PROGRAM 

Conference Schedule:

Morning

7:30am - Registration

8:00am - Welcome - Andrew Brotto, KSRGSS President

8:15am - Oral presentations I

9:45am - Poster session - Light refreshments to be served.

10:45am - PD session: 'Where to now?' - A panel discussion on careers post-grad school

- Dr. Shintaro Kono, Danae Frentz, Alanna Fittes, & Jenna Wowdzia

Lunch

12-1pm - Buffet Italian style lunch.

Afternoon

1:00pm - Keynote presentation: Dr. Kyra Pyke

- I'd do that in a heartbeat: navigating opportunities in an academic career 

2:00pm - Oral presentations II

3:00pm - Afternoon break - Light refreshments to be served.

3:15pm - Rod Murray Memorial Award Address: Erin Ratelle

- Knowledge Mobilization for Community Building

4:45pm - Awards and closing remarks - Dr. Normand Boule & Elisha Krochak

5-6pm - Networking session and social - Light refreshments and cash bar.

Join us at Dewey's on campus starting at 7pm!

Oral Presentation Abstracts

Morning Oral Presentations

Completion Rates, Reliability and Lessons Learnt of a Virtual Protocol for Assessing Fundamental Movement Skills in Preschool-Aged Children

Ramiah Moldenhauer¹, Morgan Potter¹, Madison Boyd¹, Joshua Li¹, Yeongho Hwang¹, Jayleen Hills¹, Patti-Jean Naylor², Ryan E. Rhodes², Sam Liu², Jean Buckler², Valerie Carson¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, 2. School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

Background: The PLAYshop program is a parent-focused physical literacy intervention for early childhood. A virtual protocol was developed to assess the primary outcome fundamental movement skills (FMS) during COVID-19. The objectives of this study were: 1) examine the completion rates and inter-rater reliability and 2) describe lessons learnt of the virtual assessment.

Method: Participants included 130 children (116 who have completed follow-up assessments) aged 3-5 years old from British Columbia and Alberta. Five FMS (overhand throw, underhand throw, horizontal jump, hop, one leg balance) were measured via a recorded virtual Zoom meeting at baseline and 2-month follow-up using the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) tools. All videos were scored by one rater and 10% of videos at both time-points were scored by a second rater. Descriptive statistics and Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) were conducted.

Results: A total of 119/130 and 100/116 participants attended FMS meetings at baseline and follow-up, respectively. The completion rate was 91.6% (n=109/119) at baseline and 94% (n=94/100) at follow-up for all five FMS. Inter-rater reliability across time-points (n=26) ranged from ICC=0.88 to 0.96. Key lessons learnt related to: set-up (i.e., camera orientation, involving children), rapport and flexibility with children (e.g., activity order, rescheduling, strategies for shyness), and clarity on scoring (i.e., number of attempts, unpredictable movement).

Conclusion: High completion rates and reliability were observed for the virtual FMS assessment protocol in preschool-aged children. Lessons learnt can inform future virtual assessments with young children.

“It Doesn’t Feel Like Coaching”: Becoming a More Ethical Coach through Action Research

Kristi Skebo¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

The purpose of my capping project was to develop my expertise and become a more ethical rhythmic gymnastics (RG) coach: to model how coaches can coach differently and thus can begin to become more ethical practitioners. I used Action Research (AR) as a method to increase awareness of my own coaching behaviours and to develop my ethical coaching expertise. AR is a form of cyclical and critical inquiry that aims to change practices through personal learning and improvement.

Based on the work by Barker et al., (2022) and Nyberg et al., (2021), I employed a kinesio-cultural exploration (KCE) approach to rethink and redesign my coaching practices, implementing a series of task-based activities to create a learning environment where gymnasts explored their movement landscapes and, instead of using drills and progressions to automate and perfect technical execution of sport-specific skills, developed their sense and awareness of movement qualities. I transformed my practices in four key ways: 1) learning to ask divergent questions and listening to gymnasts to create a collaborative learning process; 2) developing practices that emphasized sensing and noticing; 3) reconsidering the structure of the training space; and 4) becoming more aware of how my own assumptions and expectations are deeply embedded in RG culture and traditions. In reconceptualizing skill development in a competitive RG setting, I challenged the traditional authoritarian relationship between coach and gymnast.

The variability and correlates of outdoor play in preschool-aged children.

Cody Davenport¹, Dr. Nicholas Kuzik¹˒², Dr. Richard Larouche³, Prof. Valerie Carson¹

1. University of Alberta, 2. Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario - Research Institute, 3. University of Lethbridge

Purpose: Examine the: (1) variability and (2) correlates of parental-reported outdoor play (OP) between summer and winter months and weekday and weekend days, and (3) correlates of device-based measured OP.

