic issues — only then will they be able to create and maintain quality, lasting barrels. Otherwise, the existing bad apples will poison the new, rotting the barrel from the inside.</p>
<h2>Power in Canadian hockey</h2>
<p>Hockey Canada has seen wholesale change with the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hockey-canada-board-1.6612582">resignation</a> and reconstitution of both the <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/katherine-henderson-hired-as-president-and-ceo-of-hockey-canada">CEO</a> and <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/new-board-of-directors-elected-2023-corp">board of directors</a>. The <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/katherine-henderson-hired-as-president-and-ceo-of-hockey-canada">new CEO was appointed in September 2023</a>, but it’s important to note that new does not necessarily mean different. </p>
<p>Sexual assault is an abuse of power. One could argue that the culture of misogyny and sexual assault evident across hockey environments is a product of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-the-monday-edition-1.6531458/hockey-canada-can-t-be-trusted-to-fix-the-toxic-culture-it-fostered-says-prof-1.6531460">power abuse normalized across the hockey world</a>: </p>
<ul>
<li>Coaches hold power over athlete careers</li>
<li>Hockey Leagues hold power over coach careers </li>
<li>Funders hold power over CEOs </li>
<li>Veterans hold power over rookies </li>
<li>Men often hold power over women</li>
</ul>
<p>Though often well-intentioned, power imbalanced structures and hierarchies allow individuals and groups to abuse their power. <a href="https://youtu.be/Cxf_SRCcaGo">Power imbalance is often sought and preserved</a> as a misguided means to achieve stability, security, dominance and control. </p>
<p>However, the lack of independence can also lead to a lack of <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/CHPC/Brief/BR12173327/br-external/Jointly1-e.pdf">transparency</a> and concrete <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-sport-canada-nso-report-card/#table">accountability</a> processes, resulting in a recursive cycle of abuse and corruption — a phenomenon that has been well-documented in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2022.840221">academic</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur-sports-coaches-sexual-offences-minors-1.5006609">media</a> and <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/bcp-pco/CP32-56-1990-1-eng.pdf">government</a> reports.</p>
<h2>Fixing the sport system</h2>
<p>Sport Canada leaders must remove the bad apples while re-engineering a new power-balanced sport system grounded in independence, transparency and accountability. We need only look to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352956643_The_Role_of_Leadership_and_Team_Culture_in_Enhancing_Sport_Performance_Outcomes">best practice in sport itself</a> as the blueprint for the Canadian sport system as a whole.</p>
<p>Independence must be built into the system by separating evaluation and education from qualification. Great coaches educate and evaluate athletes, but an independent body determines qualification based on gold medal standards. </p>
<p>For instance, the International and National Olympic Committees determine the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-qualifying-for-the-olympic-games-8235">qualification standards for the Olympics</a> and the international federations research and provide gold medal standards for each sport. </p>
<p>National sport organizations should be guided by their international federations to adopt well-researched performance targets, criteria and measures, all of which should be made publicly available. Sport Canada should then use these criteria to hold national sport organizations accountable. </p>
<h2>Greater transparency needed</h2>
<p>Too often, coaches and organizational leaders obscure criteria and procedures to allow for subjective decision-making. An excellent coach posts performance targets, criteria and measures early and often, and athlete performance outcomes daily and publicly.</p>
<p>This approach can be scaled to fit any kind of sport organization or group. Sport Canada must ensure evaluation criteria are comprehensive, public, objective and grounded within standards of practice.</p>
<p>Transparency creates a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091305">partnership model</a> of shared goals and collaborative process, rather than a power-imbalanced model of authoritarian control and compliance.</p>
<h2>Sport Canada needs accountability</h2>
<p>Accountability demands concrete demonstrations of change. Sport Canada has been chastised for implementing <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-sport-canada-nso-report-card/#table">superficial box-checking processes</a> such as the <a href="https://nso.olympic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Canadian_Sports_Governance_Code.pdf">Canadian Sport Governance Code</a> and <a href="https://nso.olympic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Good-Governance-Framework-Sept-2021-1.pdf">report-card system</a>, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-sport-canada-report-cards-shelved/">which has since been discontinued</a>.</p>
<p>When boards of directors do not provide both advisement and a clear accountability framework, it is easy for CEOs or executive directors to abuse their power.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://sirc.ca/blog/gold-medal-governance/">sound governance principles</a>, Sport Canada needs to create a robust accountability framework that demands verifiable evidence of policy implementation and achievement of standards of practice as a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hockey-canada-federal-government-funding-restored-1.6812492#">condition of funding</a>. </p>
<p>To build sport organizations, structures, policies and processes that are safe, healthy and high-performing, the power balance of the system as a whole must be re-engineered and those inclined to abuse power must be removed.</p>
<p>Those who inflict harm must also be removed and criminally charged based on the law. Others who <a href="https://kpe.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/harassment_and_abuse_in_sport_csps_position_paper_3.pdf">cover up abuse or are neglectful bystanders</a> must be held to the same standards. Only through a commitment to independence, transparency and accountability can sport bodies become a space that champions not only excellence but also the well-being of all its participants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Walinga receives funding from SSHRC and SDRCC for research on sport, leadership, abuse. I was previously a member of the Rowing Canada board of directors and resigned in November of 2022.
</span></em></p>Hockey Canada has a new board and CEO, but it won’t make a difference unless the systemic issues are addressed through our sport leadership and governance structures.Jennifer Walinga, Professor, Communication and Culture, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168852023-11-05T13:01:52Z2023-11-05T13:01:52ZHockey’s wake-up call: Neck guards should be mandatory following Adam Johnson’s death<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/hockeys-wake-up-call-neck-guards-should-be-mandatory-following-adam-johnsons-death" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The death of professional ice hockey player Adam Johnson from a freak injury has renewed debates about protective hockey equipment.
On Oct. 28, the 29-year-old died after <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/29/nottingham-panthers-ice-hockey-player-adam-johnson-dies-after-freak-injury">being cut in the neck by a skate blade</a> during an English league hockey game.</p>
<p>In the days since Johnson’s death, hockey players and organizations have <a href="https://winnipeg.citynews.ca/2023/10/30/wickenheiser-calls-for-neck-protection/">called for neck guard mandates</a>. Neck guards are designed to prevent a cut to the neck, rather than spinal cord or throat injuries from a puck or stick. They are available as stand-alone protective gear or embedded into a turtleneck long sleeve.</p>
<p>Hayley Wickenheiser — four-time Olympic gold medallist, medical doctor and assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs — has called for mandating neck protection at “<a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/wickenheiser-calls-for-neck-protection-at-every-level-after-johnsons-death/">every level in hockey</a>.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1718694688541073752"}"></div></p>
<p>The <a href="https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/whl-making-neck-guards-mandatory-for-players-1.6627422">Western Hockey League</a> and the <a href="https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/38788492/penguins-advocate-neck-protection-mandate-wake-adam-johnson-death">Pittsburgh Penguins ECHL and AHL teams</a> now require players to wear neck guards, and more leagues are expected to follow. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hayley-wickenheiser-neck-protection-1.7012813">The English Ice Hockey Association</a> will also require players to wear neck guards beginning in 2024. However, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/03/coroner-offers-condolences-to-family-of-ice-hockey-player-adam-johnson">United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League</a> will not.</p>
<p>Currently, <a href="http://rulebook.hockeycanada.ca/english/part-i-technical-rules/section-3/rule-3-6/">Hockey Canada mandates</a> goaltenders and players registered in minor and female hockey programs wear <a href="https://www.bnq.qc.ca/en/certification/protection-and-safety/neck-protectors-c2.html">BNQ-certified throat protectors</a>. However, junior and senior athletes are exempt from this rule.</p>
<p>While the NHL hasn’t yet announced it will mandate neck protection, the history of protective hockey equipment suggests this could change in the future.</p>
<h2>Close calls not enough</h2>
<p>Johnson’s fatal injury is eerily reminiscent of injuries sustained by Florida Panthers winger <a href="https://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=3240117">Richard Zedník in 2008</a> and Buffalo Sabres goaltender <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/366975-today-1989-the-clint-malarchuk-incident">Clint Malarchuk in 1989</a>.</p>
<p>In both cases, a player lost balance after a collision, accidentally swinging their foot upward into the injured player’s neck. Fortunately, Zedník and Malarchuk recovered from their life-threatening injuries, but despite the close calls, the NHL did not require players to wear neck guards.</p>
<p>In ice hockey, the adoption of protective gear has historically been reactive, with catastrophic injuries often serving as the catalyst for change.</p>
<p>“Safety evolutions have usually needed death or serious injury to occur first,” sports journalist Geoff Baker wrote in the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/neck-protection-for-nhl-players-wont-happen-overnight-but-history-suggests-it-will-happen/"><em>Seattle Times</em></a>.</p>
<p>Gloves, shin guards, wrist guards and elbow and knee pads only became standard after players sustained serious injuries like broken bones, fractures and tears.</p>
<p>In the NHL, it wasn’t until 1979 — years after players sustained dental injuries or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1988/01/24/20-years-since-nhl-fatality-few-bare-heads/2bc7f2a0-09b3-4c99-8fd0-23c3d2d18485/">deadly head and brain injuries</a> — that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1979/08/07/archives/nhl-rules-new-players-now-must-wear-helmets.html">players were mandated to wear helmets</a>. And it wasn’t until the 2013–14 season that they finally <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/news/the-last-players-not-to-wear-visors-in-the-nhl">required players to wear visors</a> to prevent eye injuries.</p>
<h2>Resistance to implementing safety precautions</h2>
<p>Why aren’t neck protectors mandatory at all levels of hockey? Some blame hockey culture itself, where <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/sports/death-of-a-player-from-a-skate-to-the-neck-reignites-hockey-s-stubborn-debate-over-protective-gear-1.6628855">change is slow</a> and <a href="https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-player-safety-need-big-changes-cogliano/">safety standards are inconsistent</a>. </p>
<p>In the past, players have <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/all-access/helmet-holdouts-the-last-players-to-wear-helmets-in-the-nhl">resisted wearing protective gear</a> due to discomfort or signalling weakness. However, in the modern era, players, coaches and teams appear to be <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10058643/adam-johnson-death-neck-guards/">more attuned to safety issues</a>.</p>
<p>One reason neck protectors aren’t mandated could be because neck lacerations from skate blades occur infrequently and are often not severe. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/JSM.0b013e3181c0aaa4">2009 study</a>, researchers surveyed over 25,000 USA Hockey players to understand more about cuts to the neck by skate blades. </p>
<p>The researchers found that 45 per cent of players (mostly 13 to 18 years of age) reported wearing a neck guard while playing hockey, and only two per cent sustained a cut to the neck area by a skate blade. Nearly a quarter of the players who had a laceration were wearing a neck guard at the time of injury.</p>
<p>In follow-up interviews with 33 of the 485 injured players, researchers found that most of the cuts to the neck were superficial, meaning they only required bandaging or a few stitches. </p>
<p>Given the high-speed, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-43785-5">high-contact nature</a> of ice hockey, it is surprising that freak accidents don’t occur more often. While a neck slash injury by a skate blade is uncommon, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2004.015735">outcome may be fatal</a>. A close call is still too close.</p>
<h2>A neck protection mandate is not enough</h2>
<p>While wearing a neck guard doesn’t guarantee an injury will not occur, it is still our best shot at preventing fatal accidents.</p>
<p>In addition to mandates, we need to ensure that neck guards are tested under realistic conditions that replicate the collisions that lead to injury on the rink. Although <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/how-protected-are-canadian-hockey-players-a-look-at-league-mandates-on-neck-guards-1.6624724">neck protector standards exist in Canada</a>, only one independent study has evaluated the effectiveness of neck guards in preventing cuts to the neck.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/JSM.0000000000000121">2015 study</a> evaluated 14 commercially available neck guards, using a custom-made machine which took a skate blade and cut neck guards under similar forces and speeds seen in game play. Materials such as Spectra Guard and Kevlar were found to be the most cut-resistant, but more research is needed.</p>
<p>In the wake of a tragic incident, we may find ourselves on the edge of an equipment evolution to improve player safety. Together — as players, hockey and standard organizations, industry partners and researchers — we can ensure that accidents don’t cost any more lives in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216885/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivia Aguiar received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Simon Fraser University. </span></em></p>The death of hockey player Adam Johnson calls for improvements in player safety and protective gear design.Olivia Aguiar, PhD Candidate in Biomedical Physiology & Kinesiology, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2100472023-07-20T22:13:45Z2023-07-20T22:13:45ZWhat the end of Nike’s sponsorship means for Hockey Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538611/original/file-20230720-19-329n1c.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C35%2C3982%2C2934&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nike has made it clear that its support of Hockey Canada is contingent on the organization behaving in a transparent and accountable manner.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/what-the-end-of-nikes-sponsorship-means-for-hockey-canada" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nike-permanently-ends-hockey-canada-support-1.6909029">Nike has officially ended its partnership with Hockey Canada</a> in the wake of <a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-the-problems-at-hockey-canada-will-be-difficult-without-leadership-changes-187751">the organization’s handling of sexual assault allegations</a> involving members of the 2018 men’s world junior team.</p>
<p>Nike originally <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9185115/nike-suspends-hockey-canada-partnership-scandal/">paused the relationship in October 2022</a>, but now has permanently ceased it after nearly 25 years of working with Hockey Canada. It joins a host of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2022/10/11/a-list-of-major-corporate-sponsors-that-have-pulled-support-for-hockey-canada.html">other sponsors that have also paused their support for Hockey Canada</a>, including Telus, Tim Hortons, Bauer Hockey, Canadian Tire, Scotiabank, Esso and Sobeys.</p>
<p>The relationships between sports organizations and their sponsors are incredibly fragile. They exist only so long as the sponsor sees tangible benefits in the relationship or as long as the sponsor’s money is not seen as a liability for the sports organization. </p>
