U of T researchers unpack identity, safety and sport participation

More than 600,000 young people in Canada drop out of sports during adolescence, with girls and youth from equity-owed groups most affected.  

Chelsi Ricketts is trying to help change that statistic. Growing up in Jamaica, she ran track, following her athletic family; her father was a competitive bodybuilder and her brother a triple-jump athlete. At 14, Ricketts was diagnosed with a mild case of scoliosis, which led her to stop competing.   

“Unfortunately, like many other girls, I dropped out of sport in high school because of body-image concerns,” says Ricketts, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) at the University of Toronto.  

Now, Ricketts is leading a study on how girls and gender-diverse youth understand body diversity based on their experiences as current or former sport participants, with the goal to help inform strategies that promote more body-inclusive sport environments. 

The work is part of a SSHRC Partnership Grant awarded to Professor Catherine Sabiston, that aims to reimagine youth sport through the lenses of race, social class, gender, body diversity, Indigeneity and disability.   

“With the study, we hope to provide a more contextually grounded understanding of inclusion in sport, while also co-developing recommendations with youth, for youth, that will truly have impact in this space,” Ricketts says.  

Ricketts has interviewed 12 young people who play competitively or recreationally, along with some who have left sport. Early findings point to body-image concerns, sport-specific body ideals, exclusion on co-ed teams and non-inclusive policies as reasons for concern.  

“We had some youth mention that they were really confident about their physical abilities and how well their bodies fit within their sport,” Ricketts says.   

“Other youth mentioned that they had limited opportunities to play because of not meeting sports specific body ideals, not having more advanced skills, or not having lots of prior sport experience.”  

Girls on co-ed teams reported that boys seldom engage with them during games, pointing to gender stereotypes about girls’ athletic ability. Meanwhile, factors contributing to youth drop-out rates deepened when identities intersected.   

Youth who were the only racialized or religious minority on their teams said they felt hyper visible and pressure to blend in. Others reported feeling excluded – or left sport altogether – due to systemic barriers such as non-inclusive uniforms or rules that don’t reflect gender-diverse needs.   

Participants identified the need for intentionality in inclusive sport, from program design to day-to-day team interactions. They also stressed the importance of coaches understanding players’ needs.   

“Many youth talked about needing opportunities just to play, and being able to play regardless of body type, identity and ability, as well as having access to sport as an avenue for learning and skill development,” Ricketts says.  

The right to access and feel safe while playing sports was central to Shalom Brown’s (KPE ’23) research in the IDEAS Lab, where she examined safe sport and Black hair aesthetics.  

“Hair is culturally significant, but it becomes a detriment to Black athletes because of the structures in sport that impact safety, belonging and ultimately performance levels,” says Brown, now a PhD student at the Women and Gender Studies Institute (WGSI).  

In a co-authored paper in the Human Kinetics Journal, Brown and collaborators outlined safety through three lenses: physical safety, including barriers to access, training and equipment; relational safety, aimed at preventing harmful interpersonal experiences; and optimizing safety with inclusive, ethical sport practices rooted in human rights.  

“It’s important … to create a safe space in which Black athletes can show up as their authentic selves…”  

Many U.S. studies have focused on swimming safety and the effects of water, chlorine and swim caps on Black hair. Brown notes that football offers another example, with hairstyles largely overlooked in helmet design. The study also points to barriers in postsecondary football programs, where athletes may have limited access to custom equipment and proper fittings.  

Initiatives improving the landscape include the Hill Run Club in Toronto, founded by hairstylist and salon owner Allison Hill to help Black women see themselves in the running space. Another is SOUL CAP, a U.K.-based, Black-owned company making larger swim caps to keep voluminous hair dry. SOUL CAP was approved by the World Aquatics in 2022.  

“It’s important for anyone in sport at the administrative, coaching or playing level to create a safe space in which Black athletes can show up as their authentic selves and represent their identity without fear of that they won’t be welcomed,” Brown says.  

As a teaching assistant at WGSI, Brown applies research into practice, particularly with students who have been wary of sport or excluded from it.   

In winter 2025, she taught the WGSI course, Playing, Sports, Cultures, which examines sport through a feminist cultural-studies lens, focusing on how identity, power and social justice shape sport cultures. Drawing on her KPE research, Brown asked students to reflect on their own connections to sport – from how lived experiences shape their relationship to sport to how movement feels in their bodies and even how equipment can be used to express identity.  

“There’s a major gap in Canada when it comes to inclusion in sport research and interdisciplinary studies can facilitate addressing that gap,” Brown says.   

“It was incredible to demonstrate to students that what they learn in other courses are extremely relevant in sport, and to see them open to the possibility that they also belong in sport and sport research.” 

BRN Brilliance is a multimedia series produced by the Black Research Network. The series spotlights Black-led interdisciplinary research, teaching and collaboration at the University of Toronto.