News

Members of the NORTH PA laboratory attended the Northeastern Ontario Coaching Summit in North Bay, Ontario on November 23rd, 2019. This coaching summit hosted by Canadore College, was the first coaching conference to be held in Northern Ontario! 

Dr. Mark Bruner, Dr. Barbi Law, Dr. Colin McLaren, and 2nd year MSc Kin student Rachel Van Woezik presented an inviting break out session titled, “Building Effective Teams“, which provided evidence-based strategies that can be used with teams and/or athletes. 

During this session, Dr. Mark Bruner introduced a social identity perspective to team building as well as facilitated an exercise with fellow colleagues that challenged individuals to map out their ‘social world’.

Dr. Barbi Law introduced www.SportPsychologyforCoaches.ca and discussed its development and implementation. This free online evidence-based resource for coaches includes information about mental skills and activities that they can adapt and implement with their athletes. 

Dr. Colin McLaren shared his knowledge with those who attended the Northeastern Ontario Coaching Summit on how to choose captains using a ‘bottom up’ approach and the social network analysis to select a group.

Rachel Van Woezik shared some strategies in order for coaches to prepare for and manage injury in their athletes prior to the competitive season.

Keynote speakers included Beth Barz, a former U Sport Women’s Rugby coach of the year and Danielle Sauvageau, a former Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey coach and gold medal winner. 

To learn more about the first Northeastern Ontario Coaching Summit, visit their website here at https://improveyourcoaching.ca/summit/.

On October 17th, NORTH PA team members attended the 2019 SCAPPS conference in Vancouver, BC. This conference explored a range of topics within the field of sport and exercise psychology, motor learning and control.

The following includes the NORTH PA team members who attended the SCAPPS conference in October:

Dr. Mark Bruner, Dr. Barbi Law, Dr. Colin McLaren, Jordan Sutcliffe, Jordan Herbison, Rachel Van Woezik, Alanna Shwed, Kieran Peltier, Dillon Collett, and lab alumni Jordan Sutcliffe.  

Congratulations to Jordan Sutcliffe, who successfully defended his MSc Kinesiology Thesis on August 8th 2019. 

Jordan’s project was titled Exploring the relations between personal and social identity on competitive youth sport parents’ moral intentions towards antisocial parent behaviour.

Jordan will continue his career in research as he begins a PhD at the University of Wollongong, Australia. 

Congratulations Jordan, and best of luck!

Are you a recent graduate (within last 3 years) of an undergraduate or masters degree in Physical & Health Education, Kinesiology, Human Kinetics or related field? Are you interested in exercise, health, sport psychology and/or health promotion? If yes, this position might be for you!!

The NORTH PA lab is hiring a full-time Research Intern (NOHFC) for a 1-year contact. The successful candidate will be working on projects related to children’s physical activity in both school and sport settings. This is a great opportunity to develop research as well as many career-related skills.

If you are interested in applying, please see the job ad below. Don’t forget to submit your application before Friday August 9th, 2019.

https://www.nipissingu.ca/sites/default/files/employment_postings/2019-07/NOHFC%20PHED%202019.pdf

Dr. Brenda Bruner and Dr. Mark Bruner attended the annual meeting for the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) from June 4th – 7th in Prague, Czech Republic. 

At the conference, Dr. Brenda Bruner made a poster presentation titled Exploring Grade and Sex Influences on Movement Behaviour During the Balanced School Day in Northeastern Ontario.

On Friday April 26th, 2019 the NORTH PA lab welcomed Dr. Ted Hewitt, president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Thank you Dr. Hewitt for taking the time to visit our lab and allowing us to share our research with you.

On March 21-24, 2019, NORTH PA lab members attended the 23rd annual Eastern Canada Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium (ECSEPS) regional conference hosted by York University, in Vaughan, Ontario.

In order of presenting, project proposals included:

Move Eat Sleep Repeat for Better Mental Health – Brianne O’Rourke, Research Intern

Building a Winning Team Culture: Understanding Coach and Athlete Perspectives – Chris Cheng, 1st year MSc Kin

Understanding Sport, Physical Activity and Wholistic Health in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Youth – Kieran Peltier, 1st year MSc Kin

Exploring the relationship between a food skills program and mental well-being of post-secondary students – Quintin McCluskie, 1st year MSc Kin

Sampling and Specializing in Youth Sport: Exploring Social Identities and Developmental Experiences – Alisha Laciak, 4th year BPHE

Coach Education and Interpersonal Knowledge in Youth Sport – Rachel Van Woezik, 1st year MSc Kin

The Timbits Effect: Exploring food rewards and the role it plays on children’s motivation to participate in sport – Alanna Shwed, 1st year MSc Kin

Also at the conference included post-doctoral fellow Collin McLaren, undergraduate research assistant Allyn Massana, and faculty members Dr. Mark Bruner and Dr. Barbi Law.

On Thursday March 21, 2019, Nipissing University (NU) celebrated 25 full-time student leaders at the annual Dave Marshall Leadership Awards.

Recognized for her outstanding contribution and dedication to the NU campus, NORTH PA student Taylor Mueller was awarded a Dave Marshall Leadership Award in the campus category. Working towards a Masters degree in kinesiology, Taylor has demonstrated campus leadership through her initiative the #iamstronger campaign. The #iamstrongher campaign featured a week of events on the topic of positive body image for women and included Mirrorless Monday, Talk About it Tuesday, What We Love About Our Body Wednesday, Smash the Scale, and Feel Good Friday.

Upon graduation, Taylor would like to become a fundraiser. Specifically, she would like to work for a non-profit organization that raises funds for eating disorder awareness, prevention, and treatment. She would also like to see the #iamstrongher campaign implemented at other universities so the message can reach even more women and girls.

Congratulations Taylor on this prestigious achievement!

On Tuesday March 19th, 2019, NORTH PA students Jordan Sutcliffe, Alanna Shwed, and Quintin McCluskie participated in Nipissing University’s 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

3MT is a university wide competition for masters and doctoral students to present their research and its wider impact to non-specialist judges in less than 3 minutes. The challenge is to present complex research in a compelling, engaging way using only one slide.

Placing first in the competition was Jordan Sutcliffe, with his presentation titled Rink Rage. Jordan will move on to the provincial 3MT competition at McMaster University on April 17th, 2019. Alanna Shwed won the people’s choice award with her presentation titled The Timbits Effect, and Quintin McCluskie had a stellar presentation with his project titled Food Skills. Daryl Tjin, also of the MSc Kinesiology program, placed second with her presentation Can You Keep a Secret.

The NORTH PA lab would like to congratulate all participants for their engaging presentations.

For more information on Nipissing’s 3MT competition, click here.