<p>In the case of Nike and Hockey Canada, both of these reasons have failed. The unique relationship between the two parties has additional complexities that make the end of this sponsorship especially notable. </p>
<h2>A mutually beneficial departure?</h2>
<p>Even though Nike is the one that ended its partnership with Hockey Canada, the decision could be a positive development for both parties. In particular, it could end up benefiting Hockey Canada’s public image.</p>
<p>In 2018, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hockey-canada-sexual-assault-allegations-3/">the <em>Globe and Mail</em> reported that a Nike Canada employee bought alcohol for Hockey Canada players</a> prior to the alleged sexual assault in 2018.</p>
<p>This alleged connection Nike has to the sexual assault scandal makes a relationship with them a liability for Hockey Canada <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2023/04/19/the-funding-is-back-but-can-public-trust-in-hockey-canada-be-restored.html">as they seek to demonstrate they are committed to good governance and transparency</a> moving forward. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A blurred document with the Hockey Canada logo visible in the upper left hand corner" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538630/original/file-20230720-27-ixgiol.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538630/original/file-20230720-27-ixgiol.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538630/original/file-20230720-27-ixgiol.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538630/original/file-20230720-27-ixgiol.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538630/original/file-20230720-27-ixgiol.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538630/original/file-20230720-27-ixgiol.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538630/original/file-20230720-27-ixgiol.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Hockey Canada document is reviewed by a member of Parliament during a House of Commons committee on Canadian Heritage looking into safe sport in Canada on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in October 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, Nike Canada is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nike-dynasty-gold-uyghurs-canada-1.6903013">currently under investigation for the potential use of forced Uyghur labour in China</a>. The allegation is that Nike Canada is the main customer of a factory that employs Uyghur workers that attend evening classes for “vocational training” and “patriotic education” purposes.</p>
<p>Lastly, both parties are likely to be subjected to a wave of renewed scrutiny once the <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/nhls-investigation-into-alleged-hockey-canada-sexual-assault-closer-to-the-end/">National Hockey League’s investigation into the sexual assault scandal</a> draws to a close. The opportunity for both parties to no longer be associated with one another could work in either’s favour.</p>
<h2>Nike’s foray into hockey</h2>
<p>Nike’s relationship with the sport of hockey itself is complex. Nike was previously listed as one of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210303051824/https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/corporate/partnerships/partners/premier">Hockey Canada’s premier marketing partners</a>, which play “a vital role in the participation and activations at Hockey Canada’s national events, and in creating best-in-class fan experiences at key international events.”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man wears a hockey uniform in front of a red wall blazoned with Nike and Hockey Canada logos" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538633/original/file-20230720-15-sbn271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538633/original/file-20230720-15-sbn271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538633/original/file-20230720-15-sbn271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538633/original/file-20230720-15-sbn271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538633/original/file-20230720-15-sbn271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538633/original/file-20230720-15-sbn271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538633/original/file-20230720-15-sbn271.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=725&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">National Hockey League player Simon Gagné wears the new Nike-designed hockey jersey and socks unveiled by Hockey Canada in Kelowna, British Columbia in 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO/Jeff Bassett)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Nike swoosh <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/men/junior/1999/home">has been a staple of the Team Canada uniform since 1999</a>. Nike has been the official uniform supplier for the Olympic Games, World Junior Championships, Men’s and Women’s World Championships and World Cups throughout the course of their relationship.</p>
<p>Additionally, Nike ventured beyond uniform production into the business of hockey equipment at the end of the last century. In 1994, <a href="https://macleans.ca/economy/business/what-all-the-nhl-ers-are-wearing/">Nike purchased Canadian hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer for $395 million</a> and began its aggressive expansion into the hockey landscape.</p>
<p>However, Nike’s hockey equipment venture was largely unsuccessful and Bauer was sold to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/business/22nike.html">investment firms Kohlberg and Co. and Roustan Inc. for $200 million in 2008</a>. </p>
<p>For this reason, Nike’s decision to end their partnership with Hockey Canada could be reflective of their broader strategy to leave the hockey marketplace, as much as an ethical statement on the organization or its current state. </p>
<h2>Hockey Canada’s future</h2>
<p>While the impact of this decision appears to have grave short-term financial consequences for Hockey Canada, it’s important to consider the scale of Hockey Canada’s cash reserves. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hockey-canada-federal-funding-1.6493025">Hockey Canada had nearly $25 million in cash at the end of June 2021</a>, $41.5 million in bonds and $77 million in equities across three trust and endowment funds. The total value of its assets increased by $20 million from 2020.</p>
<p>Certainly, their financial picture is not as rosy as it once was, given massive legal expenditures incurred over the past 24 months. However, the numbers from Hockey Canada have so far indicated that bankruptcy will not be imminent following Nike’s decision. </p>
<p>The organization will likely be able to find a replacement sponsor, as plenty of companies are eager to align themselves with the organization. In fact, <a href="https://twitter.com/rwesthead/status/1681042524650217472?s=20">according to sports journalist Rick Westhead</a>, Fanatics, a licensed sports merchandise company owned by American businessman Michael Rubin, could be a potential replacement.</p>
<p>Hockey Canada will be able to rebuild, including securing a new sponsor, introducing new jerseys and electing new leadership, but it still faces difficult obstacles in regaining public trust.</p>
<p>Is Hockey Canada truly committed to transparency, accountability and further regulatory oversight? The answer to this question will not only dictate the nature of future relationships between Hockey Canada and its sponsors or donors, but the connection felt between Canadians and their national teams.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor McKee receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada </span></em></p>The unique relationship between Nike and Hockey Canada makes the end of their decades-long sponsorship especially notable.Taylor McKee, Assistant Professor, Sport Management, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059852023-05-28T11:32:31Z2023-05-28T11:32:31ZAs teams from the U.S. Sun Belt proceed to the Stanley Cup finals, has the NHL forgotten its Canadian fans?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528121/original/file-20230524-7504-oejtzw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C62%2C3772%2C2445&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague celebrates after scoring against the Edmonton Oilers during Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series on May 12 in Las Vegas.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/John Locher)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/as-teams-from-the-u-s--sun-belt-proceed-to-the-stanley-cup-finals--has-the-nhl-forgotten-its-canadian-fans" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Hockey is supposed to be Canada’s game. Yet the last two Canadian-based NHL teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/maple-leafs-eliminated-from-playoffs-after-3-2-loss-against-panthers-1.6396932">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> and the <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/edmonton-oilers-eliminated-in-second-round-by-golden-knights/c-344396382">Edmonton Oilers</a>, have been eliminated from the tournament. This lengthens the <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canadas-stanley-cup-drought-hits-30-years-after-golden-knights-oust-oilers/">three-decade drought</a> since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. </p>
<p>The Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes made it to the final four teams vying for the Stanley Cup. <a href="https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/sports/nhls-final-four-comprised-of-only-sun-belt-teams-for-first-time/3229451/">For the first time in NHL history</a>, the final four are located in the U.S. Sun Belt in places Canadian snowbirds usually go to escape the snow and ice, not play on it.</p>
<p>The Florida Panthers will play against the winner of the Western Conference Final for the Stanley Cup.</p>
<p>What does the success of these teams mean for the NHL? And should Canadian hockey fans be frustrated with the success of non-traditional hockey markets at the expense of Canadian teams?</p>
<h2>The NHL expands southward</h2>
<p>The fact that the final four teams are from non-traditional markets in the United States represents a success for the NHL’s Sun Belt expansion strategy. The plan was to seek new revenue by expanding the game to large U.S. cities with no hockey history. </p>
<p>NHL superstar <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/gretzky-trade-to-los-angeles-shocked-hockey-world/c-679887">Wayne Gretzky’s 1988 trade to Los Angeles</a> was the perfect catalyst to start the expansion strategy. <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-history/c-281005106">The addition of the San Jose Sharks in 1991</a> as an inter-state rival to Gretzky’s Kings began this process. Next were new teams in Tampa Bay, Miami and Anaheim. The Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix, and the Hartford Whalers to North Carolina. </p>
<p>Additional NHL teams were added in Nashville, Atlanta (since moved to Winnipeg) and Columbus, Ohio. The NHL targeted these unlikely destinations while ignoring Canadian markets like Québec City and Hamilton despite <a href="https://mowatcentre.munkschool.utoronto.ca/the-new-economics-of-the-nhl/">research suggesting Canada could support more franchises</a>. The team in Minnesota was moved to Dallas, and an expansion team was added in Las Vegas, resulting in more teams being based in the U.S. Sun Belt than Canada.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Disappointed men in blue hockey jerseys stand in an ice rink." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528122/original/file-20230524-27-7d3729.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares and teammates react after losing to the Florida Panthers in an NHL Stanley Cup playoff game in Toronto on May 12.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Sun Belt expansion strategy was not without its <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/bettmans-sunbelt-strategy-hits-a-rut/article1198429/">problems</a>, and some argued that strong markets in Canada and elsewhere had to <a href="https://mowatcentre.munkschool.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/publications/19_the_new_economics_of_the_nhl.pdf">subsidize</a> some of the weaker expansion teams. However, most of these new teams have <a href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2017/01/23/Franchises/Sun-Belt.aspx">achieved success</a>. </p>
<p>Since 1993 — the last time a Canadian-based team won the Stanley Cup — Sun Belt teams have won eight times, while Canadian-based teams have lost in the finals on six occasions. Four losses were at the hands of Sun Belt teams: in 2004 Calgary lost to Tampa Bay, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers in 2006, Anaheim defeated Ottawa the following year and most recently Tampa Bay beat Montréal in 2021.</p>
<h2>Canadian hockey vs. the Sun Belt</h2>
<p>Many Canadians might feel frustrated this year with four unconventional hockey markets left to compete for the Stanley Cup. Disappointment might be made worse by comparing the four U.S. cities left in the playoffs with traditionally hockey-crazy markets like Toronto or Edmonton. </p>
<p>Texas, North Carolina, Nevada and Florida have a combined population of 65 million people — almost ten times the combined population of Edmonton and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). But according to <a href="https://www.usahockey.com/membershipstats">2022 USA Hockey registration reports</a>, those four states have less than 50,000 players in organized hockey.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the GTA alone <a href="https://gthlcanada.com/about-gthl/">has more players</a> in hockey. Edmonton, a city of one million people, had <a href="https://www.hockeyedmonton.ca/content/quikcard-edmonton-minor-hockey-week-2023">10,000 kids participate</a> in a single minor hockey tournament last year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a green hockey jersey shoots a puck toward a goaltender in a white jersey." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528126/original/file-20230524-23-z0j3jo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill blocks a shot by Dallas Stars defenseman Joel Hanley during Game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference finals in Dallas on May 23.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/LM Otero)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps there are fewer players in the U.S. states because of the dearth of hockey rinks. <a href="http://sk8stuff.com/m_clubs.asp">Texas, North Carolina, Nevada and Florida have fewer than 75 rinks in total</a>. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/recreation/skating-winter-sports/public-leisure-skating/#location=&lat=&lng=">GTA</a> and <a href="https://www.edmonton.ca/activities_parks_recreation/arenas">Edmonton</a> have more indoor rinks than each of the four U.S. states. </p>
<p>Fewer players and rinks undoubtedly contribute to the lack of NHL players produced in these four U.S. states. Only 22 players born in the four states have played more than 100 games in the NHL. This compares to the <a href="https://www.quanthockey.com/">347 players from the GTA and Edmonton</a>.</p>
<h2>Tickets and ratings</h2>
<p>It’s not surprising that there are more players and rinks in Canada, but what about fans? Three of the remaining teams in this year’s playoffs are in <a href="https://theathletic.com/3200274/2022/03/23/florida-panthers-remain-the-nhls-best-deal-for-fans-but-the-others-may-surprise-you/">the cheapest eight NHL markets for tickets</a>. That suggests demand is not driving up ticket prices in these non-traditional markets. Toronto has the league’s most expensive tickets, while small-market Edmonton has the 14th most expensive tickets. </p>
<p>While it is difficult to access television ratings for specific regions, we know that Canadians are hockey consumers. This year, the Toronto-Florida series averaged around <a href="https://brioux.tv/blog/2023/05/08/round-2-ratings-suggest-leaf-fans-just-cant-look/">3.5 million viewers in Canada</a> compared to <a href="https://twitter.com/Zone_NHL/status/1659209293315579911">1.378 million in the U.S.</a> meaning that, per capita, 22 times more Canadians watched the series.</p>
<p>The Vegas-Oilers series averaged <a href="https://mediaincanada.com/2023/05/02/ratings-up-4-for-first-round-of-stanley-cup-playoffs/">1.7 million viewers in Canada</a> compared to less than <a href="https://twitter.com/Zone_NHL/status/1659209293315579911">1.2 million in the U.S.</a> resulting in almost 13 times more Canadian viewers per capita.</p>
