“First of all, I love this place,” PhD student Chandan Preet beams. “People here are so warm. It’s only been a few weeks and I find I’m already smiling more! ” Preet has fallen for Toronto. More specifically, the sports psychology expert loves the University of Toronto—her home away from home for a three-month research placement. “It’s amazing how welcoming everyone has been. It’s very rare for such world-class professors, who are already doing so much in their field, to be so open.” Preet, here from the Panjab University, is in awe of the resources at her disposal. “It’s heaven to have assigned labs and access to world-class libraries. Everything is so focused on advancing research.”
Preet is working with Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education Assistant Professor Katherine Tamminen, having discovered Tamminen’s work after doing a Canada-wide search for just the right expert to collaborate with in her exploration of stress and coping in shooting athletes. “Katherine’s research really complemented mine,” she explains. “At home, we have been using only quantitative tools so far. I found Katherine’s profile and she was doing completely the opposite—much more qualitative analysis. It was a perfect match.”
While shooting is a niche sport here in Canada, Preet says the sport is extremely popular in India where young athletes and their families invest significant time and resources into the sport. Preet is here to examine the roles that culture and gender may play in developing tactics for athletes coping with stress. “I realized there were little flaws in our design because most of the training interventions we are using are borrowed from the West,” Preet explains. “Not many Indian authors are working in the area of applied sport. That made me ask, are these techniques universal? What if some of these stressors could be different according to culture? I also want to assess any commonalities between Canada and India and later look to other countries. I started with Canada because I think all Indians have friends or family here!”
Being in Toronto not only provided a familial connection, but an opportunity for Preet to diversify her perspective both personally and in her research. “When I applied for my ethics approval, I was using the term, ‘Canadian shooters’ over and over. It was part of my cross cultural study. I got a comment back and my heart was moved. I was asked, ‘What do you mean by Canadian? We have many multicultural shooters. Some of them are permanent residents, some are on temporary visas, how will you include them?’ And I thought, ‘Wow, they are so accepting in Canada.’” Preet then saw that diversity first hand when she travelled to the Pan Am Toronto International Trap & Skeet Club in Innisfil. “I was there for a workshop and I saw so much heterogeneity, so much diversity in the athletes. You simply don’t find that in India. The kind of diversity you cherish here, it is so beautiful.”
Though it’s still early days, Preet has noticed other cultural differences. “Forget data collection. Already, I can see that shooters here have a lot of career security. However, in India, shooting involves immense stress, anxiety and desperation to perform well in order to survive the cut-throat competition. Here the sociodemographic differences are already very visible. Athletes are very relaxed. It’s more of a recreational activity for them than a pressurized environment.” Of course, there are parallels between the athletes as well. “There are lots of similar fears and anxiety about success and failure, competition.” Preet says her experience working with some the world’s best shooters in India could also contribute to athlete development in Canada, where the sport is still in its infancy. “It is interesting to interact with people who would want to learn from another country—it’s very exciting to bridge the gap.”
Preet will join Tamminen at the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) conference to be held October 12-14 in St. John’s, Newfoundland which will be supported in part by Tamminen’s Early Researcher Award from the Province of Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation.