Kinesiology

First of its kind: new master of professional kinesiology program at U of T

sgupta — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:41:10 +0000

First of its kind: new master of professional kinesiology program at U of T sgupta Tue, 11/10/2015 - 02:41

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(photo by John Hryniuk courtesy Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education)

Valerie Iancovich

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Valerie Iancovich

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The Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education will launch the master of professional kinesiology (MPK) program in August. 2016 – the first program of its kind in the province.

“MPK students will gain advanced knowledge and skills in the professional practice of kinesiology through exposure to diverse learning environments, interprofessional health care teams and top scholars,” says Professor Scott Thomas, one of the developers of the MPK program.

“Through a mix of classroom, case-based, laboratory and experiential educational offerings, we will take full advantage of the networks of expertise and breadth of populations in the GTA.”

The Faculty received approval from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to introduce the program, on the heels of Ontario becoming the first province in Canada to regulate kinesiology as a health profession.

Attend an information session

“This is a tremendous advancement for our Faculty” says Acting Dean Gretchen Kerr. “With the growing recognition of the value of physical activity for health and wellness across the lifespan, research-informed practice in kinesiology is more important than ever.

“This new MPK programme uniquely integrates theory, research, and practice through leading-edge experiential education and community engagement opportunities. It is exciting to be a part of developing leaders in the field.”

Visit the web site

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Parapan Am coaching: how autonomy and intrinsic motivation are keys to athletic success

sgupta — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 08:47:27 +0000

Parapan Am coaching: how autonomy and intrinsic motivation are keys to athletic success sgupta Tue, 08/18/2015 - 04:47

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Athletes who feel they have choices and are in control are more likely to stay connected to sport, says Catherine Sabiston, Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Mental Health

Veronica Zaretski

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Veronica Zaretski

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“The dynamics of coaching para-athletes is empowering,” says Catherine Sabiston

The Toronto 2015 Parapan Am Games treated spectators to fierce competition, with Canadian competitors bringing in 50 gold, 63 silver and 55 bronze medals.

University of Toronto physicians and therapists, physiotherapists and experts were there to help athletes recover between competitions. But what about the preparation and strategy needed to support athletes long before the competition – and well after they cross the finish line?

Catherine Sabiston, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Mental Health, focuses on exercise and health psychology research. She studied the top approaches employed by coaches that work with Paralympic athletes. That includes motivating and empowering athletes so that they continue coming back to the sport.

“If an athlete is more intrinsically motivated they are more likely to turn a loss into motivation to achieve,” Sabiston said. “In those cases athletes are not likely to lose their sense of identity or their desire to play because of a sense of defeat.”

U of T News spoke with Sabiston about her study on autonomy support and intrinsic motivation when coaching Paralympic athletes.

What are coach autonomy support and the mastery-oriented approach to training?
Autonomy-supportive behaviour means using tactics and structure to help people learn while feeling like they have choices and can control their environments. One example would be teachers offering different strategies for students to learn so that they feel that they have a choice. In sports, it’s driven towards helping athletes learn and develop skills, so it’s about mastery and choice versus winning at all costs and competition. It’s more about the process, not the outcome.

There are many different strategies that coaches take. They range on a continuum from very ego-oriented and competitive to the mastery-oriented, autonomy-supportive approach that helps foster much more positive outcomes in athletes.

Through the mastery-oriented approach, athletes feel really competent in the skills and strategies that they need to succeed in their sport, as well as their own personal goals and what success looks like. Coaches are putting the emphasis on the subjective experiences of each athlete and are offering opportunity for small successes and failures, and reinforcing the choices. There are individual differences of course between what athletes prefer – some athletes want to be told what to do.

The idea of mastery is very important for para-athletes because the strategies of being told what to do often doesn’t work for athletes – depending on different levels of function, the athletes find out what works best for them through trial and error, choices, and some structure that lets them develop as elite athletes.

What were some of your discoveries about coach autonomy support in para-athletics?
We conducted one study from the athletes’ perspectives on coach autonomy support and intrinsic motivation of Paralympic athletes. We found that those who had more perceptions of autonomy from their coach and support staff showed highest levels of intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation, which is basically involvement for the inherent pleasure, enjoyment, and interest in the task, is what we strive for in sports. Those athletes stay involved in the sport, but they also become involved in their communities – in organizations supporting sport – as officials and coaches. They thrive in success and defeat.