<p>Perhaps Canadians have a right to be disappointed with four non-traditional hockey markets left to battle for the Cup, particularly when comparing hockey culture between the two regions. But as the old adage in sports goes: just wait until next year.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205985/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Valentine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Should Canadian hockey fans be frustrated with the success of non-traditional hockey markets at the expense of Canadian teams?John Valentine, Associate Professor Health & Community Studies, MacEwan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2056332023-05-17T21:43:15Z2023-05-17T21:43:15ZTo mend the shredded fabric of Canadian sport, Canada needs an independent standards commission<p>Canada has a <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/sports">rich sporting history</a>. It’s part of the country’s fabric. But in recent years, that fabric has been tearing apart. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/9006000/hockey-canada-slush-fund-controversy">hockey</a> to <a href="https://macleans.ca/longforms/gymnastics-abuse-scandal-canada/">gymnastics</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-soccer-mishandles-sexual-harassment-allegations-1.6534967">soccer</a>, among others, the news has been littered with reports of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/kaillie-humphries-harassment-bobsleigh-canada-1.6110490">abusive behaviour</a>, <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/soccer/csb-deal-funding-of-women-s-team-under-sharp-focus-as-canada-soccer-officials-testify-1.1934223">funding issues</a>, lack of transparency and accountability, <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/mp-plans-to-call-former-hockey-canada-board-member-to-testify-about-gifts-perks-1.1839449">boards of directors</a> not fulfilling their fiduciary duties, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/olympics-canada-culture-analysis-1.6423878">medal-chasing decision-making</a>, capacity issues and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/canada-sport-organizations-funding-shortfall-government-funding-1.5556115">mismanagement of resources</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman with blonde hair wearing a white suit jacket speaking while standing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526624/original/file-20230516-23652-2kqwuo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=998&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Federal Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge’s recent announcements are promising, but change is needed at the provincial and local level as well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/news/2023/05/minister-st-onge-announces-new-measures-to-improve-accountability-and-foster-a-safe-and-sustainable-culture-change-in-sport.html">new measures</a> recently announced by federal Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge are positive steps. By 2025, all federally-funded national sport organizations will have to adopt the governance principles of the <a href="https://nso.olympic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Canadian_Sports_Governance_Code.pdf">Canadian Sport Governance Code</a>, including having an athlete representative on their board. Sport Canada is also slated to have a compliance unit to hold national sport organizations accountable on these aspects.</p>
<p>But the problems facing Canadian sport are both multifaceted and multilevel. Most issues occur at the local level. And while changes at the national level are needed, they are equally needed at the local, provincial and territorial levels.</p>
<h2>(Mis)governance, medal-chasing and public mistrust</h2>
<p>The Canadian sport system is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMM.2007.013967">complex</a>, with multiple organizations, associations and governing bodies involved at the national, provincial or territorial and community levels. This complexity has led to confusion, duplicated efforts, resource stretching and a <a href="https://www2.uottawa.ca/faculty-health-sciences/sites/g/files/bhrskd346/files/2021-12/survey_results_-_canadian_national_sport_organizations_governance_landscape_study.pdf">lack of accountability</a>. </p>
<p>There is a lack of <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/world-cup-bonus-fight-exposes-battles-over-canada-soccer-transparency-governance-1.1824428">transparency and consistency in decision-making</a>, which can lead to unfairness and favouritism.
Winning and losing medals is part and parcel for any sport. But the federal government and national sporting bodies have <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/CHPC/Brief/BR12173327/br-external/Jointly1-e.pdf">prioritized medals over sport participation throughout one’s lifespan</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-clean-up-hockey-canada-financial-transparency-is-a-must-192705">To clean up Hockey Canada, financial transparency is a must</a>
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<p>The third edition of the <a href="https://sirc.ca/canadian-sport-policy-3-0-renewal/">Canadian Sport Policy</a> slated for release later this year should address this by presenting <a href="https://sirc.ca/canadian-sport-policies/what-we-heard/">lifelong sport as a key context and area of focus for Canadian sport system stakeholders</a>. But whether lifelong sport will exist beyond words in this new 10-year policy remains to be seen. Notwithstanding, the <a href="https://www.ownthepodium.org/en-CA/Notre-organisation">system’s focus on medals</a> has led to an overemphasis on certain sports or athletes, while others are neglected.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four people sit in a row. One man speaks while the others look at him listening." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526846/original/file-20230517-17-sjf3sk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jeremy Luke (middle left), President of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Own the Podium Chief Executive Officer Anne Merklinger and Sport'Aide Executive Director Sylvain Croteau appear as witnesses at a House of Commons heritage committee in Ottawa on May 15, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/CHPC/Brief/BR12173327/br-external/Jointly1-e.pdf">local sport initiatives have not been as well funded as national efforts</a>. This is despite there being more people doing sport at the local level. Grassroots sport is also vital for developing future professional athletes and for active healthy living. </p>
<h2>Public trust</h2>
<p>The recent numerous scandals in Canadian sport have eroded <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/parents-have-lost-total-trust-in-the-sport-after-hockey-canada-allegations-1.6012810">public confidence</a>. While we have heard from the federal government, the provincial, territorial and municipal governments have remained relatively silent. Why is this the case when most Canadians interact with sport at the local level?</p>
<p>Solutions must serve local needs and realities. And they need to across all sports and for all levels of sport.</p>
<p>The new governance oversights announced by the Sport Minister are a step in the right direction, but as we have seen, sport organizations auditing themselves leads to an <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-sport-canada-gave-top-marks-to-national-organizations-under-scrutiny/">assessment of policy on paper, not actual practice</a>. </p>
<h2>Independent standards commission</h2>
<p>There are established standards set and maintained in other sectors. Organizations like the <a href="https://www.csagroup.org/news/new-edition-of-standard-for-alpine-ski-and-snowboard-helmets-2/">Canadian Standards Association</a> approves equipment used in sports. In workplaces, many organizations are <a href="https://www.iso.org/certification.html">ISO certified</a>. In industries where health and safety is a critical issue, there are formalized committees and a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09617353.2018.1556505">culture of safety</a>.</p>
<p>Standards associations and independent audit groups exist in other sectors — so why not sport? Canadian sport requires an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2018.1401355">independent standards commission</a> comprised of experts in various fields, including sport, which would establish and enforce standards for organizations and individuals involved across the whole sport system.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1658125717576511490"}"></div></p>
<p>The standards would cover areas like governance, ethics, transparency and accountability. The commission would be empowered to impose consequences like fines, suspensions, disqualifications or even lifetime bans, for breaches or substandard behaviour.</p>
<p>A commission with the power to hold organizations and individuals accountable could ensure everyone involved in the sport system is committed to the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.</p>
<p>A critical aspect of this independent standards commission is that it would embed safety and duty of care in every person’s job. The commission’s standards would prioritize the well-being of athletes, coaches and other stakeholders, ensuring that everyone involved in sport is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment.</p>
<p>The benefits of such a commission are clear. By establishing formal and consistent standards for the whole sport system, it would address the systemic problems of governance, medal-chasing and public mistrust. It could support the <a href="https://sirc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SIRC-What-We-Heard-Report-FINAL-1.pdf">Canadian Sport Policy’s</a> values related to safety, positive experiences, equity, diversity, inclusivity, accessibility, affordability, alignment, efficiency and sustainability throughout a Canadian’s lifespan.</p>
<p>Establishing an independent standards commission for the whole sport system will not be easy. It will require the support and funding of the Canadian government, the 13 provincial and territorial governments and a lot of hard work. But the benefits of doing so would be substantial. </p>
<p>By prioritizing integrity, professionalism and duty of care, we can work collectively to address problems throughout Canadian sport. We owe it to every Canadian to repair the fabric of sport in this country. It is time for action, not just words, from all orders of government. The ball is in their courts.</p>
<p><em>Mathieu Fleury, co-founder of the Ottawa Sport Council and former Ottawa Sport Commissioner, also co-authored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205633/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Pegoraro receives funding from SSHRC and MITACS. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Milena M. Parent consults for Sport Canada and national sport organizations, as well as being a member of the Canadian Sport Policy's Implementation and Monitoring Work Group. She receives funding from SSHRC. </span></em></p>The recent measures announced by the sport minister are a step in the right direction. But Canada needs an independent commission to monitor and prevent abuse in sport.Ann Pegoraro, Lang Chair in Sport Management, Lang School of Business and Economics, University of GuelphMilena M. Parent, Professor in Sport (Event) Governance, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2038332023-04-18T20:44:13Z2023-04-18T20:44:13ZThe 2023 World Ice Hockey Championship is a breakthrough moment for women’s hockey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521382/original/file-20230417-982-ykqedl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C232%2C8601%2C5509&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">USA players pose for photos after winning gold at the IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship in Brampton, Ont. on April 16, 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-2023-world-ice-hockey-championship-is-a-breakthrough-moment-for-women-s-hockey" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The 2023 Women’s World Ice Hockey Championship concluded in Brampton, Ont., on April 16 with the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2023/apr/16/canada-v-usa-ice-hockey-world-championship-final-live">U.S. securing a 6-3 win over Canada</a>. The atmosphere at the championship was special. Almost <a href="https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2023/ww/news/43611/12_days_in_brampton_by_the_numbers">60,000 fans</a> attended the tournament, with 4,635 attending the championship match. While the gold medal game generated the excitement everyone expected, this event had a unique feel.</p>
<p>Change is afoot both on and off the ice. The presence of women and girls was on display in all aspects of the event and the fresh air of empowerment raises an important question: does this championship signal a new dawn for women’s and girls’ hockey?</p>
<h2>No longer in the margins</h2>
<p>For decades, women’s hockey <a href="https://www.theicegarden.com/book-review-too-many-men-on-the-ice-womens-hockey-in-north-america-avery-stevens/">lived on the margins</a> and was an under-valued and resource-starved part of the game. As time passed, the structure of women’s and girls’ hockey expanded from grassroots to high performance, taking the game from its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/shr.39.1.1">local origins</a> to the international stage. Throughout this rapid change, a unique community took hold. </p>
<p>Today, women’s and girls’ voices are creating a powerful sense of empowerment. Over the course of my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.9.2.123">research on Canadian women’s hockey</a> I have found members gain a distinct sense of control, leadership and involvement from participating together. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690216649207">Past research</a> also notes the dominant norm of masculinity that pervades hockey and identifies how those involved in women’s and girls’ hockey resist the gender hierarchy that drives hockey values and structures.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women in hockey kits on the ice." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521380/original/file-20230417-28-5869dk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Czechia forward Tereza Vanisova drives past U.S. forward Britta Curl during a second period semifinal IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship hockey action in Brampton, Ont. on April 15, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One tactic of this resistance is the purposeful implementation of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.101562">role modelling</a>. This is something that happened everywhere at the championship. Of course, the elite athletes on all 10 teams were centre stage and young women and girls could easily see how these players align with their need to feel competent and confident. </p>
<p>All on-ice officials were women. The majority of the first responder flag bearers were women in police, fire, paramedic and military services. The fan experience included a woman in-game host. The ice crew shovelling the boards and crease during television timeouts were under-18 aged players from nearby girls’ teams. </p>
<h2>Gender diversity</h2>
<p>Another effective tactic of resistance is gender diversity among decision-makers. Research shows that gender diverse boards can improve <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/570ab836690df3da0ef15151a14c3266/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=26142">long-term organizational innovation</a> and positively influence the success of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.05.009">women CEOs</a>. </p>
<p>Historically, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.05.009">women-led sport governing bodies</a> have seen tremendous growth. Recognizing this potential, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) recently launched its <a href="https://www.iihf.com/en/news/42645/official_launch_of_the_inspire_the_next_campaign">Inspire the Next campaign</a>. This is a fresh women’s hockey concept that differentiates women’s hockey and promotes women working throughout the game in areas such as marketing, operations, legal, team services, media and photography.</p>
<p>There are now five women on Hockey Canada’s senior leadership team, two women who lead the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s Council and many women in senior corporate positions that lead media, marketing, national teams and events within hockey federations, brands and partners. </p>
<h2>Media coverage</h2>
<p>As a major conduit for legitimacy, media coverage plays an influential role in the game’s development and its infusion into broader hockey fandom. The portrayal of women’s hockey is usually either <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2012.677094">ambivalent or compared to a very different men’s hockey game</a> which means changing the message is key. </p>
<p>Research has found women athletes prefer that coverage <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2013-0101">focus upon their competence</a> rather than other characteristics. Placing control of this message in the hands of women who know the game ensures this is emphasized.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Fans cheer hockey players on the ice." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521679/original/file-20230418-16-ttb1rn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canada forward Sarah Fillier (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the U.S. during the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship in Brampton, Ont. on April 10, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the first time, <a href="https://www.bellmedia.ca/the-lede/press/canada-defends-the-gold-medal-at-home-as-tsn-delivers-exclusive-live-coverage-of-the-2023-iihf-womens-world-championship-beginning-april-5/">TSN broadcast</a> all 31 championship games live. In addition, 11 women provided analysis during an unprecedented 96.5 broadcast hours.</p>
<p>From a marketing standpoint, what used to be a sport with a niche audience is now a burgeoning participant landscape. While brands enter women’s hockey to expand market share, corporate-community initiatives must meet the needs of women and girls in hockey. For example, the <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canadian-brands-come-together-celebrate-162100405.html">Accelerate pilot</a>, sponsored by well-known Canadian brands, focuses upon the immediate need for gender equity in hockey.</p>
