CoASTaL lab

Welcome to the Community Active Sport Training and Learning (CoASTaL) Lab of Cape Breton University. This Lab is funded by the Canadian Foundation and Research Nova Scotia for Innovation as an initiative with Dr. Bettina Callary’s Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Sport Coaching and Adult Learning. Her research program themes encompass various projects in understanding effective coaching approaches of specific populations of athletes as well as coach development:

  1. Coach developers/coach development strategies; 
  2. Psychosocial understanding of inclusive coaching:
    • Coaching Masters Athletes 
    • S&C psychosocial and sociocultural coach development 
    • Women coaches 
    • Holistic coaching of high-performance athletes
    • Indigenous coaches
    • Special Olympics coaches

Room bookings

The CoASTaL lab research facility has two rooms available for bookings. These are spaces catered to research-focused initiatives. More information and details can be found through the following booking button.

Book a room

Current Group

Bettina Callary
Canada Research Chair in Sport Coaching and Adult Learning and an Associate Professor, Cape Breton University (CBU). View recent publications.

The faculty of the CoASTaL lab are mostly affiliated with the Sport and Physical Activity Leadership Program , Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport at CBU.

Research Expertise: Understanding psycho-pedagogical and sociocultural effective coaching through:

  • Psychosocial and sociocultural inclusive coaching approaches (Coaching Masters Athletes; Strength and Conditioning coach development; women coaches; holistic coaching of high-performance athletes; Indigenous coaches/sport; cultural adaptations)
  • Coach learning and development strategies (Experiential and community-based; Problem/Project-based; Philosophically adult-oriented learning)
  • Sport psychology (Mental training strategies; Positive and performance psychology; Community psychology)

The faculty of the CoASTaL lab are mostly affiliated with the Sport and Physical Activity Leadership Program at CBU.

Simon Barrick
Assistant professor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

Ongoing research projects (principal investigator and collaborator):

  • Partners in Transforming Curling: Building diversity, equity, and inclusion capacity in Canadian curling
  • Research director for the 2025 Halifax Olympic curling trials (exploring event social impacts)
  • Developing and evaluating the Canadian Handbook of Safe Sport: A comprehensive guide for sport stakeholders in promoting safe sport practices
  • Exploring CBU’s Kehoe Forum as Canada’s home for girls’, women’s and para ice hockey
  • Building a Pan-Canadian Community of Practice: The Creating Opportunities Through Physical Literacy for All Newcomer Children and Youth (CO-PLAY) Network
  • Guiding ‘us’ down a better path: Shared social identity and positive mental health in Cape Breton youth clubs
  • Barrick, S., & Mair, H. (2025). Hurry hard!: Exploring the possibilities and pitfalls for curling to help (re)build society in/through community sport. Leisure/Loisir. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14927713.2025.2503184
  • Allain, K. & Barrick, S. (2024). Centre of the house: Youthful dominance and the creation of curling’s age order. Sport in Society. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1080/17430437.2024.2362179
  • Barrick, S. (2023). “It’s just about having fun”? Interrogating the lived experiences of newcomers to Canada in introductory winter sport programmes. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 58(4), 703-724. DOI: 10.1177/10126902231156143
  • Henhawk, D., Yuen, F., & Barrick, S. (2023). Engaging Struggle: The Deconstruction of the Academy in Leisure Studies. Leisure/Loisir. 47(1), 1-6. DOI: 10.1080/14927713.2022.2152364

Colin McLaren
Assistant professor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

  • Social identity and resilience in CBRM youth centers
  • Athlete leadership and mental health in youth sport
  • Group dynamics (e.g., social identity, leadership, cohesion, teamwork) related to individual and team outcomes
  • Social network analysis as a team-level approach to examine group properties and processes
  • Schertzinger, M., McLaren, C. D., Simard, M., Fransen, K., & Bruner, M. W. (2023). Using the Social Identity Approach to Understand Pro-Social and Anti-Social Moral Behaviour Toward Teammates in Competitive Youth Soccer. Journal of Exercise, Movement, and Sport (SCAPPS refereed abstracts repository), 54(1).
  • McLaren, C. D., Bruner, M. W., Murata, A., Martin, L. J., & Côté, J. (2022). Sampling and Specialising in Children’s Sport: Implications for Research and Coaching Practice. Routledge Handbook of Coaching Children in Sport, 293-302.

