The Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport will be a hive of research activity. Professors and graduate students at the Faculty of Physical Education and Health will collaborate to study:

 

Scientists across several disciplines will explore the biology and genetics of behavioural, socio-cultural and environmental influences on nutrition, physical activity, weight and energy balance to find new ways optimizing athletic performance. Bone health in high performance female athletes will be a key focus.

Researchers will help quantify the relationship between training and benefits to individual performance, giving athletes better knowledge about how and how much to train. The work will help athletes create a personalized training program, understand how to taper their training before critical performances and avoid overtraining.

 

Sport scientists will conduct lab studies and film sports at Varsity Centre to determine how people learn movement within a sport context.  This work will help athletes analyze their technique and researchers understand how athletes learn parts of their technique, and whether what is observed in the lab gets translated onto the field.

 

Researchers will study a range of socio-cultural issues relating to the quality of, access to, and meaning around activity spaces available to Canadian youth. The work will further knowledge about the relevance of environment to the health and well-being of young urban populations, and understanding of the importance of inclusive sports environments for high performance enhancement.

 

Heart health

Researchers will explore a range of issues related to sport and heart function, including cardiac fatigue, irregular cardiac function in athletes, and sudden death during exercise. A registry of cardiac incidents among athletes – the first of its kind in Canada – will enable researchers to track recreational and high performance athletes with cardiac conditions.

 

Researchers and sports medicine experts will study the consequences of both concussion and musculoskeletal injuries on long-term athletic performance; track athlete training and competition activities to assess risk correlations; and explore issues such as return-to-play guidelines and the effectiveness of specific exercise routines during recovery.

 

A sport psychology support service will range from personal and team counseling to educational workshops. Research will also explore factors that prevent physical activity, whether participation in physical activity and sport influences psychological well-being, and whether physical activity and sport promotion initiatives (e.g., ParticipACTION) are effectively designed and delivered to the public.