SPORTS

Adult Canadians 15 years and over are involved in over 100 sports ranging from bobsleigh to ice hockey. Numerically, few of the sports attract a large number of participants. According to the GSS, golf engaged the largest number of adult Canadians in 2005, as it had in 1998.

Almost 1.5 million adult Canadians were golfers in 2005, with males representing over three quarters (78%) of the participants. Among the 30 most popular sports in Canada, ice hockey ranked second behind golf, drawing 1.3 million Canadians. Other popular sports include swimming, soccer, basketball, baseball and volleyball. Each of these drew between 500,000 and 800,000 participants.

A key characteristic of these sports is that they are mostly team sports and involve players, officials and spectators. On occasion, whole families may be involved, with some members active as participants, others serving as volunteers, and some coming to watch. The result is an inherent shared experience among all those involved, an experience that may spill over to the community at large, providing a sense of belonging.

Hockey in Canada

Hockey Canada, formally known as the Canadian Hockey Association, is the national governing body of ice hockey and sledge hockey yin Canada and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Hockey Canada controls a vast majority of ice hockey in Canada, with a few exceptions. It is based in Calgary, Alberta with a secondary office in Ottawa, Ontario and regional centres in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.