In our findings, coach autonomy support is very important for the athletes’ perceptions of their own autonomy and connectedness. In these mastery environments, athletes feel that they have more control in their own sport, as well as a higher sense of relatedness, to both their team members and other athletes in their field.

In another study, we looked at the role of coaches of wheelchair rugby in the development of athletes with a spinal cord injury. Those coaches provided a ton of examples of the sense of relatedness among teammates. Athletes who felt autonomously supported would stay connected to sport, beyond their practice. They would go out to rehabilitation centres to recruit other new athletes.

How have Para-athletics changed over the years?
We see the same things at the Parapan Am Games as in the Pan Am Games – a mix of skill and attitude and confidence. There are the same undertones of strategy that takes place in the Parapan Am Games and Pan Am Games, with more complexity based on managing the rules of para-sport and strategies for all levels and types of disabilities to perform at the highest level. The dynamics of coaching para-athletes is empowering. As a result, you see more and more athletes who want to get involved in all levels for para-athletics.

Read Sabiston’s study on coach autonomy support and intrinsic motivation of Paralympic athletes published in the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.

Read the study on the role of coaches of wheelchair rugby in the development of athletes with a spinal cord injury, published in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health.

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These U of T physicians and therapists are keeping athletes in the Games

sgupta — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 11:15:10 +0000

These U of T physicians and therapists are keeping athletes in the Games sgupta Fri, 07/24/2015 - 07:15

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The University of Toronto's Dr. Ian Cohen has spent hours on Lake Ontario as a first responder prepared to tend to sailing athletes (all photos courtesy the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education)

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Valerie Iancovich

Author legacy

Valerie Iancovich & Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Watch closely as Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito make their final Pan Am dive and you will notice athletic tape wrapped snuggly around Filion’s left ankle.

That tape helped win the Canadian duo a gold medal in the 10-metre platform event.

“We were working feverishly to decrease inflammation,” says athletic therapist Andrea Prieur, one of more than a dozen University of Toronto health professionals working with athletes in the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. “We were able to support the ankle and she didn’t have any issues. But that kind of detail can make or break a performance.”

Most of the U of T physiotherapists, athletic therapists, physicians and nurses working at the Games are from the David L. MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. Others hail from the Faculty of Medicine, including Pan Am lead physician Dr. Julia Alleyne and lead dietitian Nanci Guest.

Some are stationed at the Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletes’ Village, while others work from the sidelines during sporting events. Not all the attention goes to Canadians. Some of the professionals focus on athletes from countries that have no team physicians and therapists.

Prieur is serving on the core medical team and working with Canada’s diving and taekwondo teams. Dr. Ian Cohen, another core team member at the Athletes’ Village, has spent hours on Lake Ontario as a first responder prepared to tend to sailing athletes in 10 fleets on three race courses.

Dr. Doug Richards (pictured below) is the medical director of the MacIntosh Clinic and has 31 years of experience in sport medicine. A veteran of the 2003 Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo, he was team physician for the Toronto Raptors from 1995 to 2004, chief medical officer of the Special Olympics in Toronto in 1998, and national team doctor for women’s basketball (1987-2012) and men’s and women’s beach volleyball (1997-2014).

His Toronto Pan Am duties have included archery, open-water swimming, volleyball practice and field hockey. He has treated a hypothermic swimmer and tended to cuts, bruises and concussions suffered by field hockey players. Field hockey kept him close to home on the downtown campus.

“It was partly a choice to cover the home territory,” Richards said. “I’ve worked here since 1981, so I’m a Varsity Blue. I know my way around.”

As focused as they are on personal achievement, athletes are grateful for the hours the volunteers and medical team have put into the Games.

Canadian diver Vincent Riendeau, who competed with a wrist injury, is one. He was not able to practise all his arm stands in the week leading up to the competition.

Riendeau still won a silver in the men’s synchronised 10m platform event, with Philippe Gagné.

“The first thing he did after his dive,” Prieur said, “was come over to me and say, ‘I couldn’t have done it without you.’”