<p>Hockey Canada still faces <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/hockey-canada-power-culture-sexual-abuse-1.6548965">calls for greater</a> accountability and transparency. Canadians continue to demand outright change. The organization must meet these expectations and formally integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into its governance and operations. </p>
<p>Looking ahead, there is no longer any patience to wait for others to make the right decisions. Those within women’s hockey are driving transformation. Action is coming from inside instead of outside the community. The IIHF must convince national hockey federations around the globe to better support women’s hockey in order to prove its “Inspire the Next” campaign is more than a slogan. </p>
<p>The promise of women’s and girls’ hockey is the strongest it has ever been — and must be sustained.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Stevens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The presence of women and girls was on display in all aspects of the tournament and the fresh air of empowerment could signal a new dawn for women’s and girls’ hockey.Julie Stevens, Professor, Sport Management and Director, Centre for Sport Capacity, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1928142022-11-01T18:21:11Z2022-11-01T18:21:11ZCulture change at Hockey Canada is about more than replacing those in charge<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491731/original/file-20221025-15802-trrnz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C24%2C5319%2C3538&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Culture change is more multifaceted than recent conversations about Hockey Canada might suggest. It's a complex process, not a readily packaged product or an easily revised strategic plan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The phrase “culture change” has been in the news lately thanks to Hockey Canada’s most recent debacle. There have been widespread <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockey-canada-cultural-change-period-of-reckoning-1.6617955">calls for a cultural change</a> at the sporting body. Even the Prime Minister has weighed in: “<a href="https://nationalpost.com/sports/cp-newsalert-hockey-canada-resignations-only-first-step-in-changing-culture-trudeau">There’s a culture to change</a>.” </p>
<p>You are not alone if you find yourself wondering what this means or how culture change happens. </p>
<p>As a culture scholar who has studied <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487516062/the-new-spirit-of-creativity/">artistic, organizational</a> and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/head-to-the-local-ice-skating-rink-to-meet-and-mingle-this-covid-19-winter-151530">ice rink culture</a>, seeing so much attention to culture change is thrilling. At the same time, I know culture change is more multifaceted than recent conversations about Hockey Canada might suggest. Culture change is a complex process, not a readily packaged product or an easily revised strategic plan.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.howspace.com/resources/changing-organizational-culture-complete-guide">Savvy how-to-guides aside</a>, we need to manage our expectations around what culture change is and how it can be successfully implemented within organizations. Culture change is not a magic bullet for ending misogyny, racism, classism, ableism or anti-LGBTQ2I+ sentiments. Culture change is not like an oil change or wardrobe change. It is not something we can accomplish on a tight deadline or with a handful of adjustments.</p>
<p>Rather, the promise of culture change rests in a combination of the following: Adopting a nuanced definition of culture; examining cultural norms and attitudes; and understanding the social relations and dynamics that support culture change.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People sit in a circle while a woman stands addressing them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491730/original/file-20221025-13-y5xnb4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There has been much talk of culture change at Hockey Canada. But what does it mean to change an organization’s culture?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How are we defining culture?</h2>
<p>Culture is a confusing term. If you check a <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/culture">simple dictionary entry</a>, you will see it defined as a way of life, the attitudes and behaviours of particular groups and artistic objects and achievements. For this reason, when people speak of hockey culture, it can be hard to know <em>exactly</em> what they mean. </p>
<p>Recent work on <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/2600979966">hockey, indigeneity and racialized minorities in Canada</a> demonstrates how all of these definitions of culture shape our understanding of hockey. Hockey is diversely played, enjoyed, pictured and organized in Canada, but not everyone has the same access to the game or recognition for playing it. This sort of scholarship helps us appreciate how hockey culture can cultivate both belonging and exclusion.</p>
<p>Culture change requires an expanded definition of culture. If we restrict our understanding to just one dimension — like the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fixing-hockey-culture-experts-1.6616593">attitudes of Hockey Canada’s leadership</a> — the process will only ever be half formed. </p>
<h2>Cultural norms and attitudes</h2>
<p>With this expanded notion of culture, the overlap between organizational culture (Hockey Canada) and the culture of a sport (hockey) becomes clearer. This intersection is central to the thorny issue of how prevailing attitudes and norms can help or hinder organizational changes. </p>
<p>It is appealing for organizations to blame their own inability to support equity and belonging on the wide failure of Canadian society to do so. Indeed, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hockey-canada-committee-testimony-1.6605374">Hockey Canada tried this strategy</a>. However, a serious commitment to culture change means examining an organization’s culture within its wider social context.</p>
<p>There is now considerable research on the prevalence and damage caused by all types of physical and psychological violence within both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723520973571">youth</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211045096">elite level</a> sport in Canada. In hockey, to address sport culture and violence norms demands taking seriously the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/sports/hockey/stanley-cup-fights-nhl-video.html">violence within the game, interpersonal relationships, organizations and media</a>.</p>
<p>Simultaneously, this means learning from positive examples, such as care and inclusion within <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-the-love-of-the-game-what-old-mens-hockey-can-teach-young-players-134506">older men’s leagues</a> and the successes of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14746689.2020.1815445">dedicated South Asian hockey programs</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Hockey Canada logo: a red and black maple leaf with the outline of a hockey player and Canada written below." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491732/original/file-20221025-15497-zpgazd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Addressing sport culture and violence within hockey demands taking seriously the violence within the game, interpersonal relationships, organizations and media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Social relations and dynamics</h2>
<p>Culture change also requires paying attention to and remedying inequitable social contexts and relationships. Perhaps a good place for Hockey Canada to start would be addressing <a href="https://theconversation.com/hockey-canada-must-stop-treating-womens-and-para-hockey-like-an-afterthought-192327">the second tier status</a> of women’s and para hockey or meaningfully addressing <a href="https://hockeyinsociety.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/policypaper_anti-racisminhockey_execsummary_final.pdf">racism within all levels of the game</a>. But the inability of an organization to act or respond effectively is not just about the formal or explicit dynamics in place. </p>
<p>Culture change is also about the everyday practices and informal interactions that set the stage. In research I co-authored on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1759114">everyday sexism in Canada’s screen industry</a>, this included things like being excluded from informal activities or being subjected to workplace microaggressions that are harmful but hard to label. These social dynamics are slippery. An informal culture of exclusion or devaluation helps formal justifications for inequities make more sense within an organization. </p>
<p>Committing to a diversity of voices and participants is central to the process of changing a culture, but this alone does not equal culture change. Instead, genuine culture change also recognizes the informal penalties and power differentials that hinder transformations of the status quo. </p>
<p>If culture change for an organization only translates into a new series of policy documents, tokenism, enhanced program evaluations or a revamped code of conduct, this will not work. This is simply one dimensional change. </p>
<p>Organizations should commit to culture change. But they should know that making this commitment is just the start. Be warned: culture change is not automatically positive or progressive. Positive culture change is a rewarding yet challenging collaborative process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192814/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saara Liinamaa receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p>There have been calls for a culture change at Hockey Canada in the wake of sexual abuse allegations. But what does that mean? And how do organizations change their culture?Saara Liinamaa, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1927122022-10-30T12:21:08Z2022-10-30T12:21:08ZHockey Canada scandal highlights toxic masculinity in sports<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491479/original/file-20221024-17346-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C691%2C6000%2C3242&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the wake of sexual abuse allegations, Hockey Canada acknowledged it failed to “end the culture of toxic behavior” but grossly misunderstood and miscalculated the depth and breadth of the problem.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over recent weeks and months, Canadians have watched a stream of headlines tracing Hockey Canada’s failure to address sexual assault allegations. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hockey-canada-created-a-fund-for-sexual-assault-claims-documents/">The misuse of hockey registration fees to pay for sexual assault settlements</a> has raised growing concerns about sport culture and sexual misconduct among some players. </p>
<p><a href="https://hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/hockey-canada-open-letter-to-canadians">Hockey Canada acknowledged</a> that it did not “end the culture of toxic behavior” but grossly misunderstood and miscalculated the depth and breadth of the problem. This is, in large part, because of a failure to recognize the intersection of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.27.2.115">sport culture and masculinity</a> in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CityNewsCalgary/videos/masculinity-and-sport/379446916182044/">male dominated spaces</a>. </p>
<p>A group of international academics and researchers <a href="https://www.hockeyabuseopenletter.com/">sent an open letter</a> to Canada’s Sport Minister and the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage raising longstanding concerns about <a href="https://theconversation.com/showered-in-sexism-hockey-culture-needs-a-reckoning-186002">sexual violence, misogyny, masculinity, homophobia and bullying in sport</a>, and hockey culture in particular. </p>
<h2>Sport culture and masculinity</h2>
<p>Following a federal government inquiry into Hockey Canada, sponsors withdrawing financial support and public pressure demanding change, <a href="https://theconversation.com/hockey-canadas-problems-show-that-the-government-needs-to-regulate-sport-in-canada-192052">the board of directors resigned</a>. But much work still needs to be done to <a href="https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813571478-011">remedy toxic masculinity</a> and a familiar parade of male privilege and entitlement in a sport that has not been held to account for its actions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A row of hockey sticks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491480/original/file-20221024-14075-i5fhl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Allegations of sexual assault have been overshadowed by an administrative abuse of power and misuse of registration fees that have pushed sexual violence to the sidelines of the conversation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mainstream media has allowed the conversation of sexual assaults and sport culture to land squarely onto hockey itself. The result: the relationship between masculinity and sport remains intact and unchanged. Meanwhile repeated assault cases and considerable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/101269029002500303">research</a> show that the issues we are seeing within Hockey Canada are disproportionately linked to gender —<a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/1544526529?parentSessionId=LsgCr%2FgXztfgOcc%2Fl%2BoWCWXe2JnzlSwfCzHGJ3EX%2Fdg%3D">namely masculinity</a> — and sport culture.</p>
<h2>Locker room rules</h2>
<p>The organization, and perhaps the general public, has been focused on the inner workings, the hierarchy of power and who said what, knew what, and when. But men, hockey players in this case, and the board of directors have failed to account for the sexual violence. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/alleged-group-sexual-assault-junior-hockey-canada">Allegations of sexual assault against eight hockey players</a> have been overshadowed by an administrative abuse of power and misuse of registration fees that has pushed sexual violence to the sidelines of the conversation. What about the players? How can the locker room rules for being one of the boys yet again perpetuate such damaging and far-reaching actions and reactions? </p>
<p>Boys routinely <a href="https://doi.org/10.3149/thy.0601.166">navigate locker rooms</a> and highly masculinized spaces with fear and vulnerability. Men are afraid to speak up against or in violation of a boy code that requires conformity and uniformity. There is a culture of silence among men desperately wanting to fit and be accepted. </p>
<p>Men refuse to be vulnerable, to step out from the shadows of dominant figures in locker rooms because they fear the consequences. Even when we see unethical conduct among the boys, it is a hyper-masculine sport culture that sustains and maintains rules that rely on and ensure silence and fear among boys and men. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of the Hockey Canada logo: A black and red maple leaf with an outline of a hockey player hockey with the word Canada below." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491124/original/file-20221021-16-bggyo7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Public attention and criticism has focused on Hockey Canada, but the problematic relationship between masculinity and sport remains unchanged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The courage to change</h2>
<p>Regardless of which sport they play, men and boys need to have the courage to speak up against sexual violence, homophobia and racism. Bullying, domination and marginalizing boys because they refuse to participate in this culture cannot be tolerated. </p>
<p>What are we doing to promote a rethink, a shift in masculinity in sport culture? What have sport organizations done specifically to change the narrative on masculinity and on gender diversity more broadly? When will the <a href="https://erinsilver.ca/kids-books/proud-to-play/">daily realities</a> of diverse masculinities and fluid gender identities and calls for safer, healthier work, play, sport cultures, finally be realized? Hockey Canada needs to change its approach, its message, its direction and the very images of masculinity it valorizes and validates.</p>
<p>For athletes, attitudes, behaviours and expressions of masculinity need to change. Violence, aggression and domination do not have to be the norm by which we judge men and boys. The lessons learned to be a man, to exert domination and power over others, to prove manliness and control others are deep-seated <a href="https://doi.org/10.3149/thy.0601.166">cultural constructions</a>. The suggestion that doing otherwise makes someone less of a man, inadequate and weak, relies on flawed and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/science/apa-traditional-masculinity-harmful.html">damaging views of masculinity</a>. </p>