Shaun Ranni
Assistant professor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

  • Student-Athlete Leadership Development Programs in U Sports Athletic Departments
  • Understanding Social Emotional Learning Experiences of Coaches in Atlantic Canada.
  • Leadership Skills and Culture in Ice Hockey: Voices of Minor Hockey Coaches from Nova Scotia
  • LeVatte, L., Phillips, C., Ranni, S., MacRae, S., & O’Rourke, K. (2024). Examining the Role of Hockey Leadership to Foster Inclusive Coaching Practices: Discussions from Atlantic Canada.
  • LeVatte, L., Phillips, C., O’Rourke, K., & Ranni, S. (2023, September). Professionalism & Leadership Development in Ice Hockey: Understanding Social Emotional Learning Experiences of Coaches in Atlantic Canada. In Linköping Hockey Analytics Conference (pp. 12-24).

John Hudec
Assistant professor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

  • Coach for Track & Field
  • Community health and wellbeing

Kelsey Harvey
Assistant professor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

Ongoing research projects (principal investigator and collaborator):

  • Intergenerational conflict and solidarity in physical culture eco-activism: Studying people’s experiences of plogging (running, walking, and/or biking while picking up litter).
  • Applying a 4M framework to interprofessional education: Connecting the academy to local, global, and Indigenous communities – How students in different professions (kinesiology, sport, recreation/leisure studies) learn with and about one another in Canadian health and social service education.
  • Medical Exercise Programs: Identity, community, and belonging in group fitness programs for people living with chronic disease (e.g., dementia, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and more).
  • The use of digital technologies to support group physical activities for older people.
  • Health-related messaging in music manufactured for seniors’ fitness.
  • Dementia Live: the use of dementia simulation to reduce ageism and increase empathy for people living with dementia.

  • Harvey, K. (2024). Go along interviews in sport and exercise research. [Book Chapter]. In K. Rich, R. Smith, & A. Giles (Eds.) Participatory action research in sport and exercise (pp. 141-152). Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003430339    
  • Harvey, K. & Griffin, M. (2023). (In/Ex)clusive fitness cultures: An institutional ethnography of group exercise for older adults. Ageing & Society, 43(2) 251-275. https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X21000507
  • Harvey, K. (2023). The body in group exercise for older persons: Implications of the explicit, implicit, and null curricula. Sport, Education and Society, 28(1), 92-104. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2021.1979954
  • Harvey, K. & Griffin, M. (2020). Exercise instructors of older adults: A scoping review. Canadian Journal on Aging, 39(3), 373-384. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980819000436

Lindsey McIntosh
Research Assistant & Sessional instructor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

Nicole Cammaert
MBA Community Economic Development student, CBU.

  • Women ice hockey coaches

Catalina Belalcazar

Ph.D. Candidate, University of Ottawa

  • Undergraduate: Playing Naturally: A Cape Breton Naturalized Playground Case Study (BACS, CBU)
  • Masters: Personalized coach education for Masters football coaches in Ibagué, Colombia (MBA CBU)
  • PhD: Adult sport and sense of community across culturally contrasting countries

Kimberley Eagles
M.A. student, Yorkville University; Bachelor of Arts Community Studies with Honours in Psychology, Cape Breton University

  • Undergraduate Project: Exploring disciplinary practices of Masters sport 
  • Masters RA: Psychosocial coach education with the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association

Sarah Arseneau
Research Assistant – The effect of physical activity on cognitive and social outcomes in older adults at risk of dementia

Past Members

Allison Jeffrey
Assistant professor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

  • Wellbeing and Movement Facilitation in Digital Spaces
  • Movement, sound and rest
  • Outdoor Recreation in the Climate Emergency
  • Markula, P., Jeffrey, A., Nikolai, J., & Deol, S. (2023). Becoming an Affirmative Community: Mature dancers’ experiences in an age-aware contemporary dance class. In Dance On! (pp. 151-163). Routledge.
  • Jeffrey, A., & Thorpe, H. (2023). Relational Ethics of Care in Pandemic Research: Vulnerabilities, Intimacies, and Becoming Together-Apart. Qualitative Inquiry, 10778004231163497.
  • Thorpe, H., Jeffrey, A., Fullagar, S., & Pavlidis, A. (2023). Reconceptualizing women’s wellbeing during the pandemic: Sport, fitness and more-than-human connection. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 47(1), 3-35.

