Sport Law & Strategy Group Shares Helpful Tips During COVID-19 – Update 7

Published May 7, 2020

The SLSG is hosting weekly “Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share” where we spend an hour with sport leaders from across the country sharing information and responding to questions on employment, insurance, leadership, financial management, grief management, and other matters related to managing through COVID-19. The free, online drop-in session hosted by SLSG Partners Steve Indig and Dina Bell-Laroche will remain flexible, based on your questions, and hopefully leave sport leaders feeling informed and inspired to put in place measures to deal with the stuff that is  keeping you up at night. As needed, we are also inviting members from our team or other thought leaders who can help sport leaders make better decisions. Here is what we shared during the session:

• Steve updated us on the importance business planning and contemplating what return to sport looks like not only from a risk management perspective, but from a business perspective as well. Organizations should be running multiple financial models based on the return to sport protocols in place which may minimize the number of participants and accordingly revenue.  Furthermore, organizations may consider updating their waivers and assumption of risk documents (for minors) to include COVID-19 related risks.
• Kevin has written this blog on how to ensure safe and respectful practices when engaging with others in electronic communications and on social media.
• Dina invited people to consider in what ways has this disruption changed us and how are we coping through some of the accumulation of losses that many of us are experiencing. Some of the healthy and healing practices that were shared by participants included:
  • Working out more regularly
  • Spending quality time with our family
  • Zoom calls with friends and family and co-workers
  • Focusing on things that really matter
  • Laughing – sharing funny stories, jokes, videos that helps us put things into perspective
  • Poetry – Dina shared a beautiful poem by Mark Nepo called Adrift that reminds us of being able to hold a range of emotions, simultaneously … being able to be sad and appreciating beauty at the same time.
  • Reading books
  • Carve out moment to self-reflect
  • Create boundaries by naming your needs.
  • For more information on how to dispel some of the myths surrounding grief and loss, you can read Dina’s most recent blog.

You can access previous webinars or join our next Conversation Matters: You Ask, We Share! on May 13 at 12:00 PM EST where we will share some of our thoughts on how to prepare for the return to play and return to work. What are some of the current ways you are working that you might want to keep? What are the expected safety standards that we need to apply? What are others doing? What are the legal requirements and moral obligations? In what ways can we re-imagine sport and some of the systems and structures that may no longer be serving us?

Flow: Each conversation will begin with the SLSG Partners welcoming everyone and offering a few comments on something topical that is affecting the sport community. We will then move into providing listeners with an opportunity to ask a question or share a perspective that they would like some advice on. Dina and Steve will create a safe and engaging environment for the listeners to address some very specific topics that will most certainly benefit the entire group.

The Sport Law & Strategy Group has been providing strategic insight to the Canadian sport community since 1992. We offer a full range of management consulting, leadership development and legal services to the Canadian sport community. We are accessible, affordable, highly skilled, and we bring experience and common sense to every project. Our mission is to help you achieve yours. To learn more about us please visit www.sportlaw.ca.

For more information please contact Dina Bell-Laroche at 613-591-1246 or 613-294-4118 or DBL@sportlaw.ca.