<p>Hockey Canada has a responsibility to purposefully change the instructions, guidelines and institutional culture that uphold and maintain damaging versions of masculinity. With purposeful change and intentional redirection, Hockey Canada can lead a culture shift within sport. “Boys being boys” and “it’s just the way it is” are not acceptable excuses for sexual assaults, misogyny, homophobia and bullying. </p>
<p>Instead, boys should be encouraged and supported with leadership that promotes inclusion and rejects sexism, violence and bullying.</p>
<p>Becoming a valued team member does not have to rely on acting like “one of the boys” while harbouring fears and insecurities that cloak weaknesses and uncertainties. Rather than promoting a culture of masculinity in sport that perpetuates fear and silence in boys trying to fit in, Hockey Canada, coaches and parents can support boys who show courage, commitment and allyship that makes for safer and healthier masculinities in sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Kehler has received funding from the Social Science Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Knott-Fayle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sexual abuse allegations in Canadian hockey reveal the toxic masculinity that has permeated across sport culture.Michael Kehler, Werklund Research Professor, Masculinities Studies, University of CalgaryGabriel Knott-Fayle, Postdoctoral Scholar of Masculinities Studies in Education, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1500292020-11-18T19:32:29Z2020-11-18T19:32:29ZWinter drownings may increase in northern countries as ice thins with climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370149/original/file-20201118-15-m61hic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C113%2C3922%2C2544&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Winter drowning rates are highest in countries with strong ice-fishing cultures and temperatures that hover near freezing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every winter, the ice that forms on lakes, rivers and oceans, supports communities and culture. It provides <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/world/canada/ice-roads-ease-isolation-in-canadas-north-but-theyre-melting-too-soon.html">transportation across winter roads</a>, hunting and fishing, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.13020/3j5g-kc72">recreational activities</a>, such as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-melting-ice-sculptures-warm-weather-harbin-winter-festival-climate-change-a8786436.html">lake ice festivals</a>, skating, <a href="https://www.si.com/nhl/2019/04/22/climate-change-canada-winter-sports-hockey-backyard-rinks">hockey</a> and ice fishing. </p>
<p>For many communities, ice cover had been stable and predictable for generations. But no ice-covered body of water is without risk. Falls through the ice are especially dangerous because the cold water temperature can lead to shock, which can rapidly lead to unconsciousness, irregular heartbeats and death. </p>
<p>An international interdisciplinary team investigated the effects of climate change on winter drownings across northern countries. We expected that there would be more drownings in warmer winters because climate change is leading to precarious ice cover. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241222">new study</a> documents over 4,000 winter drownings that occurred during the past 10-30 years in 10 countries, including Canada, United States, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Italy, Germany and Japan. Alarmingly, Canada had the highest number of winter drownings each year. </p>
<h2>Increased drownings in warmer winters</h2>
<p>Winter drownings were more common in warmer winters for these northern countries, occurring five times more frequently when mean winter air temperatures approached 0 C. Generally, most drownings occurred when mean winter air temperatures were between -5 C and 0 C. The higher likelihood of extremely warm days and rain-on-snow events in warm winters contributes to thinner, weaker and less stable ice.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people walking on a frozen lake with a danger 'thin ice' sign in the foreground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370148/original/file-20201118-23-14e0jw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C74%2C3780%2C2480&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370148/original/file-20201118-23-14e0jw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370148/original/file-20201118-23-14e0jw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370148/original/file-20201118-23-14e0jw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370148/original/file-20201118-23-14e0jw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370148/original/file-20201118-23-14e0jw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370148/original/file-20201118-23-14e0jw4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With climate change, temperatures are increasing most rapidly in the winter, but people aren’t adapting their behaviours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The highest number of drowning events occurred at the beginning and end of winter when ice cover is most precarious. The dates on which ice forms and melts are most affected by climate change, such that warming temperatures lead to delayed ice formation, earlier ice break-up, thinner ice and increased freeze-thaw events. </p>
<p>In addition, the warmer weather and longer daylight hours of early spring draw more people outside, which increases the risk of drowning. In a changing climate, winter drownings will likely increase because temperatures are increasing most rapidly in winter, while human awareness and behaviours are not adapting sufficiently. </p>
<h2>Drowning risk factors</h2>
<p>Cultural factors may also influence winter drowning rates. For example, Indigenous communities in northern Canada and Alaska suffer the <a href="https://www.redcross.ca/crc/documents/3-3-4_ws_final_m2_english2006_04_19.pdf">highest rates of winter drowning</a> because of their dependence on ice cover for subsistence and travel, leading to long hours on the ice. Similarly, winter drowning rates are very high in Estonia and Latvia, partly as a result of a strong ice fishing culture and mean winter air temperatures just below 0 C. </p>
<p>On the other hand, winter drowning rates are close to zero in Germany and northern Italy where laws and regulations prohibit ice fishing and allow ice skating only when local authorities deem the ice to be safe. </p>
<p>We recommend using local cultural and traditional knowledge in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.8433">dialogue with community stakeholders</a> to design and implement water safety programs, empowering communities with the capacity to adapt to the regional impacts of climate change. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman balances on a frozen river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370151/original/file-20201118-23-1q9gv7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370151/original/file-20201118-23-1q9gv7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370151/original/file-20201118-23-1q9gv7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370151/original/file-20201118-23-1q9gv7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370151/original/file-20201118-23-1q9gv7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370151/original/file-20201118-23-1q9gv7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370151/original/file-20201118-23-1q9gv7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alcohol can increase risk-taking behaviour on the ice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sadly, children and young adults are at the highest risk of drowning. Kids under nine years old accounted for 44 per cent of drowning fatalities while playing on ice. Young adults between the ages of 15 to 29 had high rates of drowning when ice fishing or snowmobiling. </p>
<p>Alcohol consumption can further contribute to increased risk-taking behaviour on the ice. </p>
<h2>Reduce the risk of winter drowning</h2>
<p>This winter, more people will likely take part in winter outdoor activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forecasts suggest a <a href="https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/accuweathers-2020-2021-canada-winter-forecast/830229">warmer and wetter winter</a> lies ahead for Ontario and Québec, which may yield unsafe ice conditions.</p>
<p>Safety equipment, such as ice picks, flotation devices and hypothermia protective clothing can help lower the risk of drowning. Integrating winter safety education into swimming lessons is an effective way to keep children from drowning.</p>
<p>Barbara Byers, the chief research officer of the <a href="https://www.lifesavingsociety.com/">Lifesaving Society</a> in Ontario, recommends evaluating the quality of the ice, and its type, before venturing onto it. Ice should be clear, hard and new. </p>
<p>“Avoid slushy ice; ice on or near moving water, like rivers and currents; ice that has thawed and refrozen; and layered or rotten ice caused by sudden temperature changes.”</p>
<p>Byers cautions people to look out for other factors that weaken or “rot” ice, such as snow on ice that acts as a blanket and prevents it from hardening, or pressure ridges formed by wind or current pressure. </p>
<p>“It is important to keep away from unfamiliar paths or unknown ice. Avoid travelling on ice at night. Never go on the ice alone. A buddy may be able to rescue you or go for help in case you get into difficulty,” said Byers. “No ice is without some risk. Minimize your risk.”</p>
<p><em>Simon R. Watson co-authored this article. He was previously a research associate at York University.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150029/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sapna Sharma receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Science, Genome Canada, York University Research Chair Programme, Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks, and York University. She is affiliated with the Royal Canadian Institute for Science.</span></em></p>Winter drownings become more common on warmer days or when rain has fallen on snow, leaving the ice thinner, weaker, and less stable.Sapna Sharma, Associate Professor and York University Research Chair in Global Change Biology, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1345062020-09-21T17:11:43Z2020-09-21T17:11:43ZFor the love of the game: What old men’s hockey can teach young players<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358730/original/file-20200917-22-14kivtd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C3704%2C2197&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Men in a league of senior hockey players show more concern about each other than the score of the game.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not uncommon to find news reports documenting abuse, violence and racism in hockey, both <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/sports/hockeys-chance-to-reckon-with-its-culture-of-abuse/">at the professional</a> and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-former-student-sues-private-st-michaels-college-school-after-alleged/">amateur levels</a>. </p>
<p>Hockey, particularly when played competitively by boys and men, seems to produce social conditions ripe for this kind of conduct. And it starts young. Sport sociologists like Cheryl MacDonald have documented <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2017-0133">the proliferation of homonegative and sexist locker room language</a> in Midget AAA hockey, concluding that “the dressing room is not yet a fully inclusive space.”</p>
<p>Queen’s University kinesiology professor Courtney Szto has interviewed South Asian hockey players, coaches and parents in British Columbia, and found that <a href="https://hockeyinsociety.com/2017/05/28/south-asian-experiences-in-hockey-one-narrative/">many people understand Canada’s national game as belonging to white people</a>. Through the stories of South Asian hockey players, she shows how white players, staff and fans treat non-white players with open hostility and racism.</p>
<h2>A different kind of league</h2>
<p>In spite of this, not all leagues are created equal. And as this very strange NHL season is finally <a href="https://www.nhl.com/stanley-cup-playoffs/2020">reaching its conclusion</a> and <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2020-news-update-on-return-to-hockey">youth hockey is just restarting</a>, there is something to be learned by looking at how the sport is played by old men.</p>
<p>The Silver Skaters, a hockey league in a mid-sized Ontario city noted for its aging population, caters to men in later life, with more than 300 hundred men playing in three different age divisions: over 55, over 63 and over 70. Their hockey belies <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ssj/25/4/article-p462.xml">the violence and abuse associated with young men’s hockey</a> and can teach us important lessons about hockey’s potential.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A goalie stretches in the foreground as hockey players in the background get ready to practice." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358735/original/file-20200917-14-onfwrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358735/original/file-20200917-14-onfwrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358735/original/file-20200917-14-onfwrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358735/original/file-20200917-14-onfwrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358735/original/file-20200917-14-onfwrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358735/original/file-20200917-14-onfwrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358735/original/file-20200917-14-onfwrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is a unique, caring culture in the Silver Skaters hockey league.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ildar Garifullin/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before the COVID-19 lockdown, I spent several weeks with the Silver Skaters, conducting research on the experiences of athletes in later life. (For the purpose of my research, I have kept the names of the players anonymous, as well as the exact location of the league.) I was interested in the meanings that older men brought to their participation in sport. And how playing sports influenced their understandings of aging, their bodies and gender. </p>
<p>I watched their games twice a week. I spent time chatting informally with players and sometimes family members during the games, arranging more formal interviews with players afterwards. As I conducted this research, I was struck by the incredible care and respect that players have for one another. Players regularly spoke of the game’s importance to their lives, their identities and to understanding the aging process.</p>
<h2>Players celebrated</h2>
<p>Not only does the game fully stop whenever a player falls to the ice, but almost every player celebrated those who continued to play despite health issues. These included cancer treatments, heart surgery, broken bones and joint replacements. But most players said it was their teammates who bring them back.</p>
<p>Fred, a 70-year hockey veteran — and at 81 years old, one of the best players in the league — told the story of Tony, who played with Parkinson’s disease. “He played … and we took care of him and made sure he got home alright. On the ice no one went near him because he was very unsteady on his skates, but he loved the game.” When Tony became too unstable on the ice, he carried on as a team coach.</p>
<p>Another player, Thomas, took the season off while he received cancer treatments, unsure if hockey was in his future. But in the midst of a break in chemotherapy treatments, he visited the rink to say hello to his former teammates. Many of the players filed out from behind the bench in order to warmly receive him — most with a big hug.</p>
<p>The freedom from conventional sports practices allows some players to play with disabilities and enables everyone to develop different kinds of skills. The Silver Skaters don’t keep score during the games. The end of year banquet presents no awards for the best team, most goals or best player. Several men explained that it was better to help a weaker player score goals than to score them yourself.</p>
<p>Wendel commented: “I know what my skill set is and I try to play within that and I get the pleasure of passing and backchecking and stopping a goal.”</p>
<h2>A unique culture</h2>
<p>Everyone wanted good competitive hockey. They lauded the team selection process that worked to keep parity throughout the league. Players who were too fast and too aggressive were gently coached to understand the league’s unique culture. If the players couldn’t get on board with this way of playing, they were politely asked to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>Fred explained: “We have kicked a couple of players right out of the league for their aggressiveness. … Nobody wants to get hurt out there.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hockey player shoots and misses as a goalie makes a save." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358733/original/file-20200917-24-1x5i8bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358733/original/file-20200917-24-1x5i8bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358733/original/file-20200917-24-1x5i8bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358733/original/file-20200917-24-1x5i8bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358733/original/file-20200917-24-1x5i8bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358733/original/file-20200917-24-1x5i8bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358733/original/file-20200917-24-1x5i8bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">He shoots … he doesn’t score … and that’s OK!</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ildar Garifullin/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This culture fostered a sense of awe and celebration of the oldest players in the league. Participants would often point out the players with new joints. They expressed joy at how others were moving, despite mobility issues. </p>