Methods: Data from the cross-sectional Parent-Child Movement Behaviours and Pre-School Children’s Development project was used. Participants were 107 preschool-aged children (3-5 years) and parents from Edmonton, Canada, and surrounding areas. Children’s OP was measured via a parental questionnaire and the lux feature of ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers (n=98). Correlates from individual, parental, microsystem, institutional, and physical ecology levels of the socioecological model were measured. Paired sample t-tests (parent-report), Wilcoxon signed-rank test (device-based), and linear (parent-report) and logistic (device-based) regression analyses were conducted.

Results: Children had significantly higher mean OP times in summer/fall months (136.4±85.0 minutes/day) compared to winter months (51.4±32.1 minutes/day) and on weekend days (108.1 ±65.8 minutes/day) compared to weekdays (86.5±48.6 minutes/day). There was a significant difference in children’s median parental-reported OP (120.0±109.3 minutes/day) compared to device-measured OP (5.77±30.0 minutes/day). In the final linear regression models, parental age (ß=2.56;95%CI:0.24,4.89) was positively associated with children’s parent-reported OP on weekend days and temperature (ß=6.49;95%CI:4.44,8.55) was positively associated with children’s parent-reported OP in summer/fall months. In the final logistic regression model, higher temperature (OR=1.90;95%CI:1.27,2.82) was associated with a higher likelihood of children participating in >30 minutes/day of device-based measured OP, compared to ≤30 minutes/day.

Conclusions: Temperature was the most consistent correlate of OP in preschool-aged children. Implementing interventions to promote OP in all weather may help reverse the declining trend of children’s OP.

Flying in the Face of Adversity: Autoethnographic Explorations of Women’s Ski Jumping, Contesting International Olympic Committee Discrimination, and Resistance, 2008-2014

Charlotte A. Mitchell¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

This presentation is an autoethnographic reflection of my past experiences as a Canadian women’s ski jumping athlete from Calgary, Alberta, between 2008 and 2014 and a plaintiff in the court case filed by a group of elite women ski jumpers against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) in 2008 as an attempt to get a women’s ski jumping event added into the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Based on reflexive narrative writing and drawing on sport historian Megan Popovic’s (2012) work, I explore the sensations, emotions and experiences of accelerating down the in-run of a ski jump, taking off and flying through the air, and capturing the moment when I touch back down again on solid ground. I engage journals, news articles, home videos and photographs in my process of remembering and reflection. I use the metaphor of the ski jump to conceptualize the connections between “[my] body, power and gender” (McParland 2012, 475), making wider parallels to the history of discrimination in women’s ski jumping (Hofmann 2012; Laurendeau & Adams 2010; Vertinsky, Jette, & Hofmann 2009).

I situate this work within feminist sport history and the recognition of autoethnography within the discipline as a tool “to reveal how the past continues to influence the embodied experiences of female athletes” (McParland 2012, 476). This work examines hardship, doubt, self-discovery, and forgiveness. It contributes to both documenting my personal experiences as an athlete and to larger discussions about women athletes in ski jumping not yet explored in current sport history research.

Iranian Canadian Muslim Women in “The Great White North”

Mohadeseh Mahmoudi¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

In this qualitative study, I investigated the experience of Iranian Canadian Muslim women in Edmonton’s urban green spaces (EUGS) to understand how they accessed and used EUGS. I interviewed 11 Iranian Canadian Muslim women who live in Edmonton. Some of these women wear Islamic hijabs (a scarf covering their hair) and are recognizable as Muslim women.

All participants expressed their pleasure and even spiritual experiences participating in leisure activities with friends and family while visiting EUGS and Canada’s natural environments. However, their stories revealed a pattern of social exclusion in Canada’s natural environment, particularly in dogs’ off-leash areas. One participant said,“People who have dogs and go there know Muslim women do not have a good relationship with dogs. So, they are aggressive toward us. They do not want us there. It seems they ask, ‘What are you doing here’? They may not say anything, but their look and behaviour show it.”

Canada’s multicultural society encourages all residents to participate in all kinds of leisure and recreational activities, including nature-based leisure (Parks Canada, 2014). However, it usually does not happen easily. My study demonstrates that Iranian Canadian Muslim women who were afraid of, or uncomfortable around, dogs or did not like being touched by dogs (due to Islamic rules) faced serious constraints or felt excluded from some of Canada’s natural environments. This research shows that the impacts of cultural patterns on leisure participation and leisure constraints can be experienced and discussed at all three levels of intrapersonal, interpersonal and structural.