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Kate Sauks earned a PhD and won Pan Am gold – and that's just in the last nine months

sgupta — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 16:57:25 +0000

Kate Sauks earned a PhD and won Pan Am gold – and that's just in the last nine months sgupta Thu, 07/23/2015 - 12:57

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Kate Sauks (at right) and partner Liz Fenje celebrate their gold medal performance at the Games (photo by the Canadian Olympic Committee)

Scott Anderson

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Scott Anderson

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Double alumna talks about the hard work behind the glory and where she hopes to go next

Alumna Kate Sauks became the first U of T athlete at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games to win a medal when she and rowing partner Liz Fenje raced to gold in the women’s lightweight double sculls.

A former Varsity Blue athlete who competed in pentathlon and pole vaulting as an undergraduatem at U of T, Sauks graduated in October, 2014 with a PhD in rehabilitation sciences and anatomy and began training full time in January.

After her gold medal race, U of T News talked to Sauks about her journey from rowing newbie to international star in just five years, what it's like to practice at 5:30 a.m. and the power of sport to change lives.

Congratulations on your gold medal. How did you feel during that last race?
We led the whole way but the Cubans pushed at the end, and there was a moment when I thought they might have the extra speed to pass. When they didn’t, I was so happy – and relieved!

How do you prepare for an important race?
The night before, I imagine the feeling of rowing a race. I go through different scenarios, from feeling great and having a good race to not having a good start and trying to pass other boats. I imagine myself working through the most challenging parts of the race. After that, I try not to think about it.

I’m a lightweight rower, so I have to weigh in two hours before a race. Before that, I put on a good playlist and go for a jog to get into my zone. After weighing in, I have a break and then do five minutes of pretty hard cycling – it’s a good wakeup for your body. Usually I’m a little nervous when I’m on land, but once we get into the boat, calmness comes over me.

You do the warm-up with your rowing partner?
Yes.

That must be a pretty important relationship.
It is. It’s an interesting dynamic. You can pick your spouse, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your best friend, but you can’t pick who your boat partner is. So you have to bash it out at the beginning and figure out what each person likes and doesn’t like. Liz and I have been only rowing together since the end of May but luckily we get along pretty well. We complement each other.

You picked up rowing as an adult. How did you get started?
All through my undergrad at U of T, I was a pole vaulter on the track and field team. In my second year of graduate studies, around 2010, I retired from track and tried kayaking and volleyball. Then my sister, who rowed, suggested I try it. It was lovely being outside and on the water, and I got hooked.

So in just five years, you went from trying a new sport to winning a gold medal at the Pan Am Games?
I have an extensive background in competitive sports, so that helps. I also have a very competitive instinct.

Pole vaulting and rowing are both technical sports where you have to pay a lot of attention to different things your body is doing.
My first passion was ballet, which teaches body awareness. So now, when my rowing coach says I need to move my body in a very specific way, I pick it up quickly. In ballet you also have to be really focused and that’s carried that over to the sports I’ve done.

Describe a typical day of training.
I’m at the national training centre in London, Ontario, where we have three practices a day. At 7:20 a.m. we have our first row and that lasts between 70 and 90 minutes. Then we all go out for breakfast and go for a second row at 11:15 a.m. for another 70 to 90 minutes. Our third practice is usually weights or rowing on an ergometer (a rowing machine).

And in winter?
Last winter, I moved to Victoria. I thought that to have a chance at making the national team I was going to need to row all winter. It was a good decision!

How did you fit in your training while doing a PhD?
Luckily, at U of T, I rowed at 5:30 a.m. After, I’d go into the lab and get some work done. One reason it took me longer than four years to do my PhD is I would leave the lab at 6 p.m. to do another workout. I wasn’t a lab rat, but I had balance in my life, which was important to me.

What role has U of T played in your rowing career?
My first year in Varsity rowing was a great environment. My teammates were all very encouraging and enthusiastic; I thought it was a sport I could go really far with. Michael Braithwaite was rowing with U of T at the time, and he medalled at the world championships (and later competed for Canada in the 2012 Olympics). That was very motivating – the realization that U of T’s program could produce elite athletes.

What do you think of the university’s athletic facilities?
I was a little jealous that the Goldring Centre didn’t open until after I’d graduated but the Athletic Centre was my second home during undergrad. I always thought it was a great facility.

What do you see as the value of U of T hosting big sporting events such as the Pan Am Games?
It’s huge. So many people come to university, and they work hard and may graduate at the top of their class. But there’s more to life than what you learn in the classroom and study in books. Sports – and my teammates, and the competition experience – have taught me so much. First-years who start rowing find a sense of community in U of T.