<p>Wendel, for example, pointed to a goalie, explaining that the man had a reconstructed hip and had returned to hockey after a lengthy absence. He told me that it was better to shoot wide on the goalie, valuing player safety over personal achievement.</p>
<p>Mrs. Smith, the wife of a player recently diagnosed with dementia, spoke warmly of the importance of the Silver Skaters to both her and her husband, especially after his diagnosis. She explained that the players provided care for him. They made sure he got to the ice with all of his equipment and watched out for him during the games.</p>
<p>Being around players he’d known for years made her husband comfortable. Lauding the importance of physical activity, she explained that hockey provided them with a bit of break both from each other and from the stress of coping with a relatively new diagnosis.</p>
<p>The story of men’s team sports is so rarely a story of care or a celebration of different abilities. The Silver Skaters, on the other hand, provide a window into how men’s sports, like hockey, can be (in some ways at least) inclusive and compassionate environments, open to players who differ in important ways from the athletes we’ve idealized in the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristi Allain receives funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Research Chair program.</span></em></p>Canadians love hockey and many play the sport well into their senior years. A researcher who spent time with a Silver Skaters league found their unique love of the game could help younger players.Kristi Allain, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, St. Thomas University (Canada)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1269722019-11-13T21:54:03Z2019-11-13T21:54:03ZDon Cherry debacle highlights the whiteness of hockey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301658/original/file-20191113-77363-1v3femg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C107%2C3994%2C2467&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Youngsters play pond hockey in Ottawa on Christmas Day 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite Canada’s claim that it’s a multicultural country, that’s not the reality of one of the country’s national sports, ice hockey. </p>
<p>For over a century, hockey has been dominated by white people at professional and amateur levels in Canada. One of the major reasons this continues to be the case is racialized people have been faced with discrimination and racism when attempting to play or watch hockey. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301645/original/file-20191113-77320-ehf9kw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cherry was fired after his Coach’s Corner slur suggesting immigrants don’t honour Remembrance Day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Don Cherry’s recent <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/don-cherry-hnic-you-people-hockey-coachs-corner">divisive and discriminatory comments</a> about “you people” remind us of the connections between hockey and race. A groundswell of negative public reaction to his comments also provides hope for change. Now is the time to make the sport more inclusive, as implied by the NHL slogan “<a href="https://www.nhl.com/community/hockey-is-for-everyone">Hockey is for Everyone</a>.”</p>
<h2>History of race and hockey</h2>
<p>Historically, racialized people were not allowed to participate in the dominant amateur hockey leagues. As a result, Black communities in the Maritimes created the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/coloured-hockey-league">Coloured Hockey League</a> (CHL) which existed from 1895 until the league couldn’t sustain itself by the 1930s.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301637/original/file-20191113-77295-flcclt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Larry Kwong in an undated photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hockey Hall of Fame</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This league was groundbreaking — it pioneered the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/forgotten-maritime-hockey-league-new-documentary-1.4045084">slap shot and the butterfly technique of goaltending</a>. But it’s likely most hockey fans aren’t aware these techniques were invented by Black players because these athletes were undervalued and dismissed due to their race. </p>
<p>Not only were players of colour segregated, they also faced racialized violence. The first racialized player in the National Hockey League was Larry Kwong, a Chinese-Canadian. Kwong described his groundbreaking experience <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2018/02/19/Larry-Kwong-NHL/">as very hostile</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Ever since I was a (teenager) there has always been a player or two trying to cut off my head just because I am Chinese. And the bigger the league, the bigger the axe they use.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The first Black player in the NHL was a Canadian named Willie O'Ree, who made his debut in 1958. He had to deal with <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/black-hockey-trailblazer-willie-o-ree-featured-in-new-hot-docs-film-1.4404330">racism from fans and other players</a>. This included racist comments towards him, unfair calls, unwarranted aggression from other players and having cotton and black cats thrown at him while playing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/willie-orees-little-known-journey-to-break-the-nhls-color-barrier-90219">Willie O'Ree's little-known journey to break the NHL's color barrier</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The experiences of these pioneering players were universal for any racialized player in the league at the time. </p>
<h2>Have times changed?</h2>
<p>Seventy years since Larry Kwong made his debut, one would like to think the game is much more welcoming for racialized people. Although progress has certainly been made, hostility and racism persist. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301640/original/file-20191113-77338-14z5cvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Givani Smith, now with the Detroit Red Wings, fights with an Anaheim Ducks player during a recent NHL game.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When Givani Smith played for the Kitchener Rangers in 2018, he faced <a href="https://www.therecord.com/sports-story/8589574-racism-at-the-rink/">intense racism</a> from the opposing team and fans. He even received death threats and was subjected to a racist slur by a spectator who sneaked into the change room.</p>
<p>A First Nations hockey team of 13- and 14-year-olds <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/quebec-city-hockey-racism-1.4685720">endured racist</a> name-calling, mocking and unfair calls at a tournament in 2018. </p>
<p>Even more recently, a 23-year-old coach of youth hockey who is Muslim received an <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/youth-hockey-coach-speaks-out-after-receiving-racist-message-from-parent-172309751.html">angry text</a> from a white parent of one of the players he coaches. The language in the text message implied that hockey belongs to the white community and that people of colour are not welcomed and will tarnish the sport and its traditions.</p>
<h2>Canadian identity</h2>
<p>Hockey is strongly tied to the national identity of Canada. In 2011, 77 per cent of Canadians believed that hockey is an important <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-652-x/89-652-x2015005-eng.htm">national symbol</a>. It’s clear that Canada has a clear adoration of the sport. In 2014, former prime minister <a href="http://www.canada.com/sports/stephen+harper+seeks+home+advantage+canada+greatest+export+hockey/10368903/story.html">Stephen Harper</a> stated that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Modern hockey is something that Canadians not only invented but developed as a sport as a reflection of our values and of our country.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>If hockey truly is a reflection of our society, then it highlights the enduring Canadian problem of ignoring racism.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301633/original/file-20191113-77326-1dn0m7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C170%2C2318%2C1414&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301633/original/file-20191113-77326-1dn0m7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301633/original/file-20191113-77326-1dn0m7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301633/original/file-20191113-77326-1dn0m7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301633/original/file-20191113-77326-1dn0m7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301633/original/file-20191113-77326-1dn0m7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301633/original/file-20191113-77326-1dn0m7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=968&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Willie O'Ree, shown in this 1960 photo, was the first black player in the National Hockey League. He faced a litany of racist remarks and abuse throughout his hockey career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When specific racial groups are purposefully excluded from Canada’s primary hockey narrative, it implies that only white people can fully embrace that Canadian identity. It implies that racialized people are not good enough to adopt it. </p>
<p>But with a growing racialized population, what it means to be Canadian is changing. </p>
<p>As indicated by Statistics Canada, Canada’s <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/census-2016-immigration-1.4368970">“visible minority” population</a> has been steadily increasing. It’s predicted that by 2036, a third of Canadians will be a part of this demographic.</p>
<h2>Moving forward</h2>
<p>Racism has had a hold on western society for centuries and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change any time soon. In terms of ice hockey, there first needs to be an acknowledgement of racial disparity in order for progress to begin. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/where-are-the-minorities-1.835849">Data based on race</a> also need to be recorded and reported at all levels of amateur hockey to track the progress of change initiatives. </p>
<p>Leagues also need to advocate change. <a href="http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=undalr">The Australia Football League (AFL)</a>, to name just one example, deals with racism and religious discrimination by implementing strong policies that fight against a racist culture and sets fines for offenders. </p>
<p>The league also requires offenders to attend racism education programs. Education programs are one of the most effective ways to eliminate racism in sport. </p>
<p>Not only will addressing racial inequality help hockey grow, as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/where-are-the-minorities-1.835849">Hockey Canada has stated</a>, it will also foster a healthy and just environment for everyone to thrive. It’s time to make hockey truly for everyone. </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Snelgrove receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Kabetu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Don Cherry’s recent divisive and discriminatory comments remind us of how white hockey remains. It’s time to transform the sport into a more inclusive pastime.Ryan Snelgrove, Professor of Sport Management, University of WaterlooVictoria Kabetu, Master of Arts Candidate, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1148022019-04-03T21:46:10Z2019-04-03T21:46:10ZThe death of the CWHL presents a new opportunity for women’s professional hockey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267363/original/file-20190403-177190-7g9qm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Markham Thunder players celebrate winning the 2018 Clarkson Cup final as champions of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The CWHL has announced it will cease operations. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Donovan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sudden announcement by <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/the-cwhl-will-cease-operations-as-the-result-of-economically-unsustainable-business-model">the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) that it was ceasing operations</a> has generated controversy and confusion. But as an academic who researches sport organizations, I have a different take — the CWHL closure opens the door for new and innovative women’s professional hockey opportunities.</p>
<p>On the surface, this ordeal reads as a tale of two leagues – <a href="http://www.thecwhl.com/">one non-profit, the CWHL</a>, and <a href="https://www.nwhl.zone/">one for-profit, the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL)</a>. </p>
<p>When the CWHL announced it was shutting down, the <a href="http://www.thecwhl.com/the-canadian-womens-hockey-league-to-discontinue-operations">league’s board of directors stated</a> “the business model has proven to be economically unsustainable.” Many fans and media took this to mean the non-profit model won’t work and the only option is the NWHL’s for-profit approach.</p>
<p>But this is a shortsighted view.</p>
<h2>Closure is a catalyst for change</h2>
<p>The closure of the CWHL is a catalyst for other key stakeholders to enter the scene — which has happened many times in the past for men’s professional hockey, where leagues have come and gone.</p>
<p>As my <a href="http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/NQ60350.pdf">early doctoral research shows</a>, many different stakeholders — including players, hockey federations, government and industry officials — have influenced the development of hockey over time.</p>
<p>The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, created in 1914, initially resisted popular pressure to allow pay-to-play leagues to emerge. But as players opted for independent leagues that paid them, the CAHA loosened its regulations and accommodated a degree of professionalism while at the same time overseeing the development of hockey in the country.</p>
<p>This shift opened the market to hockey boosters and entrepreneurs, some of whom owned rinks and needed to have an attractive product in order to entice customers.</p>
<p>Money-making activity was fast and furious. Leagues came (<a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/national-hockey-league-nhl-opens-its-first-season">the National Hockey League started in 1917</a>) and went (the professional <a href="http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitLo.do;jsessionid=822A77858AF0F67DAFC2DA3FB62A818F?method=preview&lang=EN&id=6379">National Hockey Association lasted from 1909-18</a>).</p>
<h2>Rivalry between leagues</h2>
<p>In his account of the emergence of the NHL, academic <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/lords-of-the-rinks-3">John Wong</a> says separate camps jockeyed for position and profit as commercial hockey gained public interest. This is no different than the interplay — or as some note, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/womens-hockey-leagues-in-trademark-dispute-over-rights-to-nwhl/article29779490/">the business rivalry</a> — between the CWHL and NWHL that has unfolded since 2015, when the U.S.-based NWHL formed.</p>
<p>Women’s hockey also attracted economic interests during the early part of the 20th century. In his review of American women’s hockey in the First World War era, <a href="https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=history_fac">Andrew Holman</a> notes that sports entrepreneurs sought new ways to sell the game, and as a result, women’s hockey was positioned as a commercial venture. The key point Holman makes about this historic time, though, is the rise and fall of the women’s game, including its professional form. It is important to note the CWHL story has happened before.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.uoguelph.ca/arts/history/news/j-andrew-ross-new-book-national-hockey-league">In his examination of hockey capital and the sports industry</a>, historian Andrew Ross notes the complex men’s professional hockey landscape has included single-ownership leagues. He points out the NHL was once an unincorporated, non-profit organization.</p>
<h2>Not a new model</h2>
<p>The key lesson, then, is to recognize the CWHL model was not new and that this approach, as well as others, has existed and failed in the past. More importantly, these models, and the individuals that spearheaded them, pave the way for new and viable professional women’s hockey approaches to emerge.</p>
<p>Which brings us to the next phase of the story.</p>
