Exploring the science of sport at the Pan American Sport and Exercise Research Summit

Sport science is a rich and varied field. Some scholars spend time studying nutrition and physiology, while others concentrate on the social and psychological sides of athletic experience.

But because the terrain is so diverse, specialists in one area risk missing out on developments in another. Recently, the Pan American Sport and Exercise Research Summit in Toronto gave academics from around the world a rare chance to come together to look at the world of physical activity from every possible angle: physical, psychological and social.

“The multidisciplinary approach is a reflection of what sport really is – a conglomerate,” said Ira Jacobs, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto and head of the PanEx programming committee.

“Sometimes the best new ideas emerge from a meeting of minds, all of whom have different lenses through which they can look at something.”

Timed to coincide with preparations for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, the conference was an initiative of the University Toronto and jointly organized with Brock, McMaster and York universities. The schools each offer academic degrees in kinesiology and/or physical education, and all are in cities that host competition venues during the games. Some 30 speakers from Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, United States and Canada shared findings and discussed sport and exercise research and policy issues across an array of topics.

The conference's nine panels covered training and diet, multiculturalism and international development, motivation and sports medicine. U of T kinesiology professor Michael Atkinson coordinated a panel on athletes and identity. Atkinson said the panel looked at the question from "three radically different perspectives. But we all looked at groups who are very vulnerable in sport". Atkinson spoke about parental abuse in youth sport, while colleagues from the U.S. and England addressed sex testing and disability.

“The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council gave us funding to bring in speakers who could speak specifically about the socio-cultural impact of sport, including the effects on society of hosting a large international sporting event,” said Jacobs.

Animated discussion revealed that research suggests that mega-events like the Pan Am Games should not be considered a panacea for society’s problems. But by sharing information at conferences such as this, Atkinson said, academics will be in a better position to advise and influence policy-makers in a way that will augment the beneficial impacts of sport.

Another conference highlight was the keynote address by Professor Rodrigo Reis of Brazil. Reis spoke about how differently sport and exercise are viewed across countries and cultures, including his own. In Brazil, for example, afterschool programs are funded by government, and sport is an article in the nation’s constitution. Cultural support (and not just native talent) can be a big determinant of success at something like the Pan Am Games and yet the role of culture in creating athletes is not prominent on the radar screen of policy makers in many countries.

Jacobs described the PanEx Summit as a “multi-disciplinary trial balloon” to see what can happen when the brightest minds in sport research are able to trade ideas in a common space. Gathering such a diverse group together can be challenging but worth it, he said, pointing out that, for the many U of T graduate and undergraduate students who attended PanEx 2015, this was a chance to hear and even meet world experts whose theories and research they have studied in the classroom.

And though PanEx was timed to occur in the year of the Games, Atkinson also believes the time has come for more frequent gatherings of this type.

“Our own faculty is very eclectic”, he says. “Sport is a complicated space, and that requires complicated research. We’d like to encourage people to come together regularly, and have the conversations they haven’t been having.”