COVID-19: Response, Reflection and Resilience Building in the Canadian Sport System Amidst a Pandemic

Royal Roads' Jennifer Walinga received an SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant in 2020 to research gaps and opportunities in Canadian sport institutes and governing bodies related to the COVID-19 response.

This project will elucidate structural and systemic gaps and identify opportunities within Canadian sport institutes and governing bodies in relation to the COVID-19 crisis response. Sport provides a rich empirical setting to elaborate and illuminate some of the basic tenets of institutional, organizational communication, and knowledge management theory and practice.

The sport field can be used to extend institutional theory and institutional theory can direct research in sport to questions of institutional change and organizational field dynamics (Hoye & Parent, 2016). From their review of institutional theory, Greenwood and colleagues offer five key elements or tenets of institutional theory: isomorphism, institutionalization, legitimacy, organizational fields, institutional logics, and institutional change that are relevant in sport organizations facing the challenges posed by COVID-19 (Greenwood et al., 2008a, Greenwood et al., 2008b).

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted sport across Canada at all levels and in all contexts, beginning with the closure of sportsfields and clubs to prevent infection (Sportsnet.ca, March 2020), and peaking with the Canadian Olympic Committee's bold decision to withdraw from the Olympics in order to prevent athletes from risking infection through continued training (National Post, March 2020). Leaders of Canadian sport organizations and governing bodies are reeling from the impact of the pandemic and the possibility that sport as we know it may never return (CCES, 2020).

Canada's sport leaders, united through the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network (COPSIN), are grappling with how to protect the health and well-being of both their employees and athletes during the pandemic. Discussions have focused on how best to return to play and competition, while facing a new reality that requires a total rethinking of sport policy and practice (Strashin, 2020).

What can we learn from COVID-19's impact on sport, and the response efforts put forth by Canadian Sport Institutes and Olympic governing bodies, that will help to enhance the resilience of sport in Canada and enhance sport experience and delivery into the future?

This study therefore proposes to:

Shed light on the early impact of COVID-19 on sport institutes and governing bodies in Canada and reveal key gaps, opportunities, and learnings that can enhance sport operations and delivery in Canada well into the future.
Build knowledge on strategies for managing recovery efforts which will have positive implications for operational excellence overall and create a more sustainable organization.
Acknowledge those who emerge as most at risk under crisis scenarios (i.e. women in sport) and develop strategies to build resilience and sustainability into programs for at risk populations.
Build resilience to handle later waves of the pandemic as well as other emergencies by acknowledging systemic gaps in organizational operations within the sport system (channels, systems, procedures, policies, processes), and developing more effective, efficient and sustainable practices and structures going forward.
Share learning throughout the partner organization (COPSIN) and beyond to associated sport organizations and governing bodies across the Canadian sport system.
Provide an organizational repository of data, knowledge and resources for sport leaders as they navigate the uncertain waters of the pandemic both in real time and into the future.
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National Post. (2020, March 22). Canada withdraws from 2020 Summer Olympics. https://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/canada-withdraws-from-2020-summer-olympics

Sportsnet. (2020, March 18). COVID-19 outbreak: Latest on how sports world has been impacted. https://www.sportsnet.ca/more/covid-19-outbreak-latest-sportsworld-impacted/

Strashrin, J. (2020). Crippled by COVID-19, Canada's youth sports sector requires flexibility for families, businesses. CBC Sports. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/canadayouth-sports-sector-covid-19-1.557021