Abstract
Access to trained coaches is essential to youth participation and development in sport. An essential function of coaching is to provide athletes with the chance to refine and learn skills to achieve performance in competition. Sport Canada recognizes the power of sport can improve the lives of marginalized groups, including Indigenous communities. Research has found that sport helps reduce violence and can divert Indigenous youth away from crime and addiction. Indigenous communities often lack suitable access to coaching resources. Access to qualified coaches is often hindered by geographic barriers; a significant number of Indigenous communities are situated in remote locations where facilities, equipment and access to coaching is prohibitive due to economic and logistical factors. Local coaching development can be hindered by the lack of accessibility to coaching certification courses and appropriate training materials due to geographic and socio-economic factors. Recent studies have shown augmented reality (AR) to be an effective medium for teaching sport and for providing formative assessment. AR creates an interactive technological experience of a real-world environment enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information. AR technology provides athletes the benefit of receiving real-time visual feedback, which studies have concluded to be an effective coaching tool for optimizing skills and performance training. This paper discusses how AR can provide an equity and inclusive-based solution to accessibility issues by removing barriers impeding coaching resources for marginalized communities and therefore providing equal opportunity for marginalized athletes across Canada by increasing participation rates and improving the living standard in these communities.
Presenters
Dan BerlinAssistant Professor, RTA Sport Media, Toronto Metropolitan University, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Education and Learning Worlds of Differences
KEYWORDS
AugmentedReality, AR, Coaching, Marginalized, Communities, Indigenous, Technology, Sport,Canada
