Sport Calgary is standing behind a zero tolerance policy for bad behaviour on the rink. Hockey Calgary is working to make an online course Respect in Sport mandatory for parents and coaches following an incident where a racial slur was hurled at a player.

A 16-year-old player and his father reached out to media last week, after racist comments were directed at him by an opponent. Unfortunately, a referee didn’t hear it and there were no consequences.

Sport Calgary’s Community Engagement Director, and former Olympic speed skater Catriona Le May Doan says accountability should not be lost as you enter higher levels of sport.

“I think that’s the word we need to go back to. We all need to be accountable and we need to have respect when we go, not just in an area, in any playing field in any sport,” she says.

Le May Doan says some of her best friends are her former competitors.

“At the end of the 37 seconds or however long our race was we would congratulate eachother and we would hang out together. There was that respect for hard work, there was that respect for a performance. But I think the problem is that parents, it’s about them. We need to get egos out of sport,” says Le May Doan.

She says there is always going to be stress in life but you can still be competitive and have respect.