At a Glance
- Athlete voice strengthens decisions: Involving athlete leaders in governance leads to more informed, credible, and effective decision-making—especially in high-pressure situations.
- Leadership is a two-way street: Athlete leaders both represent their peers and build governance knowledge, while organizations benefit from athletes’ lived experience and perspective.
- Investment unlocks impact: Meaningful engagement, training, and early inclusion enable athlete leaders to move beyond symbolic roles and contribute to real change.
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“It was a very chaotic time.”
That is how Suzanne Paulins, CEO of Swimming Canada, remembers the start of April 2024. News had just broken that Montreal’s Olympic pool would be closed indefinitely due to fire damage.
Swimming Canada was set to host 850 swimmers at their Olympic and Paralympic Trials in just six weeks. The host venue? Montreal’s Olympic pool.
Decisions needed to be made quickly.
As Swimming Canada staff began to navigate this unprecedented situation, they relied on the perspective and guidance of many of their key partners and stakeholders. One important voice during this period was the group of athlete leaders who made up the Swimming Canada Athlete Advisory Council (AAC).
From the very beginning, Swimming Canada staff were in touch with the members of the AAC to share the latest information about the situation. In the days that followed, the members of the AAC solicited feedback from athletes across the country and stayed in touch with the Swimming Canada staff as new information and new options emerged.
The athlete’s voice was very strong in their belief that the best option for relocating the Trials was to host the event at the Pan Am Pool in Toronto.
After a few hectic days, the final decision was made – the trials would be relocated to Toronto.
Javier (Javi) Acevedo, co-chair of the AAC, looks back on this difficult situation in a positive light.
“That was athlete leadership at its best,” Acevedo said. “Collectively, the swimming athlete community had strong opinions about this situation, and we were empowered to use our voice.”
Looking back Paulins shares “I’m thankful and proud of the role the athletes played in the decision-making process. The athlete voice on this issue was necessary and crucial to the overall success of the event.”
Moments like this illustrate the growing importance of athlete leadership in Canadian sport. And both national and international research supports this moment, showing sport systems with athlete representation as not just about being ‘symbolic’. It was found that decision-making is better when athletes are involved especially during uncertain times and that athlete councils and board representation acts as a key mechanism for accountability and legitimacy (Thomson et al., 2023).
Increased Focus on Athlete Leadership
The role of athlete leadership has been on the radar in Canada for some time thanks to the work of organizations like AthletesCAN. It has become a greater area of focus in recent years, with the requirement for National Sport Organizations to have an Athlete Representative on their Board of Directors under the Canadian Sport Governance Code.
As a leadership and culture coach, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the members of both the Swimming Canada AAC and the Canadian Paralympic Committee Athlete Council (AC) in recent years to help them hone their foundational leadership skills in areas such as building trust, fostering psychological safety, and navigating awkward conversations.
I spoke with two of the athlete leaders in these organizations to better understand how they see athlete leadership, what’s working, and where there are opportunities to improve.
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What is Athlete Leadership?
For Heidi Peters, Vice-Chair of the Canadian Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council (CPC AC) and Chair of the World ParaVolley Athletes’ Commission, athlete leadership is fundamentally a two-way street.
“We are responsible for bringing the voice and perspective of our fellow athletes into these decision-making spaces,” she explains, “and we are responsible to share the information and decisions from these spaces back with the athletes.”
Initially, Peters admits that navigating the role of athlete leader in these spaces “felt overwhelming”. Learning to read financial reports and get familiar with the language and format of a board meeting takes time.
Acevedo, who also sits on the Government of Canada’s Ministerial Athlete Advisory Committee sees Athlete Leadership from a similar lens “our role is to collect thoughts, opinions, and bring our athlete voice together and share these thoughts with Swimming Canada.” Acevedo adds that his role is also to “learn and take in information”.
Like Peters, he acknowledges that he didn’t know much about governance when he joined the Swimming Canada AAC. Four years later, he now works as a Sport Consultant with the Ontario Ministry of Sport. He credits the learning he’s done as an athlete leader as an important factor in helping land his current role.
What’s working
Peters speaks glowingly of her experience at CPC Board Meetings. A word she kept returning to was empowered.
“It’s the simple things. At our board meetings, the CPC AC report and any related business is always the first item on the agenda. Other members of the board are always asking for our thoughts on all manner of board discussion, and I know that there are no stupid questions.”