Having the university host these events helps foster excitement for sport. And I think this also helps build community more broadly.

What has sport taught you about yourself?
When I was 16, I tried figure skating because I loved watching it in the Olympics. But I was really bad at it. Kids as tall as my bellybutton were skating circles around me, and I’d just fall. I did it for three years, and what I found out is that I love challenges – to see what I can accomplish by pushing myself. This translated to my academics. Anyone in my family would say that I’d be the last person in the family to have a PhD. I think the excitement of the challenge is what enabled me to finish it.

As an athlete, what kind of legacy do you think the Pan Am Games leaves for Toronto?
After we finished rowing, we came into Toronto for the day. We were wearing our Team Canada uniforms and everyone was super excited to see us – people of all ages. The Games are creating a sense of community and a sense of pride. Also, all of the facilities that have been built are going to be used. They’ll help inspire the next generation of athletes.

What impact have the Games had on you personally?
If someone had said to me in January that I was going to medal at the Pan Am games, I’d have said, “I wish I could.” It’s something I didn’t expect. It’s made me realize that you just never know until you try. It’s made me excited to see what else I can do.

What does the future hold for your rowing career?
I will continue to train at the national centre in London through 2016 to see if Rio will be a possibility.

And after rowing?
I’ve always loved anatomy and so my hope is to be a professor of anatomy one day.

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Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games: the Change Room Project

sgupta — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 10:24:22 +0000

Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games: the Change Room Project sgupta Mon, 07/06/2015 - 06:24

Michael Kennedy

Valerie Iancovich

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Michael Kennedy & Valerie Iancovich

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“The first time I encountered a homophobic slur, it was written on the wall in a locker room in my elementary school.” – Elise, lesbian, graduate student

Walking into a gym locker room can evoke a spectrum of emotions. For many users, it’s a get-in-and-get-out-fast type of experience. But few people talk about why they feel the way they do about these spaces.

Professor Caroline Fusco explores this world through the Change Room Project, an installation on display in University of Toronto athletic facilities just in time for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games.

“This sort of space involves intersections of cleanliness, hygiene, nudity, the body and the sense of looking at other people’s bodies,” Fusco says. “It’s an everyday, mundane space; but it’s a very contested space, too.”

Inspired by graffiti, the student voice and fusing the academic and the co-curricular, Fusco surveyed 54 students, including some from her “Geographies of Health” class and others from U of T more broadly, including the LGBTQ community. The answers to her questionnaire, which explored various topics related to the locker room experience and culture, revealed themes of inclusion, gender, safety, the body, guilt, shame, homophobia and surveillance.

Amanda De Liso, Fusco’s graduate student and research assistant on the project, worked with Hart House’s program coordinator Day Milman and a graphic designer to turn excerpts from the survey responses into vinyl wall decals. The decals will be on display inside change rooms and common areas of athletics facilities on the downtown and Mississauga campuses, with an overview version installed at University of Toronto Scarborough during the Games.

Michelle Brownrigg, director of physical activity and equity for U of T's Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, says the project should help to foster dialogue improve staff training and programming andcreate more welcoming and inclusive spaces at U of T.

“Visibility, voice, recognition and awareness are steps toward the creation of inclusive spaces,” Brownrigg says.“The Change Room project provides a voice and recognition, especially for LGBTQ students in a visible way to create awareness around the issues that can arise for members of those communities seeking to participate in physical activity and sport.”

U of T News writer Michael Kennedy spoke with Fusco about the Change Room Project.

Why did you create The Change Room Project?
The Change Room Project initiative is a collaboration among the PanAm Pride leadership group (i.e., Hart House, the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, 519 Community Centre, the UTSC & UTM Athletics Centres) and was initiated by UTSC principal and former Olympian Dr. Bruce Kidd. It seeks to critically engage issues of participation and inclusivity in physical fitness as it pertains to mega-games venues and legacy spaces. The Change Room Project investigates how the social and physical experiences of locker rooms impact levels of participation in physical fitness and recreation by LGBTQ students.