<p>In my work on the <a href="http://whforum.ru/en/about/world-hockey-forum-2016/prezentation#stevens">global development of women’s hockey,</a> I note there is no one “best” model, and that each country must develop at its own pace through a method that best suits its unique hockey system. The same is true for a professional women’s hockey league.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267368/original/file-20190403-177187-1otu78h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267368/original/file-20190403-177187-1otu78h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267368/original/file-20190403-177187-1otu78h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267368/original/file-20190403-177187-1otu78h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267368/original/file-20190403-177187-1otu78h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267368/original/file-20190403-177187-1otu78h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267368/original/file-20190403-177187-1otu78h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this 1973 photo, NHL star Gordie Howe checks out the new look for his sons, Marty and Mark, after they signed to play with the Houston Aeros of World Hockey Association team. The WHA folded after 1979 and some of its teams were absorbed by the NHL.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, the CWHL’s shutdown created a vacuum. Just over 48 hours after the CWHL released news of its decision to close, the <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/u-s-based-nwhl-oks-plan-to-expand-to-canada-after-cwhl-folds-1.4362449">NWHL’s board announced</a> an investment plan to establish two teams in Canada, and that it received a financial sponsor commitment from the NHL. And so, in a similar fashion to how the NHL and <a href="https://thehockeywriters.com/the-wha-a-look-back-40-years-later/">World Hockey Association</a>, a rival men’s professional hockey league that existed from 1972-79, merged, one league shuts down while the others acquires some of its franchises and moves on as the lone commercial player in the female game.</p>
<p>Looking back to 2015 when the NWHL was formed, it’s interesting to reflect upon the CWHL’s response. The <a href="https://sports.vice.com/en_ca/article/bmqwq3/what-does-the-launch-of-the-nwhl-mean-for-the-cwhl">CWHL commissioner at the time, Brenda Andress, commented</a> that the NWHL model was wrong and “that for us, it’s about sound operational and financial foundations first because we want to ensure the viability of the long term.”</p>
<p>During its 12 years of operation, the CWHL took this approach and in so doing, shaped the professional women’s hockey landscape. It’s now time for the next stage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Stevens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When the Canadian Women’s Hockey League announced it was folding, it was seen as a setback for women’s hockey. But history suggests the death of one hockey league leads to new opportunities.Julie Stevens, Associate Professor, Sport Management and Director, Centre for Sport Capacity, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/898452018-03-13T22:34:35Z2018-03-13T22:34:35ZUnderstanding the science of para ice hockey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210914/original/file-20180318-104694-1fkqkmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Billy Bridges of Canada and Kevin McKee of the U.S. in action during the para ice hockey gold medal game at the Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bob Martin/Olympic Information Service)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It brought me such joy and pride to watch the amazing and inspiring athletes at the Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. As an avid sports fan, I cheered on <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/men/sledge">Canada’s para ice hockey team</a> as it went all the way to final game before <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/canada-loses-rival-americans-ot-cap-pyeongchang-paralympics/">losing to the U.S. in overtime</a>. As a biomedical engineer, I also have a fascination with how para athletes perform and how I can help to make them better. </p>
<p>Many years ago, when I played on a men’s recreational hockey team, a good friend and my linemate had an accident off the ice that left him a paraplegic. As he lay in the hospital bed, I introduced him to the local para ice hockey coach to show him there was something to look forward to — he could still play hockey.</p>
<p>As his rehab went on through the years, my friend took his para hockey skill level from requiring a <em>pusher</em> to being a goal scorer. A <em>pusher</em> is an able-bodied skater who pushes the para hockey player, allowing them to become involved in community level games. </p>
<p>His upper body mobility returned. It was inspiring to watch. My friend’s life-changing accident became something that would also change mine. </p>
<p>Over the years, I have coached many hockey schools and teams. My love for hockey has inspired my research in engineering and science and allowed my research to blossom. I have focused my career on the biomedical and biomechanical analysis of skating — rehab, performance enhancement, injury prevention and sport development.</p>
<p>When it comes to para hockey, the biomechanics are completely different than “upright” hockey, so current research on hockey is of no use because the motion is so different. I started to participate in friendly para hockey games gaining respect and admiration for those who played. Skating, let alone stick handling and shooting, was one of the hardest things I had ever done.</p>
<h2>Skating styles and skills</h2>
<p>Skating in para hockey closely resembles <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15870635">double poling in cross-country skiing</a>. Sitting on a sledge equipped with two skate blades and chassis (para hockey was originally called sledge hockey), players use <a href="https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/hockey-programs/sledge/essentials/equipment">two sledge hockey sticks to move themselves</a> and the sledge across the ice surface. The sticks have elongated blades at one end for puck control and a flip of the stick with the picks at the other end allows the player to produce motion, the only way to produce motion. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209744/original/file-20180309-30965-1sfkjwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209744/original/file-20180309-30965-1sfkjwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209744/original/file-20180309-30965-1sfkjwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209744/original/file-20180309-30965-1sfkjwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209744/original/file-20180309-30965-1sfkjwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209744/original/file-20180309-30965-1sfkjwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209744/original/file-20180309-30965-1sfkjwu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Players of the Italian Ice Hockey team during practice at the Paralympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Joel Marklund/Olympic Information Service)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When I found out there was little research involving para hockey — and no biomechanical research — I started working with my co-prof <a href="http://www.nipissingu.ca/about-us/people/Pages/Dean-Hay.aspx">Dean Hay</a>, a researcher and professor at Nipissing University, to investigate key skating styles.</p>
<p>Using community and provincial level players, we investigated various skating styles on-ice with video analysis and <a href="https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/record/ui?name=Electromyography">surface electromyography (sEMG)</a> — a process used to collect biological signals from the muscle of intent to infer the level of muscle activation. </p>
<p>As my research progressed, I created an off-ice sledge that replaced the double skate blades of the ice sledge with roller blades. Taking the sledge off the ice allowed me to conduct biomechanical specific research involving motion capture (MOCAP), sEMG and force plates.</p>
<p>MOCAP regenerates three-dimensional marker locations onto a computer screen. From these marker locations, many mathematical and physics laws can be used to gain information regarding the tracked movement. Force plates collect three-dimensional ground reaction forces and positioning during contact. From these impact forces, many physics laws can be mathematically calculated to determine information regarding the body segments and joints. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YhBE4Ep2L4k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>My research produced some key biomechanical information. A typical impact force from a single stick with minimal to no effort produces two times the body weight of the person producing the stroke. </p>
<p>To put this into perspective, jumping can be greater than four times body weight and running and stair climbing is more than two times body weight — meaning skating in para hockey is more similar to lower limb activities than it is to upper limb sports. </p>
<h2>Physics laws applied to hockey</h2>
<p>Some key mechanical results involving skating were also found. Skating is harder than predicted, with balance in the sledge being the major limitation in order to perform the stroke correctly.</p>
<p>As well, a majority of the strokes from the lower-ranking participants involved a pulling motion instead of the mathematically and mechanically correct pushing motion. Again, to put this in perspective, a person would typically push a box across the floor instead of pulling the box because it’s easier. </p>
<p>This information is paramount to those beginning their athletic careers in para hockey and for those who are coaching para athletes. Ensuring players can maintain balance in the sledge, and guidance to produce the pushing motion, should be seen as fundamental skating skills.</p>
<p>Here are some key techniques coaches and new para players should focus on:</p>
<p>● Skating is fundamental to the sport. The ability to balance within the sledge is an important skill that can be developed both on and off the ice. </p>
<p>● To develop the push motion instead of the pull motion, skaters should plant the sticks in a forward direction. New players tended to keep their sticks upright rather than forward. </p>
<p>● When double poling, which is the most common stroke, players should aim to have their arms move as symmetrically as possible.</p>
<p>● Results suggest that a more open arm (less bent elbow) allows for a more forward stick plant, which should improve the stroke.</p>
<p>I have presented some of my research at <a href="https://isbs2015.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/40">international conferences on the biomechanics of sport</a>. </p>
<p>My research continues on-ice and in the direction of <a href="https://carleton.ca/readi/">READi (Research and Education in Accessibility, Design, and Innovation)</a> with the help of <a href="http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chan/index.php">Prof. Adrian Chan</a>. We plan to conduct a longitudinal study involving the potential for injuries caused from skating, which will hopefully bring awareness and knowledge to players and coaches at the international level. </p>
<p>My end goal and hope is to create a long-term development plan for the sport of para hockey in order to help it continue to grow from grassroots to Paralympians, hopefully helping some young hockey player reach their gold medal dreams.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89845/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alicia M Gal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Athletes competing in para hockey at the Paralympic Games in South Korea have unique biomechanical skills. A Canadian researcher explains how beginners in the sport can improve their skating skills.Alicia M Gal, PhD candidate biomedical engineering, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/850652017-10-05T21:56:51Z2017-10-05T21:56:51ZHistory shows Sidney Crosby could have stood up to racial injustice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189676/original/file-20171010-17691-kxfpdp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">blank</span> </figcaption></figure><p>A champion athlete, who is both white and not American, has the chance, at some personal cost, to protest racial injustice in the United States. Should he avoid taking a stand or lend support to a protest that doesn’t directly affect him?</p>
<p>The question has been asked of Sidney Crosby. Crosby and the Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins visited the White House, and his <a href="http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/sidney-crosby-supports-penguins-decision-go-white-house/">statement in advance of the visit that it was “a great honour”</a> came amid a <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/nba-star-curry-and-golden-state-warriors-nix-white-house-visit/a-40655345">boycott of the White House by the NBA champion Golden State Warriors</a>, and Trump’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/columnists/trump-race-nfl-nba.html">racist criticisms of NFL players’ taking a knee to protest police brutality against black Americans</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"912019957243883520"}"></div></p>
<p>Almost 50 years ago, the question was asked of another white non-American: Australian sprinter <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/oct/05/guardianobituaries.australia">Peter Norman</a>. The two athletes’ starkly different responses to similar situations of racial tension highlight the extent to which Crosby, the Penguins and the NHL — in the face of profound injustice — failed to rise to the occasion.</p>
<h2>A lasting image of protest</h2>
<p>The photo of African-American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, heads bowed, each raising a black-gloved fist in a Black Power salute, taking a stand for racial equality and human rights, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/09/24/they-didnt-takeaknee-the-black-power-protest-salute-that-shook-the-world-in-1968/">remains an iconic image</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188416/original/file-20171002-12107-hzxobq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188416/original/file-20171002-12107-hzxobq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188416/original/file-20171002-12107-hzxobq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188416/original/file-20171002-12107-hzxobq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=863&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188416/original/file-20171002-12107-hzxobq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188416/original/file-20171002-12107-hzxobq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188416/original/file-20171002-12107-hzxobq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1084&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australian Peter Norman, left, supported the Black Power protests of U.S. athletes Tommie Smith, centre, and John Carlos during the medal ceremonies for the 200 metre sprint at the 1968 Olympics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Norman, the silver medallist, is the guy standing next to them on the podium. He’s wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights patch, borrowed from an American rower to show solidarity with Carlos and Smith. (Incidentally, Norman was also responsible for suggesting that Smith and Carlos share a single pair of gloves after Carlos forgot his, back at the Olympic Village.)</p>
<p>Norman, like Crosby, was in a privileged position to do something. Or he could have used his non-Americanness, or his whiteness, as an excuse to stay out of a domestic U.S. racial struggle, as Crosby did.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189665/original/file-20171010-17667-1fv85y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189665/original/file-20171010-17667-1fv85y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189665/original/file-20171010-17667-1fv85y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189665/original/file-20171010-17667-1fv85y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189665/original/file-20171010-17667-1fv85y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189665/original/file-20171010-17667-1fv85y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189665/original/file-20171010-17667-1fv85y9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Donald Trump speaks during a ceremony to honour the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 10, 2017, at the White House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, Norman played a crucial supporting role in what has become a legendary stand for human rights.</p>
<p>When Smith and Carlos told Norman what they were going to do, they asked him if he believed in human rights. Norman, driven by his strong Salvation Army faith, <a href="https://empirerunnersblog.org/2016/05/01/who-was-peter-norman-part-2-by-brad-zanetti/">said he did</a>. His ultimate response, which should be taught in schools worldwide, was the opposite of Crosby’s: “I will stand with you.”</p>
<h2>The price of taking a stand</h2>
<p>Norman did so despite the palpable threat of assassination in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/observer/gallery/2008/jan/17/1">violent summer of 1968</a>. He faced the threat of repercussions from a controversy-averse International Olympic Committee and a home country still operating under an <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-white-australia-policy-74084">overtly racist White Australia immigration policy</a>.</p>
