Olympism is a state of mind

"Olympism is not a system, it is a state of mind. It can permeate a wide variety of modes of expression and no single race or era can claim to have the monopoly of it." Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern day Olympics.

James Worrall (CANADA). A 1936 Olympian.  A flag bearer for his country.  A hurdler. A lawyer. A president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. A member of the International Olympic Committee. A friend. An author.A mentor. A member of the Order of Canada. A Hall of Famer.

And if "Olympism" is a philosophy of life, this was most definitely James Worrall's philosophy. One who combined a balance between quality of life, mind and soul, and had respect for universal ethical principles. One who combined sport with education and culture.

An Olympian in the truest sense of the word. 

The oldest living Canadian Olympian, James Worrall, O.C., B.Sc., LL.B., Q.C. passed away this week at the age of 97.

We honour him.

Once an Olympian, always an Olympian.

 Career Highlights:

• 1934 British Empire Games (Commonwealth Games), 120-yard hurdles, silver medalist
• 1936 Olympic Games, 110mH & 400mH
• Assistant Chef de Mission, Team Canada (1948 & 1952 Olympic Games)
• Canadian Olympic Association (COA), President (1964–1968); Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), Honorary Life President (1989)
• Amateur Athletic Union of Canada, President (1951-1953)
• National Advisory Council on Fitness and Amateur Sport (1963-1967)
• International Olympic Committee (IOC), Member (1967-1989), Executive Board Member (1974-1979), Honorary Member (1989-2011)
• Order of Canada (1976)
• Canada Sports Hall of Fame (1987)
• Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1991)

¡Fiesta de las Americas!

In four years time, Canada will be hosting the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The local organizing committee, Toronto2015, is already hard at work preparing the venues and logistics for this immense event. Canada has hosted the Pan American Games twice—both times in Winnipeg (1967, 1999).

Photo credit: Mike Ridewood / COC 

But in just 24 hours time, the 2011Pan American Games will begin in Guadalajara, Mexico, the city referred to as the “Pearl of the West”, and known for its’ culture, theatre and museums.  This is the third time Mexico has hosted these Games, making them the first country to three-peat (1955 and 1975 were the first two times). The 2011 Games with their motto Fiesta de las Americas (The Americas' Party), will be the largest multi-sport event of this year’s sports calendar, with approximately 6,000 athletes from 42 nations expected to participate in 361 events in 36 sports.  Fifteen of the 26 Summer Olympic sports will use the 2011 Pan American Games as a qualifier for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, including handball, canoeing and modern pentathlon to name just a few.

Team Canada is made up of 493 athletes (257 men and 236 women), with all ten provinces and the Northwest Territories represented. The youngest Canadian athlete is Table Tennis player Anqi Luo of Mississauga, Ontario (age 15), and the oldest will be Equestrian veteran, Ian Millar of Perth, Ontario (age 64).

The 2011 Pan American Games will be held from October 14 – 30, with the Parapan American Games (the multi-sport event for athletes with a physical disability) starting on November 12. 

The first Pan American Games took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1951.

For more information on multi-sport events, please visit SIRC.

Canadian Athletes Continue to Lead by Example

When you pull in a cool couple million dollars plus per year in salary and sponsorship, like many professional athletes do, it’s relatively easy to share the wealth. But despite the fact that many of Canada’s high performance amateur athletes live well below the poverty line for most of their athletic careers, they continue to lead by example and give back. Time is as valuable as money. The presence of an Olympian at an event can most certainly create excitement and encourage others to give more of their time and hopefully even their money to a worthy cause.

For example, in a few days time, a group of approximately 40 national team and Olympic athletes will be donating their time and fund-raising efforts to the United Way of Canada, by taking part in the Enbridge CN Tower Climb in downtown Toronto. Joining 2008 Olympic high jumper and 2010 Commonwealth Games champion Nicole Forrester on the 1776 grueling steps to the top will be Olympic champion kayaker Adam van Koeverden, Olympic silver medalist bobsledder Shelley-Ann Brown, and Paralympic cross-country skier Tyler Mosher, to name just a few.

Another charity that benefits significantly from an Olympic presence are the Ronald McDonald House’s across the country, who are often visited by World figure skating champion Patrick Chan, Olympic champion hockey player Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Olympic silver medalist diver Alexandre Despatie.

Canadian-based Right to Play is an international humanitarian organization that utilizes athletes to serve as global ambassadors who go into some of the most disadvantaged regions of the planet to improve health, foster peace for children and develop life skills through sport and play programs.

These are just a few shining examples of how Canadian athletes continue to lead by example, in so many facets of life.

For more information on sports related charities, please visit SIRC.

SIRC Gets in the SPIN of Things

The 2011 SPIN (SPort INnovation) Summit is in its second day at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario. Canada’s greatest minds in sport science have come together for a conference focusing on premier applied sport science, sport medicine and research that services the high performance sport community.  Themes this year include bullet proofing the 2012 Olympic Games plan (London), solidifying the 2014 Olympic Winter Games strategy (Sochi) and other hot topics on research and innovation.

