Blog posts by Hilary Findlay

Published October 20, 1999 How much discretion should a coach have in selection decisions? How much discretion can a coach have? In the period leading up to the Pan Am Games we dealt with a flurry of appeals about selection decisions, many ...

Published August 9, 1999 What can you ask, or be asked, about criminal records? Questions about criminal records are increasingly common in volunteer and employment application forms with sport organizations -- and rightly so. But the way t ...

Published July 11, 1999 In a 60-page decision rendered on April 19, 1999, sprinter Ben Johnson was reinstated to sport eligibility in Canada. Independent adjudicator Graeme Mew concluded that the lifetime ban imposed on Johnson by Athletics ...

Published October 22, 1998 In the first case review under the Canadian Policy on Penalties for Doping in Sport, heard last November, the Doping Control Review Panel found that a doping-related infraction had occurred and imposed a life-time ...

Published June 10, 1998 Harassment has been a "hot" issue in sport over the past year. The high profile Sheldon Kennedy incident involving the sexual abuse of an athlete by a coach forced the sport community to forge a collective response t ...

Published February 22, 1998 Can a sport organization stop, or limit a coach or athlete from earning a living through sport? This is the essence of the legal doctrine known as "restraint of trade". It is a doctrine that has been around for s ...

Published October 1, 1996 In the last five columns, we have focused on issues relating to negligence and liability of coaches. In this issue, we make a switch to the other side of risk management. Organizers of sport programs (including coa ...

Published September 5, 1996 Sport associations are using contracts more and more frequently, not only in business affairs but also in areas of employment and programming. For example, coaches sign employment contracts; athletes sign partici ...

Published May 4, 1995 When a coach fails to meet the standard of care toward athletes, he or she may be negligent. But negligence does not equate with liability. Whether or not a negligent coach is held liable, or responsible, for the injur ...