Afternoon Oral Presentations

Environmental communication at festivals: A scoping review

Mu He¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

This scoping review uses a scoping review approach to synthesize current knowledge about the relationship between environmental communication and festivals. Communication is a common approach used by festival organizers to showcase their sustainability efforts and engage other stakeholders in these efforts. A considerable number of studies have been done about environmental communication and sustainability communication, especially about educating festival attendees. Therefore, it is valuable to synthesize current knowledge, which may help festival organizers make more informed decisions about environmental communication based on collective understanding. For this purpose, 35 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters were gathered from database searches and reviewed carefully. Based on evidence from current research, I will discuss the dominant research themes in this field (e.g., What aspects of environmental communication have been commonly investigated in a festival context?) and will identify facilitators, barriers, and practical implications of environmental communication in festivals.

Encountering gendered experiences in the wild: An investigation of constraints in women’s developmental process of outdoor recreation

Janelle L. Goodine¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

An individual’s developmental process in outdoor recreation opportunities provides many

benefits at both individual and societal levels. However, individuals positioned within society

may be subjected to particular constraints that impede their recreation participation based on certain socio-demographic characteristics. The social construct of gender plays a particularly important role in the formation of outdoor experiences; this research examines gender through the framework of recreation specialization using qualitative methods. I employ reflexivity to outline ethical considerations, develop an investigative approach using semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and describe my thematic analysis methods. This work contributes to current literature that employs more critical examinations of the social and historical discriminations that influence one’s conceptualization of self as nature. Subsequently, the limitations of the study are considered, and intersectionality is explored as an alternative analytic framework.

"I was on top of the world, then ... nothing ... and today I am many things" – Retirement stories of former elite female athletes

Andreea Mohora¹, Pirkko Markula¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

Being an elite athlete requires a lot of commitment and sacrifices from a fairly young age. Due to the extended involvement in sports, athletes build their identity around their sport and are often ill prepared for life-after-sport. Existing research, however, has revealed that retiring elite athletes could face significant challenges to their physical, psychological, social, and occupational well-being, possibly struggling with a loss of identity, depression, and even self-harm or suicide.

Expanding from the previous sport narrative research, I examined 10 women athletes’ stories during their athletic lifespan and after retirement. I drew on a combination of more traditional narrative research mixed with elements from narrative inquiry (Clandinin & al., 2007) to explore the former athletes’ stories. In addition, as a former elite athlete, I included my own story.

Through a reflective thematic analysis, I revealed that the retired athletes told very similar stories about their athletic lives: they were very dedicated to their sports that they loved unconditionally despite experiencing injuries, eating disorders and ʻcut-throatʼ competition. However, the retirement experiences were all unique. Seven participants perceived their transition to be quite smooth, while three participants experienced a difficult retirement with periods of intense struggles. Once retired, most of the former athletes had found new meanings in their lives, that included family, education, or career. My lifespan analysis, thus, revealed that the athletesʼ retirement stories were complex and unlinear and allowed for a more holistic understanding of elite athletes’ retirement as a process.

Child growth trajectories from birth to three years: the impact of prenatal physical activity

Brittany A. Matenchuk¹ , Chenxi Cai² , Rhonda Bell³, Kevin Fletcher⁴, Jacob Mark⁴, Kent Butt⁴, Nicole Letourneau⁵, Gerry Giesbrecht⁵, Faith Ntanda⁵, Henry Ntanda⁵, Margie H. Davenport¹

1. Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 2. Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, 3. Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sci - Ag, Food & Nutri Sci Dept, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 4. Faculty of Science - Department of Math and Statistics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 5. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

BACKGROUND: Physically active pregnant individuals are 37% less likely to have a baby >4000g. There is limited information on the long-term impact of prenatal physical activity on child growth.

PURPOSE: To examine the impact of maternal prenatal physical activity on child growth from birth to three years.

METHODS: Data were obtained from a subset of the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) cohort (N=1,654). Prenatal physical activity was assessed (Baecke) at three timepoints. Infant weight and length were collected six times (0-36 months) and converted to z-scores (WHO Anthro Survey Analyser). We created separate trajectories of latent clusters of work, leisure, and sports scores across pregnancy. Multi-trajectory modeling identified four latent clusters of offspring based on z-score length, weight, and body mass index (kg/m2). Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess the associations (relative risk; RR) between pregnancy activity and child growth trajectories.

RESULTS: Mothers were 31±4.5 (mean±SD) years of age and infant birthweight was 3.4±0.4kg. In crude analyses, maternal work, sport, and leisure trajectories were associated with infant growth (p=0.04). Lower levels of work activity and higher levels of leisure activity were associated with lower odds of being small (RR: 0.7; p=0.03) and (RR: 0.6; p=0.04). Maternal physical activity was no longer associated with child growth following adjustment for covariates.

CONCLUSION: Maternal prenatal physical activity likely does not impact child growth trajectories in the first three years.

Supported by WCHRI, CIHR, Christenson Professorship in Active Healthy Living, Fundamental Research Funds - Central Universities, Young Scientists Fund of the NSFC.

Poster Presentations