Amongst those sharing their knowledge are experts from the Canadian Sport Centre system, Own the Podium (OTP) and health care practitioners who focus on optimizing athlete’s health. Opening the conference were presentations in athlete planning where Dr. David Smith, Director of Sport Science from the Canadian Sport Centre – Calgary, talked about “Preparing for the Podium” and how successful podium performance at the Olympic Games requires a foundation of reliable World Cup or World Championships performance in the years prior to the Olympic Games. He was followed by Rowing Canada’s Peter Cookson and Terry Paul who gave examples on how appropriate and necessary changes in their preparations have led to success with the rowing team.

SIRC is joined by a select group of exhibitors at the SPIN Summit, including:

• Fusion Sport
• Normatec
• Sports Tec
• Sports Physiotherapy Canada
• Coaches of Canada
• Crim
• Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada

The Summit, which closes on Thursday evening, will highlight best practices in performance on demand from competitive experiences at Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For more information on sport science, please contact SIRC.

Implementing Your Strategic Plan

On February 28, 2012 SIRC hosted the latest in a series sport governance webinars entitled ‘Implementing Your Strategic Plan’ presented by Dina Bell-Laroche of the Sport Law & Strategy Group. The goal of this series of sport governance webinars, done in partnership with Sport Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee, is to help sport organizations advance good governance within their organizations.

Ms Bell-Laroche discussed 10 ‘tips & truisms’ gathered from management science, experience and good practices in and outside of sport on strategic planning. The following are some of the highlights of the webinar:

Bringing your Strategic Plan to Life
Moving it off the shelf and into practice

Strategic Planning is …
A systematic process through which an organization agrees on – and builds commitment among key stakeholders to – priorities that are essential to its mission and which are responsive to the environment.

10 Tips for Implementing your Strategic Plan

1. Communicate – Develop a communications plan with core messages and share with key stakeholders 
2. Keep it relevant - Plans need to evolve and adapt in order to maintain relevance
3. Compass – Make sure everything you do is helping you achieve your mission, move towards your vision, reflective of your values 
4. Measure Progress - Once the plan is approved, develop indicators to demonstrate progress for the plan and activities 
5. Train and Educate – Ensure that you have the knowledge you need to implement your plan 
6. Engage – Proactively communicate and look for ways to involve your members. It doesn’t stop once the plan has been approved, it continues 
7. Budget - Integrate budgeting into your planning process. Ensure budget reflects priorities. Ensure plan meets available human/financial resources 
8. Show Early Wins – Demonstrates action. Shows progress. Creates trust. 
9. Celebrate Success - Recognize contributions in creative and impactful ways. Creates a sense of accomplishment and builds momentum 
10. ‘Can Do’ Culture - Recognize that ongoing investment is required to create the right environment that encourages the “doing” in a planned and strategic way 

 An archived version of this webinar, the PowerPoint slides, as well as resources discussed in the session are available from the SIRC governance website 

The next webinar in the Sport Governance series on Board Orientation takes place on March 28, 2012 and will be presented by Joan Duncan, JDI Consulting. Registration is free of charge. 

For more information on Sport Governance check out the SIRC Sport Governance portal

Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Study

Canada is hosting the Pan/Parapan American Games in Toronto in 2015. SIRC, Canada's national sport information resource centre, is pleased to be working together with the Canadian Olympic Committee to conduct a study on the Games. In particular we are looking at the following areas:

• Expectations for our athletes
• Importance of the Games
• Potential opportunities for the Canadian sport community and other related sectors 

 An important component of the consultation process is to have as many Canadians as possible participate and share their perspectives. We would like to invite you to participate in a short online survey and share your thoughts on these topics. Please complete the survey by May 6, 2012.

Please complete the survey as it applies to you:

• Canadian Sport Community 
• General Public

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Les Jeux pan/parapanaméricains de 2015 seront à Toronto. SIRC est heureux, en tant que partenaire de recherche œuvrant en étroite collaboration avec le COC, de piloter un processus de collecte de données des canadiens et canadiennes pour évaluer :

• Nos attentes pour nos athlètes
• L‘importance des Jeux
• Les occasions à saisir par le sport canadien ou les autres secteurs 

 Nous vous invitons de participer et partager vos perspectives. Le sondage est court. S’il vous plait, répondre à ce questionnaire d’ici le 6 mai 2012.

Cliquez ici pour commencer :

• Communauté canadienne du sport
• Canadiens en general 

SIRC Newsletter - 2013 A Year in Review

SIRC Newsletter - 2013 A Year in Review

http://www.sirc.ca/newsletters/January14/index.html

2013 was a fantastic year for SIRC. Our partnership with Sport Canada and the COC in producing the SIRC Governance Webinar Series has been extremely successful and we've had lots of positive feedback from the sport community. The Leadership SIRCuit and High Performance SIRCuit have a fresh new look and contain excellent content thanks to all of the experts who shared their knowledge with us this year. The SIRC job board had a substantial increase from last year with over 1000 jobs being posted, and we published over 6000 press releases containing the most current sport information in Canada. Our social media engagement has seen the biggest increase - including visits to our website, newsletter subscribers as well as Blogger, Facebook and Twitter followers, our estimated total reach is 2.7 million!

This past year has been truly amazing and the SIRC team is looking forward to an even better 2014.