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The recent evolutions in sport management technology have proven to play an important role with systematic processes that mitigate risk.
Published on October 12, 2023
By: Markel Canada
Michael sprints across the pitch, the ball shifting between feet, nothing but wide-open space between himself and the goalie. As he nears the net, he senses someone coming towards him, but he’s moving too quickly to pivot. The next thing he remembers is lying on his back looking up at the clouds, a flurry of nearby refs and players calling his name.
The 10-year-old was knocked out by an approaching player and fell briefly unconscious when his head hit the grass. Now alert, Michael can hear the refs going through a well-rehearsed list of appropriate actions. One person has called an ambulance and another has alerted Michael’s parents. Another volunteer tries to move Michael but one of the refs steps in to ensure no one touches him until an EMT can rule out a neck or spinal injury.
Once Michael is safely in the care of medical professionals, the refs sit down to fill out an incident report for submission to the league’s organizers. Later that evening, one of them calls Michael’s family to check in on his condition.
In a perfect world, this is the chain of events that would follow all incidents at the non-professional sports level. And while this isn’t always the case, thanks to growing awareness of safety protocols, good governance, and a sharper focus on how to improve sports at every level, it’s becoming increasingly common.
Good governance is good business
Michael’s situation could have been much worse if those in charge had less knowledge of safety protocols. His injury could have been exacerbated had someone moved his body after the fall. Had medical professionals not been called right away, he might have gone home with an undiagnosed concussion.
“Increasingly, more attention is being placed onto governance models, driven by a growing awareness of player safety and a keen focus on ethics to ensure greater support for mental and emotional wellbeing.”
In this situation, the volunteers and employees were properly trained thanks to good governance. In other words, there were systems and processes in place to ensure the safety and wellness of participants, and a set of rules and regulations to follow. Increasingly, more attention is being placed onto governance models, driven by a growing awareness of player safety and a keen focus on ethics to ensure greater support for mental and emotional wellbeing. There are of course financial drivers: sports organizations can’t function without insurance, and if they don’t have good governance in place—and the right leadership to enact and adequately enforce them—their insurance costs can become too high to continue operating. “Insurance companies often get vilified by activity operators” says Brenda McClung of Markel Canada, a commercial insurer and leader in sport insurance. “It’s common for premiums to increase when risk increases; this puts businesses in tough places. What is not often accounted for is the guidance and risk mitigation procedures that those on the underwriting and insurance side can offer to sport organizations. Markel Canada is lucky to partner with top tier service providers so that things like waiver review and injury protocols are enforced, and thus a safer way forward is presented to businesses and participants” McClung continues.
An ever-evolving model
What was generally accepted practice as recently as five years ago, now feels outdated and even dangerous. From volunteers stepping in as everything from coach to referee to safety leader, to a lack of training around how to manage on-field incidents, what was once commonplace is no longer accepted, and athletes are beginning to feel safer because of it. Steven Indig, a lawyer with Sport Law, a sport consulting organization, affirms that people must be placed into positions of strength and knowledge rather than assuming roles in which they do not have the experience or expertise to manage. Dina Bell-Laroche, also of Sport Law, focuses on elevating sport with a special lens on ethical leadership speaks to this ever evolving model as being a “sport renaissance”. Renaissance means ‘rebirth’ and we believe that the greatest act of courage in this moment would be for thought leaders to come together and agree that the invisible systems and structures that underpin sport need to be put to rest. Bell-Laroche shares in a post on the organization’s site. “The current sport system was not designed to meet the complexities of the current day, and to assume that a historical model would continue to properly support the industry is maddening for all parties involved. A guiding question that informs the work Sport Law offers is to imagine a values-based, inclusive, human-centric, and well-resourced sporting system and what that looks like holistically” states Bell-Laroche.
This evolution is in part thanks to better use of technology across the industry. With the digitization and automation of many administrative tasks, volunteers and leadership can devote greater bandwidth to more complex and important jobs like training, fundraising, and human resources. With more focus on the things that truly matter, organizations are finding new ways to strengthen their own foundations.
The power of local sports
Sports can be the lifeblood of communities. Starting at an early age, they help kids learn valuable teamwork and problem-solving, spend time with their peers, and develop a lifelong love of sport. Adult leagues offer an opportunity for escape outside of work and help form social bonds with other people and with their communities. People who play sports at any level are healthier, happier, and more inclined to support their community.
“The current sport system was not designed to meet the complexities of the current day, and to assume that a historical model would continue to properly support the industry is maddening for all parties involved.”
Amateur sports allow participants, no matter their background, to participate on a level playing field. For a country like Canada, where immigration is high, sports can help newcomers find meaningful connections, stay active, and better integrate and feel part of Canada’s historical social fabric. “Sports are a right, not a privilege” shares Bell-Laroche “seeing sport as a right for all can reflect our highest values. The focus can often shift to people worrying about the risk of what can happen during a sporting activity, I would encourage folks to re-examine and imagine the risk if we were barred from the ability to play and the detriment it would have”.
When leagues and clubs are run with good governance in place, it sends a message to the community that whether they’re a brand new player or a lifetime one, their safety—and happiness—matters.
A technology-driven future
For sports to be safe and welcoming, we have to continue to modernize practices to ensure participants have a good experience and are well taken care of. A clear set of rules for who can be certified to lead, what kinds of tests they need to pass, and how often they need to recertify should be clearly outlined. Phil Mowatt, co-founder of Interpodia, a sport management software company, shares sentiments of how crucial proper management is; “a strong technology partner is often a sport organization’s first line of defence” says Mowatt. “The recent evolutions in sport management technology have proven to play an important role with systematic processes that mitigate risk. In our increasingly litigious society the importance of robust processes and best practices for management of participant waivers, certification tracking and screening becomes absolutely essential.”
As technology continues to evolve, so must the way leagues handle good governance. We should look outside of our industry to find new and better ways of teaching. In the education industry, for example, there’s a growing trend to bring gamified, video-based tools into the classroom to help kids learn in ways that more closely resemble the ways they consume content outside of the classroom. For better or worse, we live in a world where screens are with us all the time. We should recognize that new platforms offer easier and more effective ways to digest training materials to help ensure volunteers gain a real understanding of the information they need both to perform at their best and to help the organization strengthen and grow.
For leagues to continue to grow, draw in new members, and maintain an acceptable level of safety, we need to keep a finger on the pulse of shifting technology, governance and a focus on what’s at stake when community sports get the attention they deserve.