Physical activity is an integral component to overall health and well-being. The locker room is the gateway to participation in recreation and athletics, and attention needs to be paid to these spaces from an equity perspective. Voices and bodies of students from the transgender, lesbian, gay, and bi-sexual population are often muted or entirely erased from the design of athletics facilities as well as the policies that inform the usage of these spaces. Although sexual orientation and gender identity are distinct from one another, people who are gender non-conforming or whose sexual orientation is lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or queer, face higher rates of violence, harassment, and exclusion in athletics spaces.

Though the University of Toronto is deeply committed to equity and wellness, there is still much work to be done when it comes to creating safe, inclusive locker room spaces. The Change Room Project represents the continuation of an ongoing dialogue that places LGBTQ voices directly at the centre of the conversation.

What do you hope to see as a result of this project?
The project is designed to build awareness of the experiences of LGBTQ students in athletics and recreation spaces. In representing student experiences in their own words, we hope to shift behaviours and attitudes in locker rooms to be more inclusive, accepting, and reflective, and to advocate for more all-gender spaces that provide options for safer, more inclusive spaces.

Both the physical and social space of locker rooms reflects the cultural bias towards heteronormative, ablebodied, cisgendered individuals and contributes to the underrepresentation of LGBTQ populations in these spaces. Locker rooms are designed around restrictive notions of gender is binaries, one is either male or female. Increased awareness, through dialogue and reflection will help create physical and social spaces where gender and sexuality cease to be barriers to participation in physical activity and recreation.

We hope that as people read the words of LGBTQ students, that they reflect on their own experiences in locker room spaces. People might ask themselves , "what can I, as an individual and as a member of the University of Toronto community, do to create spaces accessible to all people: transgendered or cisgendered, straight or queer?" We are all responsible for creating safe, inclusive and positive spaces.

How effective have LGBT celebrities (Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner, Chelsea Manning, and Canada’s own Jenna Talackova) been at building awareness around the challenges faced by this community?
I imagine that these celebrities do bring attention to the existence of trans gender individuals who have been closeted, passing, and silenced but I am not sure that the everyday lives of trangendered people will change dramatically. While there is a certain acceptance of difference because of the voyeuristic nature of celebrity culture, I would argue that acceptance of celebrity 'queerness' does not always translate to embracing transgenderism in the everyday.

In big cities and small towns across Canada and the USA, I would guess that, despite the visibility of celebrities, there are many transgendered individuals who live in fear of, and experience, violence and harrassment, they cannot get a job, they cannot access athletic facilities or teams, they are thrown out of their housing, and they are disowned by their families and friends everyday of their lives. At such times the realities of one's everyday and the hyper reality of celebrity culture must seem worlds apart. Perhaps, the celebrities but more so events such as the Trans March at Toronto Pride may signal hope for someone who dreams of, and for, a different world.

What advice do you have for LGBT athletes who face barriers to participation and inclusion in their sport?
Find out where the safe spaces are, seek out other LGBTQ athletes and allies, report bullying, homophobic and heteronormative harassment to people who will act on it, know your sport policy on gender non-conforming individuals, keep up-to-date with latest research/studies (e.g., see http://www.outonthefields.com/), be proud, be safe and celebrate your physicality always.

The exhibit will have a presence at Pride House Toronto and U of T Houses during the Games. You can learn more about the project on the Hart House website. Share your thoughts on Twitter #changeroomproject. Feedback will contribute to ongoing research on the locker room experience and will be used to help create more welcoming and inclusive spaces for all.

Also, watch the Canadian Olympic Committee's One Team video that features, athletes, coaches and allies working towards making locker rooms, classrooms and our sports environments more LGBTQ-friendly and welcoming for all.

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This track star qualified for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games after switching events

sgupta — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 10:04:26 +0000

This track star qualified for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games after switching events sgupta Tue, 06/30/2015 - 06:04

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(photo by Sandy Nicholson)

Adrienne Harry

Author legacy

Adrienne Harry

Faculty of Arts & Science

Qualifying for an international sporting event such as the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games is typically the culmination of many years’ practice.

But Varsity Blues hurdler Gregory MacNeill managed to get himself ready for the Games in just three months.

“I recently changed my event from short-distance to long-distance hurdles,” says MacNeill. “It was a big leap of faith. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so excited and so proud of myself. It’s the fact that I was able to qualify in such a short period of time.”

MacNeill began tackling the 400m hurdles in March, traveling to Florida and California to take advantage of warm-weather training.

