| Dear SIRCuit Reader, Welcome to the Fall 2021 SIRCuit! The SIRCuit is designed to provide a deep dive into timely and relevant research and insights relating to leadership, athlete development and high performance sport.  This week, from September 26 to October 2, is Canada’s inaugural Concussion Awareness Week. Concussion Awareness Week was established in January 2021 to increase concussion awareness by providing information and encouraging action across Canada. Concussion Awareness Week is for everyone with a role in healthy active living—sport and recreation participants, parents, coaches, organizers, educators and more!  To honour Concussion Awareness Week, the Fall 2021 SIRCuit dives into topics and issues at the forefront of concussion research and education in sport. In this edition: Volleyball Canada illustrates their approach to concussion prevention research, how they’ve used data to inform their concussion prevention strategy, and what they’ve learned along the way. Researchers at the University of Toronto explain why female athletes may be at a higher risk of sustaining a concussion, take longer to recover from a concussion, and experience concussions in different ways than male athletes. Experts from the Concussion in Para Sport (CIPS) Group weigh in on what we know (and don’t know) about concussion in Para sport—including best practices for concussion assessment, management and return to sport for athletes with a disability. Recipients of SIRC’s Community Activation Grants discuss the importance of Safe Sport and concussion awareness for their organizations, and share tips for community sport organizations looking to activate their own concussion awareness initiatives. The team behind the Youth Concussion Awareness Network, a peer-led program focused on concussion education and awareness for high-school students, explain how youth in sports can help each other with concussion recovery, and what coaches, parents and others can do to help. Other opportunities to learn this week include the SHRed Concussions 2021 Research and Community Engagement Symposium: A focus on concussion prevention. This symposium will be hosted by the University of Calgary’s Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre (SIPRC) and the Integrated Concussion Research Program (ICRP) on Wednesday, September 29.  Beyond Concussion Awareness Week, don’t forget to mark your calendars for: November – Fall Prevention Month December – Women’s Brain Health Day January – Canadian Concussion in Sport Virtual Symposium, hosted by SIRC March – Brain Awareness Week May – Mental Health Week June – Brain Injury Awareness Month July – National Injury Prevention Day For tools and information to support your organization, from concussion protocols and policies to education and awareness initiatives, check out SIRC’s Concussion in Sport Resources at sirc.ca/concussion.  The SIRCuit is designed to highlight important research and insights to advance the Canadian sport system. Ensure your colleagues, teammates and membership stay in the loop by encouraging them to sign up to receive the SIRCuit and other SIRC publications directly. Sincerely, The SIRC Team |
