Status of Athlete Study

Sport Canada has recently contracted EKOS Research Associates Inc. (EKOS) to conduct the 4th Status of the High Performance Athlete Study (SAS). The intent of the study is to gather information on the training and competition environment of carded athletes. It will also gather data on the athlete social and economic characteristics and investigate opinions on, and satisfaction with the Athlete Assistance Program (AAP). Carded athletes, coaches, high performance directors and Canadian Sport Centres presidents and athlete service managers will be surveyed.

A self-administered online survey has been developed for the carded athletes. EKOS will communicate directly with the carded athletes to invite them to complete the survey.

In addition, a telephone survey will be conducted with approximately 100 National Team coaches and high performance directors. The telephone survey is expected to take approximately 20 minutes. Finally the Canadian Sport Centres presidents and athlete service managers will be invited to complete a short online survey.

The findings will assist in the evaluation of the AAP, as well as other Sport Canada funding programs. It will contribute to the ongoing process of Sport Canada’s policy and program review and development. The information collected through the questionnaires and the telephone interviews will be completely confidential and no responses will be linked to individual names.

We would appreciate if you could encourage your athletes and coaches who may already have or will be contacted by Ekos in the near future to complete the online survey and interview.

If you need more information, contact Bob Price, AAP Manager, 819-956-8027 or bob.price@pch.gc.ca or Marie Gendron, AAP Senior Program Officer, 819-956-8046, marie.gendron@pch.gc.ca.