SIRC Expert Webinars

Promoting Diversity and Social Justice in High School Sport: Evidence from Research and Practice

High school sport in Canada is a highly popular activity practiced by hundreds of thousands of student-athletes and overseen by tens of thousands of coaches. In this webinar, discussions will focus on examining how we can promote diversity and social justice in manners that provide safer and more inclusive sporting spaces for all participants. Researchers, physical education teachers, and coaches from different parts of Canada will provide evidence from research and practice, discussing the results of studies and initiatives designed to foster socially just sport.

For more information on the project, please visit the following link.

Tuesday, May 7, 2024
7:30-8:45pm EDT

Speakers and Panelists

Belinda Cox

Belinda Cox is a Health and Physical Education teacher in the Upper Grand District School Board. She is also an OPHEA (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association) Ambassador and an OASPHE (Ontario Association for the Support of Physical Health Educators) member. Belinda has been part of many national initiatives that support gender equity and inclusion in sports and Health and Physical Education curriculum, such as the Team Canada Olympic Day Grant, Canadian Women & Sport’s The Next Play, and Same Game. Belinda is a strong advocate for providing quality H & PE programming to foster belonging for students of all abilities.

Evan Bishop

Evan Bishop, B.Ed., Ph.D.(c) is a doctoral candidate at the University of Ottawa in the school of Human Kinetics. His doctoral research is centred on exploring Canadian high school sport coaches’ attitudes toward social justice. This doctoral research is part of a SSHRC-funded partnership development grant in collaboration with School Sport Canada held by his supervisor, Dr. Martin Camiré. Evan’s other research interests include life skills development in sport, coach education, and post-qualitative inquiry/posthumanist philosophy.

Laura Lindsay

Laura is a physical education teacher and the athletic director at Colonel Gray High School (CGHS) in Charlottetown, PEI. She is the vice president of the PEI Physical Education Association, coaches AAA rugby, and is a certified yoga instructor. She just graduated from Memorial University this past winter with a Masters in Human Kinetics and Recreation. Laura lives just outside of Charlottetown with her husband and two children.

Laura leads PHE Canada’s Game Changers Program at CGHS. Game Changers is a youth-centric program for students of all abilities to come together to create and implement inclusive school-based sport and physical activity programing tailored towards their needs and interests, while also working to develop their leadership skills.

Tarkington Newman

Dr. Tarkington J. Newman is an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work and the Director of the Sport Social Work (SSW) Research Lab. Dr. Newman is committed to serving youth populations (ages 10-24) who are socially vulnerable and/or at-risk for behavioral and mental health problems. Their research has actively engaged populations including youth of color, youth from economically disadvantaged urban communities, and LGBTQ+ youth. Specifically, Dr. Newman’s research focuses on promoting critical positive youth development (CPYD) through sport and other forms of physical activity. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, their research investigates mechanisms that promote the development and transfer of normative life skills (e.g., emotional regulation, communication, teamwork, leadership) and social justice life skills (e.g., antiracism, LGBTQ+ allyship, healthy masculinity, mental health literacy). The culmination of Dr. Newman’s research is related to CPYD-focused coach education and the use of social work practice in sport settings (i.e., sport social work). To date, they have published 58 peer-reviewed journal articles, presented 71 peer-reviewed international and national presentations, and helped secure $3,749,589 in grant funding/contracts for research. In addition to their scholarship, Dr. Newman has over 15 years of experience coaching track and field, earning three high school state championships in Michigan.