As it relates to CPC investing in helping members of the AC develop as leaders, she reflected that “I’ve come to recognize that I possess a lot of leadership skills that I’ve learned thanks to my involvement in sport. It’s been great to learn more about leadership and learn how to bring my skills from sport into the governance context. They say knowledge is power and that certainly feels true of my experience.”
These reflections align with broader research showing that while athlete representation is becoming more common, it is not always accompanied by the governance training or meaningful involvement needed to fully contribute. This points to a clear opportunity for sport organizations to move beyond symbolic representation toward earlier, more consistent involvement, alongside stronger capacity building and governance literacy for athlete leaders.
Acevedo identified a few key opportunities that have set him up for success. “Having the chance to attend the Swimming Canada AGM, the AthletesCAN Forum and participate in programs like the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Emerging Leaders to working with BE Leadership were all beneficial in helping me settle into my leadership role”.
“The role we played in the 2024 Trials relocation is the best example of our leadership in action, but I don’t think that leadership would have been possible, if collectively we hadn’t invested the time and energy to bring the Swimming Canada AAC together for regular meetings where we could establish how we work together and share our thoughts and opinions regularly.’
This experience reflects emerging research that shows athlete leadership is most effective when organizations intentionally invest in education, create space for dialogue, and actively invite athlete perspectives. While also recognizing that leadership development is a two-way street, requiring both athletes and organizations to build the knowledge and skills needed to collaborate meaningfully (Schull and Kihl, 2024).
Where Athlete Leadership Can Grow
Both Peters and Acevedo see opportunities for the athlete leadership to continue to grow.
Acevedo shared “I’ve learned so much about how sport works behind the scenes, and we are only scratching the surface. I think there is an opportunity to help athletes gain a better understanding of all aspects of the business of sport – from governance, to finance, to revenue generation. etc. We won’t know that possible positive outcomes may come from including athletes in all these spaces until we try.”
Peters sees the “opportunity to be better at engaging with and communicating to the Paralympic athlete community. I know that not everyone is going to find the governance side of sport as interesting as I do, but everyone’s opinion matters.”
My Takeaways
In talking with both Peters and Acevedo about the role of athlete leadership, some common themes kept coming up in our conversations. Themes like learning, empowerment, and transparency.
Sport, at its core, is a powerful vehicle for learning. Athletes spend years developing physical skills, mental performance skills, and the leadership skills required to work within teams and high-performance environments.
Through my work supporting Athlete Councils and sport leaders, I’ve repeatedly seen how many leadership capabilities athletes already possess. What many athletes have not yet had the opportunity to do is translate those skills from the field of play into governance and decision-making environments. Learning how to contribute to council and board discussions, and how to navigate the dynamics of governance spaces, is a different type of leadership challenge.
But this is not unique to athletes. All leaders benefit from support when stepping into new environments. What stands out to me is that athletes enter these spaces with a strong foundation. They understand teamwork, accountability, feedback, and performance under pressure. With the right support, they are uniquely positioned to contribute in meaningful ways.
The learning doesn’t stop with the athletes. Sport organization staff and volunteer boards can also learn from engaging more deeply with athlete leaders. Athletes bring lived experience and perspectives that can help organizations better understand the realities, challenges, and opportunities that exist across the sport system.
This shared learning creates stronger relationships and greater transparency.
I’ve worked in sport for more than 20 years, many of those spent in leadership roles within national and multi-sport organizations. Earlier in my career, I sometimes struggled to understand where athlete leadership fit within these organizations. Through my recent work with Athlete Councils, I now see the role much more clearly.
Athlete leadership is a two-way street of learning (Thank you Heidi!). Organizations learning from their athletes, and athletes learning how to apply their leadership skills in governance and decision-making spaces.
With the framework in mind, I see only upside in engaging with and empowering athlete leaders.
And as the Swimming Canada Trials story highlights, we never know what unforeseen risk will present itself tomorrow.
The more leaders we have, the more perspectives we can tap into.
The more we can overcome and achieve together.
References:
Ashley Thompson, Erik L. Lachance, Milena M. Parent & Russell Hoye (2023) A systematic review of governance principles in sport. European Sport Management Quarterly, 23:6, 1863-1888, https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2022.2077795
Schull, V., & Kihl, L. A. . (2024). Good Intercollegiate Athlete Representation: “All Hands on Deck”. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.17161/jis.v17i1.19499