<p>He did so because he believed deeply in human equality. As Carlos remarks in the excellent Norman-focused documentary, <a href="http://salutethemovie.com/"><em>Salute</em></a>: “Peter didn’t have to take that button. Peter wasn’t from the United States. Peter was not a Black man. Peter didn’t have to feel what I felt. But he was a man.” That was enough.</p>
<p>Norman, like Smith and Carlos, paid an enormous price for his stand. For wearing that patch, Australia blacklisted him from the 1972 Olympics despite being the fifth-fastest sprinter in the world at the time (he continues to hold the Australian 200 metre record). He was not even invited to take part in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, attending instead as the guest of an appreciative U.S. Track and Field Federation. </p>
<p>Long after the U.S. recognized Carlos and Smith as heroes (as their <a href="http://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/17664885/olympic-sprinters-tommie-smith-john-carlos-support-colin-kaepernick-anthem-protests">spiritual successor, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick</a> will be, in time), Norman remained a pariah: <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-will-stand-with-you-finally-an-apology-to-peter-norman-10107">the Australian government only apologized for Australia’s treatment of him in 2012, six years after his death</a>.</p>
<h2>No regrets</h2>
<p>Despite the hardship, Norman did not regret his actions. For him, doing the right thing took precedence over doing the easy thing.</p>
<p>Crosby’s and the Penguins’ actions fall short of Norman’s example. What’s more, in trying not to choose sides — between African-Americans who fear for their lives around police and a president who finds it hard to condemn neo-Nazis — they’ve implicitly revealed what they’re prepared to tolerate. As Lt.-General David Morrison, the former Australian Chief of Army, <a href="https://youtu.be/QaqpoeVgr8U">noted in a similar context</a>, “The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept.”</p>
<p>And yet, while it is profoundly disappointing that Crosby, the Penguins and the NHL have missed their Peter Norman moment, Norman himself probably would not have judged them too harshly. As he remarked in <em>Salute</em>: “In a victory ceremony for the Olympics, there’s three guys that stand up there. Each one’s been given about a square metre of God’s earth to stand on. And what any one of the three choose to do with his little square metre of earth at that stage is entirely up to them.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, what Crosby and his fellow Penguins choose to do with their square metre is a matter for their own consciences. For others, graced with the opportunity to stand with the victims of injustice, Peter Norman offers a shining example of what moral courage looks like.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188868/original/file-20171004-31295-juvszj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188868/original/file-20171004-31295-juvszj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188868/original/file-20171004-31295-juvszj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188868/original/file-20171004-31295-juvszj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188868/original/file-20171004-31295-juvszj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188868/original/file-20171004-31295-juvszj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188868/original/file-20171004-31295-juvszj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tommie Smith, left, and John Carlos, right, who gave the historic Black Power salutes at the 1968 Olympics, reunite for the final time with the third man on the podium that year as they as they act as pallbearers for Peter Norman at his funeral in Melbourne, Australia in 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blayne Haggart does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Almost 50 years ago, a white, non-American athlete supported Black athletes protesting racial injustice. Peter Norman paid a price for taking a stand. Canada’s Sidney Crosby is no Peter Norman.Blayne Haggart, Associate Professor of Political Science, Brock UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/715552017-01-24T19:18:08Z2017-01-24T19:18:08ZGame over: how professional athletes can have a career after sport<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154017/original/image-20170124-8088-1ii7djw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some professional players find it difficult to change their routine to adjust to other careers when they retire.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we interviewed “Barry” – a former ice hockey player in <a href="https://www.nhl.com/">the National Hockey League</a> – he was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that his career as a professional athlete was over. At 59, he was still waking up every morning believing that he could get back on the ice:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The anxiety and depression and stuff. It was very tough and I still struggle with it… I did try to [take my own life], I was just fed up and nothing was going right and I decided to put some alcohol in my body and drive.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>His life after professional sport has been punctuated by several failed marriages, a series of dead end jobs and staring into the bottom of a bottle. Barry (whose name we have changed for privacy reasons) is currently sleeping on a friend’s sofa. This is a man who was a prolific goal scorer, adored by thousands.</p>
<p>Fortunately, Barry’s story is not typical. We interviewed 27 retired male players and 24 current male players, coaches and administrators in rugby union, ice hockey and Australian Rules Football. We also analysed blogs, websites, news stories, autobiographies and biographies of ex-players in the same sports. </p>
<p>A key finding in our study is that players need to start thinking about what to do after sport almost as soon as they start playing.</p>
<p>There are plenty of stories of professional athletes leading fulfilling lives beyond sport. However, some elite players do struggle with the transition to a post-sport career. </p>
<h2>Why some professional athletes struggle</h2>
<p>Being a professional athlete is all encompassing. To give it up is a struggle. But athletes have to let go and move on at some point, leaving behind a tight knit camaraderie and public adulation few could imagine. </p>
<p>Talking to current players, it’s clear what it means to be part of a winning team, to play your heart out in a sport you love. You can see it in their eyes, the drive, the passion: they’ve got “the best job in the world” and they’re the “luckiest guys alive”.</p>
<p>Our research and other studies highlight the stress and struggle of retirement. The common struggles are due to a loss of a sporting identity, team mateship and the need to organise their own life rather than to have it organised for them.</p>
<p>Some of the professional athletes we studied struggled to find another “calling” or something else to be passionate about. The day to day life changes from the regular routines of a training schedule were also a challenge. One of our study participants said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I just can’t believe I won’t be throwing the ball around in the sun in pre-season anymore. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How to be successful after sport</h2>
<p>We found that most players, especially as they get to their late twenties, do start to think about a future outside of sport. They realise that “the dream job” isn’t going to last forever. They have to decide what comes next and when. For some, a career-ending injury changes everything in a split second. </p>
<p>Our study has shown that in order to make a successful transition, players need to develop personal resilience, skills, an education and professional relationships. </p>
<p>Players who did succeed had resilience, optimism and confidence. They also had a strong internal drive and were open to new experiences. While some players might naturally have more of these traits than others, it can be developed through relevant support and coaching. </p>
<p>Successful careers after professional sport also demand marketable skills and competencies, as well as formal education. For example, we found that those who had studied for a degree or a trade whilst playing transitioned much better than those who had focused exclusively on their performance as a player. Interestingly, players who marketed the skills they had learned in their sport, such as team building and leadership, fared much better than those who didn’t. </p>
<p>Finally, players need broad personal and professional relationships. Those who transitioned more easily had extensive social networks, which helped them find opportunities and experiment with new roles outside of sport. </p>
<p>Family and friends were also a vital source of support. In fact, many current and former players said that they could never have “survived” without their family and friends. </p>
<p>Players’ socioeconomic status, ethnicity, family and education also have a strong influence. </p>
<p>In rugby, Aussie Rules and, to a lesser extent, ice hockey, there is now widespread recognition that players need support. This is why many clubs and players associations are working together to put people, systems and processes in place to ensure that all players can enjoy fulfilling lives after sport. </p>
<p>For example, Australian rugby and AFL clubs now hire personal development managers whose role is to support players in relation to education, future careers, family assistance and connecting with employers. They are also involved in player well-being and health in association with coaches and others at the clubs.</p>
<p>Being a professional athlete may well be a “dream job”, but it really is only the beginning – an incredibly enriching beginning, but a beginning nonetheless. </p>
<p>As for Barry, when we last checked in he was still smiling and looking forward to spending time more time with his grandchildren.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows there are some common struggles among those who retire from being professional athletes but players can be successful in careers after sport.Steve McKenna, Associate Professor of Management, Curtin UniversityJulia Richardson, Associate Professor of HRM, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/494432015-11-05T03:55:54Z2015-11-05T03:55:54ZMore sex during South Africa’s World Cup meant more boys nine months on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99314/original/image-20151022-8010-ox1i01.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African fans got into the World Cup spirit in more ways than one.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nine months after South Africa hosted the 2010 football World Cup a disproportionately higher number of male babies were born compared with the previous eight years. There are two reasons for this: people were having more sex and they were happy. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2015.10.006">our study</a>, published in the journal Early Human Development, we found that nine months after the World Cup, the sex ratio at birth increased. The ratio is defined as the proportion of male babies in the total population of babies born.</p>
<p>The sex ratio at birth can be used to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9533502">assess</a> the stress a population is under.</p>
<p>When there is stress due to natural events such as earthquakes, floods or man-made events such as terrorist attacks, fewer male babies on average are born, showing a decreased sex ratio at birth. When there are no events adding stress to people, more male <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25219502">babies</a> than female babies are born alive. This means the sex ratio is increased.</p>
<h2>Why more boys were born</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99071/original/image-20151020-32225-85nnc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The percentage of boys born between February and March from 2003 to 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Between February and March 2011 – nine months after the World Cup – the proportion of boys born compared to girls was 50.6%. This is the highest proportion recorded for that time of year since 2003. In previous years, the average proportion for that time of year was about 50.3%. Although this is only a 0.3% difference, which might appear small, it translates to an extra 1100 male births.</p>
<p>From our statistical analysis, it is highly likely that this increased birth rate nine months after the tournament was not a coincidence. There are a combination of two factors in the context of our study that result in more male than female children being born. This includes sperm motility, or the ability of sperm to move forward, and how frequently people have sex.</p>
<p>When people have sex more often, on average more boys are born. This relates to the fertile period of a woman’s menstrual cycle. If conception takes place at the beginning or the end of the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18687340">fertile period</a>, the child is more likely to be a boy. If it takes place in the middle of the fertile period, the child is more likely to be a girl. </p>
<p>In terms of sperm motility, the consequences of negative natural events is that sperm motility is low. This translates into fewer boys being born. </p>
<p>Following the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995, sperm motility <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8671433">reduced</a> in men who experienced the severe consequences of the earthquake. Nine months after the devastating earthquake, relatively fewer <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9756319">boys</a> were born than was usual for that time of the year. </p>
<p>Similarly, research shows the death of Princess Diana of Wales in 1997 was followed by a significant fall in the sex ratio at <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26093348">birth</a> in Britain. The research suggests her death was a stressful event for the population.</p>
<p>Had the World Cup caused severe stress, sperm motility would have declined in men and there would have been a subsequent decline in the proportion of boys born. This suggests that sperm motility was unimpaired at population level by the World Cup.</p>
<p>Other studies shows that South Africans were less stressed during the World Cup period. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24252783">One</a> conducted in Cape Town during the tournament showed that emergency admissions of those 18 years and younger (the paediatric population) was 37% less than usual relative to periods before and after the event.</p>
<p>Another <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2013.12.013">study</a> showed that up to eight months after the tournament South Africans said they felt good about themselves and their communities. This could be attributed to the country hosting the tournament.</p>
<h2>Watching sport does things to the body</h2>
<p>There is ample evidence that watching major sporting events can have a biological effect on the population. People have increased emotions when they watch sport. </p>
<p>Research shows that during the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24924743">2003 Rugby World Cup</a> semi-final when New Zealand lost to Australia, there was an increase in New Zealand women being admitted to hospital for heart failure and there was an increase in cases of abnormal heart rhythms and heart rates among men in the immediate aftermath of the game. There was a 50% relative increase in admissions for heart failure and a 2.6-fold increase in admissions for abnormal heart rhythms and rates compared to periods when there was no rugby match.</p>
<p>Separate research shows that during the 2006 football World Cup in Germany, when the German national team took to the field, heart attacks and other heart disorders of sudden onset became <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18234752">more common</a> due to emotional stress. Cardiac emergencies nearly tripled in Germany on the days their national team was playing.</p>
<p>And analysing the football World Cups between 1998 and 2010 shows that <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23657272">heart attacks</a> increased in Brazil when the Brazilian national team played in the tournament.</p>
<p>Similarly, in 2010 when the men’s Winter Olympic games ice hockey <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21915235">final</a> between Canada and the US was broadcast, emergency department visits in Ontario – the most populous Canadian province – increased significantly for those classified as experiencing a severe cardiac condition. The games were arguably the most watched television event in Canada’s history.</p>
<p>In 2000, global anti-apartheid stalwart and former South African president Nelson Mandela <a href="http://db.nelsonmandela.org/speeches/pub_view.asp?pg=item&ItemID=NMS1148">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, it has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These words are clearly supported by biological phenomena.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More male babies were born in South Africa nine months after the country hosted the 2010 World Cup. There’s science behind it.Gwinyai Masukume, Medical Doctor, Epidemiologist and Biostatistician, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the WitwatersrandVictor Grech, Co-Chair, Humanities, Medicine and Sciences Programme, University of MaltaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.