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Register now for the Canadian Research Forum on Sport Participation – Brainstorming and Contributions Session

2009 Conference Information:

Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Event Date: November 4, 2009

Hotel: Crowne Plaza Ottawa

The third annual Sport Canada Research Initiative (SCRI) conference will be held in Ottawa on Nov. 4, 2009 in conjunction with the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) conference, Nov. 5-7.

The annual conference is a great opportunity for sport researchers, practitioners and policy makers to share their knowledge and expertise with a view to maximizing the practical applications of sport participation research.

This year’s programme features presentations by Sport Canada-funded researchers and a key note presentation by Fred Coalter, Professor of Sports Policy at the University of Stirling. Most notably, Fred Coalter is responsible for compiling Sport England/UK Sport’s Value of Sport Monitor, an online monitoring service of the most up-to-date international evidence on the contribution of sport to a range of broader social issues. Dr. Coalter will discuss the government emphasis on ‘evidence-based policy-making’ and the challenge which this poses for sport. This key note presentation will be the launching point for a solution-focused workshop led by Ian Bird of the Sport Matters Group.

This year, participants at the SCRI conference are invited to stay on for the North American Society for Sport Sociology (NASSS) program at no additional cost, including a SCRI/NASSS co-sponsored reception the evening of Nov. 4 and a day of Canada-focused sport participation policy sessions on Nov. 5. Topics to be addressed at NASSS include: the Long Term Athlete Development Model; evaluating policies intended to increase sport participation; sport participation and diversity; and Major Games sport participation legacy. Those interested in submitting paper or poster abstracts to NASSS must register separately for the NASSS conference at www.nasss.org/2009/registration.html.

The purpose of the SCRI conference is to gather together policy makers with all current SSHRC and CIHR-funded sport researchers to share their knowledge and expertise in view of maximizing the practical applications of sport participation research. Some specific objectives of the conference include: strengthening the link between sport research and the development of sport participation policy in Canada; initiating an effective dialogue between Canadian sport researchers, sport policy makers and sport practitioners; and encouraging graduate students to contribute to and remain in the field of sport policy.

Since the inception of the SCRI, Sport Canada has funded approximately 70 research projects via SSHRC and CIHR, including 30 Standard Research Grants, 8 Postdoctoral Fellowship stipends, 20 Doctoral Fellowship stipends and 5 Release Time stipends. Due to growing numbers, researchers with final results are asked to present in the morning plenary sessions, while those with research in progress are invited to present posters. The afternoon sessions will be devoted to dialogue between sport researchers, policy makers and practitioners.

The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) is organized exclusively for educational purposes to promote, stimulate, and encourage the sociological study of play, games, and sport, to support and cooperate with local, national and international organizations having the same purposes, and to organize and arrange meetings and issue publications concerning the purpose of the Society. The Society shall recognize and represent all sociological paradigms for the study of play, games, and sport and will promote scholarly activity and exchange among these alternative paradigms and perspectives.

NASSS CONFERENCE

The 30th annual conference of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) will be held November 4-7, 2009 at the Marriott Hotel on Kent Street in Ottawa, CAN. The theme for this year’s conference is “Sport and Bodily Culture in Hard Times.” Given the economic downturn and its impact all over the planet, the Program Committee felt that we, as NASSS members, could reflect on the “Hard Times” behind and ahead of us and what they mean for sport and, more broadly, for culture. Hard times impact on the lives of people in so many negative ways. At the same time, they may push us to reinvent ourselves and to rethink the social structures that organize our worlds so that we do not end up in the same catastrophic situation. Since sport is so often appreciated for the values it instills and the leadership it creates, one has to wonder whether drastic changes should occur so that sport could help in developing leaders with different values (e.g., interdependence) who would work to transform our societies and avoid past errors. In a world where increasingly we define ourselves by what we have (e.g., a house, a car, a membership in a club, friends on Facebook, a nice body), should the social dynamics as well as the individual choices that have brought us to Hard Times be renewed? Could we define ourselves and our social worlds differently? How are sport and bodily culture linked to subjectivities and social forces, and how could they be part of an effort to think ourselves/our planet anew? Should we struggle to keep sport and bodily culture just as they are and continue to pursue “business as usual”? What role should we play, as scholars, in asking and answering such questions?

 

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