Sarah Barnes Assistant professor (2021-2023), Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU

  • Sleep and recovery
  • Gender and sexism in sport

Kyle McCallum Assistant professor (2022-2023), Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU

  • Outdoor risk in sport

Joseph Gurgis Post doctoral fellow (2021-2022), Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU

  • Indigenous sport participation

Teena Marie Campbell Sessional Instructor, Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport, CBU.

  • Performance Pathway Coach Development Program Framework – Phase 2 – Creation of Coach Enhancement Program for Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic (Now being piloted by CSCA as the “Dart Program” – unofficial name) done in conjunction with Dr. Bettina Callary.
  • CBU Sport and Physical Activity Leadership/ Bachelor of Education in Physical Education Pathway Project for the Department of Experiential Studies in Community and Sport.

Janet Kunhke
Associate Professor, Nursing Department, CBU.

  • Client, family and community-centred care is essential for long-term health and wellness. Physical, emotional, spiritual and social health, in balance, support a person’s growth and wellness.

Bradley Sheppard
Black and African Canadian student support advisor, Nova Scotia Community College, Marconi Campus.

  • Diversity training.

Julie Baribault
Bachelor of Arts Community Studies with Sport and Physical Activity Leadership Honours, Cape Breton University

  • Undergrad Honours Thesis: Navigating Sexual Violence and Survivorship: A Survivor’s Autoethnographic Journey Using TikTok
  • Project RA: Surfboard painting workshops with the Unama’ki Surf Program

Keigan Nicholson
BACS, Cape Breton University: Ice hockey officials in training

  • Project: Two-eyed seeing in coaching: Implications for culturally sensitive Indigenous coach education

Ciera Disipio
MBA, CBU and BACS Honours in Sport and Physical Activity Leadership, CBU

  • Capstone Project Title: Evaluating a Professional Development Coaching Course for Coaches of Adult Athletes
  • Undergrad Honours Thesis: Investigating Player Coaches’ Experiences in a Men’s Masters Basketball League 
  • Masters Thesis: Exploring Masters Rowing Coaches’ Perspectives on Adult-oriented Coaching 

Chelsea Currie
MA, University of Ottawa: Coach-athlete relationships within a women’s Masters sports team

Daniel Johnston
Project Title: Partnership with UK Strength and Conditioning Association

Rachel Yerxa
Project Title: Perceived Stress and its Effect on the University Student Athlete Compared to the Non-Student Athlete 

Sugandhat Bharti
Project Title: Strength and conditioning, exercise physiology and the links to the CoASTaL lab

Michael Gould
Project Title: Sport Coaching Network, online value

Jonathan Cromwell
Project Title: Sport Coaching Network, feasibility

Marli MacInnis
Project Title: How to Effectively Motivate Adults to Adhere to a Physiotherapy Treatment Plan

Mathew Hoffmann (post-doctoral fellow)
Project Title: Comparing Masters athletes with varying degrees of coaching for psychological need satisfaction and frustration

Justin MacLellan
Masters Thesis: Investigating a coach’s facilitation of learning situations among Masters and youth athletes

Seth Amoah
Masters Project: Uncovering ways in which an athletic department flourishes through ongoing learning facilitated by the Leadership of the Athletic Director

Tedi Lisi
Project: Supporting the development of the Community Active Sport Training and Learning lab

Associated Members

Brian Gearity, Associate Dean & Professor, MA in Sport Coaching at the University of Denver

Doug Lionais, Associate Professor, Cape Breton University: title of project: The social and economic impacts of sport resorts in post-industrial communities

Steven Rynne, Associate Professor, University of Queensland

Christoph Szedlak, Ph.D., University of Southampton

Matthew Smith, Senior Lecturer, University of Winchester

Clayton Kuklick, Assistant professor, University of Denver

David Ogbuah, Sport Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Regional Consultant

Lydia Kerr, Centre of Excellence for Healthy Aging, CBU

Amy Walsh, Future of Hockey Lab