Micha is a world-class Canadian Olympic sprinter specializing in the 400-meter. She’s a 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medalist and the author of the memoir-slash-workbook titled Sprinting Through Setbacks: An Olympian’s Guide to Overcoming Self-Doubt and Imposter Syndrome.

From the research:

We chatted again with Micha about role models. Check out our first show notes about role models. Don’t worry readers, we’re also including more, such as this article in Sex Roles from Claire Midgley et al, (who incidentally has a co-author I used to run with Gabriella DeBues-Stafford!), She Needs to See it to be it: The Importance of Same-Gender Athletic Role Models. This one is open-source, meaning it’s free for you to read.

As a strong Black woman in her community, we wanted to amplify the voices of Black athletes and authors, similar to sport Black authors are under-represented in academia. In 2019 Elana Simpkins published a dissertation, Black Women in Sport Leadership: An Exploration of the Sport Intersectional Model of Power (SIMP). If you look on the mid-left side under ‘view/open’ you’ll see a file that takes you to the full dissertation (which is effectively a book written about a topic but just has an academic name!).

We also talked about comparison, and there is so much emerging research on comparison, so here’s a few we think will help everyone. In Frontiers of Public Health, Lin et al wrote The impact of social media addiction on the negative emotions of adolescent athletes: the mediating role of physical appearance comparisons and sleep. In Social Media and Society, Jennifer Lewallen and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz wrote Pinterest or Thinterest?: Social Comparison and Body Image on Social Media. In Frontiers in Psychology, authors Ouyang et al wrote The Influence of Sports Participation on Body Image, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Esteem in College Students.

Alongside the research, we wanted to include some work from the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), including their Quality Coaching Toolkit. The CAC “educates and certifies coaches, and celebrates their achievements at all levels of sport. Through its coach education, research, and advocacy programs, the CAC unites partners and stakeholders in its commitment to raise the skills and stature of coaches, and ultimately to expand their reach and influence.” Ultimately it’s a hub of resources for new to veteran coaches.

More about coaching and leadership - Michelle Caron wrote Next Level Coaching - Building an Effective Leadership style for SIRC (the Sport Information Resource Centre we mentioned back in Episode 1). Learning more about transformational leadership in coaching, this article from Canadian academic leader Jean Côté and colleagues, Youth sport coaches' perceptions of participating in the Transformational Coaching Workshop – A qualitative evaluation. Transformational leadership (otherwise known as the “four I’s) includes idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration as a way to lead. And using positive psychology tools in coach, from Stefanie Richter et al in Frontiers in Psychology, Positive Psychological Coaching Tools and Techniques: A Systematic Review and Classification.

Remember you can follow Molly and Sasha on Social Media including:

Micha Powell - @michajadapowell

Molly - @mollyjhurford and @stronggirlpublishing

Sasha - @SGollishRuns and @Yellow_Running_Shoes

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