Canadians believe that sport has a positive influence on youth (90%) and that it is generally an effective vehicle for reinforcing societal values. They do, however, distinguish between the efficacy of community-based sport (90% say it reinforces broader societal values to some or a great extent), versus Olympic-level (76%) and professional sport (45%).

In general, those involved in sport in some capacity, either as participants, coaches/volunteers or parents, are more positive about the impact of sport on youth and on the reinforcement of values. In particular, coaches/ volunteers are the most positive in their views of the role and performance of sport.

Canadians believe that sport is overly focused on competition to the detriment of promoting key values such as respect, accessibility, fairness, and integrity and trust. There are also some concerns about the extent to which sport promotes fun over competition and builds self-esteem within a safe environment. Not surprisingly, hockey and football are identified most frequently, hockey by a margin of three to one over football, as the most unsafe sports. The bottom line for most Canadians is that the sport we have is not the sport we want and that more needs to be done to better align sport with core societal values.

Sport participants tend to believe it is less important for values to be reinforced by sport, as compared to coaches/volunteers. This disconnect suggests that, while coaches/volunteers may be effective role models and conduits to carry the message of True Sport values to participants, there may be a need to consider alternative channels and vehicles to promote the True Sport philosophy directly to participants.

Based on perceptions of key behaviours on the rise, Canadians are most concerned about inappropriate parental behaviour; yelling at referees, coaches and players from the stands; and violence between players. In each instance, over half of Canadians polled suggested that these behaviours had been increasing over the last two to five years. At the same time, one-third or more Canadians also perceived that abuse and harassment, forcing children to participate in sport, cheating and teasing were also on the rise.

Doping does not appear to be a major concern for Canadians either at the elite or high school/university level as evidenced by the relatively few who believe Canadian athletes use banned substances to enhance their performance (less than one in four).

Read the full survey.