“I think it's quite rare for someone to pick up a new event and qualify for an international Games in such a short time,” says Bob Westman, the Blues’ assistant coach for sprints and hurdles. “In Greg's case, we felt he had the components necessary to be successful, however that is by no means a guarantee of success. It came down to his commitment and work ethic.”

MacNeill certainly had his work cut out for him. The first obstacle was to change his body’s engrained approach to hurdling.

“Our first and biggest challenge was to develop the ability to hurdle with both legs interchangeably,” says Westman. “MacNeill’s brain has been programmed to hurdle exclusively on his right leg for years. The first step was to deprogram that old system and reprogram his brain to use both legs freely. This takes time and repetition, but Greg was fantastic at committing to the change.”

In addition to training his body to adapt on the track, MacNeill had to keep a closer eye on his health. A type one diabetic, MacNeill doubles or triples the amount of times he checks his blood sugar whenever he prepares to compete.

“It’s definitely a challenge, but I’m handling it well,” says MacNeill. “Diabetes can impact a runner, but I think I’ve done a very good job of monitoring it.”

Being away from home and training for a new event at the height of exam season also added pressure for MacNeill. But the American studies major says that a shot at winning Pan Am gold on home turf makes it worth the hard work.

“It’s always motivating to run in front of friends and family. I’m really looking forward to having that extra support.”

When it comes to fostering positive, supportive energy, MacNeill is ready to give as much as he anticipates receiving. Besides the thrill of competing in his own event, MacNeill looks forward to cheering on his teammate, alumna Sarah Wells. The Olympic hurdler who will also be competing in the Games “has taught me a lot through my whole track career.

“She’s been that big sister, high performance athlete and role model who’s always helped me out when I had any questions. Watching her at the starting line is going to be a special thing for me.”

As Game Day approaches and excitement around the city builds, MacNeill is focusing on keeping a clear perspective. “Yes it’s a bigger stage, but it’s the same thing I do every single day. I come off the blocks the same way, get over the hurdles the same way, the track is the same size. I think staying conscious of that will go a long way in helping me do the best I can.”

Westman also agrees that MacNeill is in top form for July.

“The final portion of the race comes down to pure guts…and that Greg has plenty of!”

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Convocation 2015: Chantal Petitclerc receives an honorary degree from U of T

sgupta — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 14:51:22 +0000

Convocation 2015: Chantal Petitclerc receives an honorary degree from U of T sgupta Fri, 06/12/2015 - 10:51

The University of Toronto is recognizing Chantal Petitclerc – one of the most celebrated track athletes in history and the only Canadian to have won gold medals at the Olympics, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games – with an honorary degree.

Peticlerc received the degree at the convocation ceremony for students graduating from the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, School of Graduate Studies and Faculty of Information, June 12, 2015.

Born on December 15, 1969 in Saint-Marc-des-Carrières, Québec, Petitclerc lost the use of her legs following an accident at the age of 13. Her high school physical education teacher, Gaston Jacques, would have a decisive impact on her life by encouraging her to take up swimming in order to develop her strength and stamina. This was Petitclerc’s first encounter with sport and training.

Four years later, she would discover wheelchair athletics, paving the way for a long and very successful career which would take her to the Barcelona Games in 1992 and, ultimately, to the Beijing Games in 2008.

She competed in five Paralympic Games (Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing), winning 21 Paralympic medals (including 14 gold medals), an Olympic gold medal in the 800m (demonstration sport) and breaking a total of 26 world records on every distance from the 100m to the 1500m.

While the Beijing Games proved to be the last time she participated in track competitions, Petitclerc nevertheless continued to train and has taken part in several handicycling races with the Canadian team. In 2012, she tried for the first time what could be a new career path as coach and mentor of the UK track and field team at the London Paralympic Games. In 2014, she was Team Canada’s Chef de Mission for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and she will also be the Chef de Mission for Canada’s Paralympic Team in Rio (2016).

Petitclerc is a highly sought-after speaker across Canada and abroad. She is active in various Paralympic athletics and sports organizations and works as a spokesperson for Défi Sportif in Montréal and as an ambassador for the international Right to Play organization.

Among her many accolades, Petitclerc has received the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian athlete of the year, the Laureus International Award, a Star on Canada’s Walk of Fame and the United States Sports Academy’s (USSA) Juan Antonio Samaranch IOC Disabled Athlete Award. She has been named female athlete of the year by the International Paralympic Committee and sports personality of the year by La Presse. She has also been appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec and Companion of the Order of Canada.

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FIFA arrests: sports experts at U of T on why this took so long and what it all means for the future of soccer

sgupta — Thu, 28 May 2015 10:28:35 +0000

FIFA arrests: sports experts at U of T on why this took so long and what it all means for the future of soccer sgupta Thu, 05/28/2015 - 06:28

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2014 FIFA World Cup (photo by Gisele Teresinha via Flickr)

Valerie Iancovich

Author legacy

Valerie Iancovich

Topic

From Good to Gold: science and technology in high performance sport

sgupta — Fri, 22 May 2015 14:00:05 +0000

From Good to Gold: science and technology in high performance sport sgupta Fri, 05/22/2015 - 10:00

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Athlete Flavio Pagliero wears an instrumented face mask so Assistant Professor Greg Wells can study his response to extreme conditions (all photos by John Hryniuk Photography)

Cynthia Macdonald

Author legacy

Cynthia Macdonald

Exploring the science of sport at the Pan American Sport and Exercise Research Summit

sgupta — Tue, 12 May 2015 14:40:14 +0000

Exploring the science of sport at the Pan American Sport and Exercise Research Summit sgupta Tue, 05/12/2015 - 10:40

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University of Toronto field hockey players (photo courtesy the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education)

Cynthia Macdonald

Author legacy

Cynthia Macdonald

Sport science is a rich and varied field. Some scholars spend time studying nutrition and physiology, while others concentrate on the social and psychological sides of athletic experience.

But because the terrain is so diverse, specialists in one area risk missing out on developments in another. Recently, the Pan American Sport and Exercise Research Summit in Toronto gave academics from around the world a rare chance to come together to look at the world of physical activity from every possible angle: physical, psychological and social.

“The multidisciplinary approach is a reflection of what sport really is – a conglomerate,” said Ira Jacobs, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto and head of the PanEx programming committee.

“Sometimes the best new ideas emerge from a meeting of minds, all of whom have different lenses through which they can look at something.”

Timed to coincide with preparations for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, the conference was an initiative of the University Toronto and jointly organized with Brock, McMaster and York universities. The schools each offer academic degrees in kinesiology and/or physical education, and all are in cities that host competition venues during the games. Some 30 speakers from Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, United States and Canada shared findings and discussed sport and exercise research and policy issues across an array of topics.

The conference's nine panels covered training and diet, multiculturalism and international development, motivation and sports medicine. U of T kinesiology professor Michael Atkinson coordinated a panel on athletes and identity. Atkinson said the panel looked at the question from "three radically different perspectives. But we all looked at groups who are very vulnerable in sport". Atkinson spoke about parental abuse in youth sport, while colleagues from the U.S. and England addressed sex testing and disability.

“The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council gave us funding to bring in speakers who could speak specifically about the socio-cultural impact of sport, including the effects on society of hosting a large international sporting event,” said Jacobs.

Animated discussion revealed that research suggests that mega-events like the Pan Am Games should not be considered a panacea for society’s problems. But by sharing information at conferences such as this, Atkinson said, academics will be in a better position to advise and influence policy-makers in a way that will augment the beneficial impacts of sport.

Another conference highlight was the keynote address by Professor Rodrigo Reis of Brazil. Reis spoke about how differently sport and exercise are viewed across countries and cultures, including his own. In Brazil, for example, afterschool programs are funded by government, and sport is an article in the nation’s constitution. Cultural support (and not just native talent) can be a big determinant of success at something like the Pan Am Games and yet the role of culture in creating athletes is not prominent on the radar screen of policy makers in many countries.

Jacobs described the PanEx Summit as a “multi-disciplinary trial balloon” to see what can happen when the brightest minds in sport research are able to trade ideas in a common space. Gathering such a diverse group together can be challenging but worth it, he said, pointing out that, for the many U of T graduate and undergraduate students who attended PanEx 2015, this was a chance to hear and even meet world experts whose theories and research they have studied in the classroom.

And though PanEx was timed to occur in the year of the Games, Atkinson also believes the time has come for more frequent gatherings of this type.

“Our own faculty is very eclectic”, he says. “Sport is a complicated space, and that requires complicated research. We’d like to encourage people to come together regularly, and have the conversations they haven’t been having.”

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