logo
Why a university professor turned the TV show Ted Lasso into a course

Why a university professor turned the TV show Ted Lasso into a course

CBC11-04-2025

The Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso tells the story of an American football coach who moves to England to work with a Premier League soccer team.
Lori Dithurbide, an associate professor of kinesiology at Dalhousie University's school of health and human performance, is an admirer of the show who is taking her love of it a step further.
She is using the show as the basis for a new course she is offering at Dalhousie next year.
She told CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia host Portia Clark the course draws on the show's themes to offer a unique spin on coaching and leadership.
Their conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: You're a fan of Ted Lasso. What inspired you to turn it into a course?
I am definitely a fan. I think like most of us who've watched the show, we started during the pandemic and I just had a conversation with a good friend and colleague of mine when we were discussing the show and how much we loved it. She suggested I should design a course about it. And that idea percolated for a little bit, but eventually led to actually taking it seriously and moving it forward.
Q: What is it about the show and Ted Lasso's character that lends itself to a course that focuses on coaching and leadership?
One of the things I enjoy most about the show is that it just brings about a lot of conversations on different topics, not just leadership, but some social justice topics as well and areas in sport psychology, which is kind of where my expertise lies, and sociology. I think using that as an example or platform to discuss and learn more of the theory and philosophies behind these topics can make it kind of attractive to students.
Q: How do you turn that into a course? Can you describe what it will look like or how you'll teach through the course?
Essentially we'll be asking students to follow along with the series, and just using the examples in the show and not real life because it's not real life, it's a TV show. But using that as an example to really dive deeper into topics like leadership styles, coaching philosophies, the impact of mental health. The mental health is also a theme that's in the show. So really diving deep into those topics and the academic literature behind it and the theories. But also encouraging critical thinking skills and self-awareness.
Q: Are you at all worried that some might see this as gimmicky?
Once the requirements and assessments and everything are laid out, I think maybe that thought might subside a little bit. It is kind of an innovative way to have students engage in these types of topics. So I'm really hoping that that encourages students to want to participate and think a little bit outside the box.
It is meant for senior-level students. So in addition to following along and watching, there'll be some reading of some research studies and some chapters and in learning about the theories and the philosophy and a lot of critical thinking and some essays.
Q: The show also explores mental health issues. Coach Lasso, for example, has anxiety. How is the approach of kindness that we see Coach Lasso bring to his players different from what might be the norm in sports?
The show really portrays a perspective that you don't necessarily have to be tough and too direct. And Coach Lasso really takes this approach of human first and kindness. And forgiveness is also a really big theme in the show. So I think he demonstrates through the show that you can still hold people accountable and have high expectations of people around you doing it in a kind way.
And what that results in can still be really good performance, but also a very good team culture. So I think some of those themes would be pretty relevant to anybody who has participated in sports or has followed any kind of sport in the news lately.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

/R E P E A T -- INVITATION TO THE MEDIA - Niki de Saint Phalle - The 1980s and 1990s: Art Unleashed/ Français
/R E P E A T -- INVITATION TO THE MEDIA - Niki de Saint Phalle - The 1980s and 1990s: Art Unleashed/ Français

Cision Canada

time6 hours ago

  • Cision Canada

/R E P E A T -- INVITATION TO THE MEDIA - Niki de Saint Phalle - The 1980s and 1990s: Art Unleashed/ Français

Immerse yourself in the varied, inventive, committed universe of Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), an outstanding 20th-century figure. QUÉBEC, May 21, 2025 /CNW/ - Discover the strength and resilience of this French-American artist who chose joy as a resistance strategy to contribute to social justice and environmental protection by producing an irresistible multiform body of work. Motivated by the desire to make the world a magical place again, the artist participated in the new realism movement and freely reinvented reality. The effervescent, colourful exhibition covers the years 1980 and 1990 when Niki de Saint Phalle undertook the monumental Tarot Garden in Italy. This monograph assembles over 150 works comprising sculptures, paintings, drawings, engravings, books, and fine art objects. Take advantage of this Canadian premiere, produced through a collaboration with Les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse and the generous participation of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation. Savour the unsuspected power of art and joy. Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at 10 a.m. Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec Grand Hall of the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion 179, Grande Allée Ouest Québec (Québec) G1R 2H1 Interviews are possible at the conclusion of the press visit with: Jean-Luc MURRAY, Director General, MNBAQ Anik DORION-COUPAL, Director of Exhibitions and International Partnerships, MNBAQ Maude L É VESQUE, Exhibition Curator, MNBAQ Annabelle T É N È ZE, Exhibition Curator, Director of the Louvre-Lens Lucia PESAPANE, Independent Exhibition Curator Maryline DUNAUD, Director, Administration and Finance, Les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse Marcelo ZITELLI, Director, Niki Charitable Art Foundation, collaborator and a friend of Niki de Saint Phalle

New crime novels feature a locked-room mystery, a Scarborough stabbing and a Jan. 6 insurrectionist
New crime novels feature a locked-room mystery, a Scarborough stabbing and a Jan. 6 insurrectionist

Toronto Star

time2 days ago

  • Toronto Star

New crime novels feature a locked-room mystery, a Scarborough stabbing and a Jan. 6 insurrectionist

Fever Beach Carl Hiaasen Alfred A. Knopf, 384 pages, $39.99 It's a weird time in American politics, which means it's a perfect time for Florida novelist Carl Hiaasen to plumb the satirical depths of corruption and malfeasance in his home state. His last novel, 2020's 'Squeeze Me,' suffered from a subplot that attempted to satirize the once-and-current occupant of the White House, a Falstaffian spray-tanned figure so outrageous as to be almost impervious to satire. For 'Fever Beach,' Hiaasen wisely steers clear of POTUS and his inept administration, preferring instead to focus on wanton corruption at a lower level. 'Fever Beach,' by Carl Hiaasen, Alfred A. Knopf, $34.99. The new novel begins with a meet-cute on an airplane between Twilly Spree and Viva Morales. Twilly is a stock Hiaasen character: an independently wealthy Florida do-gooder who spends his time making life miserable for folks who litter, antagonize the local wildlife or otherwise cause environmental or social havoc. Viva's job is administering the foundation of a couple of rich right-wing octogenarians whose fundraising operates as a money-laundering front to finance the campaign of far-right (and profoundly stupid) congressman Clure Boyette, in hot water with his obstreperous father over a scandal involving an underage prostitute named Galaxy. Add in Viva's landlord — a Jan. 6 insurrectionist named Dale Figgo who heads the Strokers for Freedom (a white nationalist militia whose name is a rebuke to the Proud Boys' insistence on refraining from masturbation) — and his cohort, the violent and reckless Jonas Onus, and you have all the ingredients for a classic Hiaasen caper. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Big Bad Wool: A Sheep Detective Mystery Leonie Swann; translated by Amy Bojang Soho Crime, 384 pages, $38.95 Twenty years ago, German-born author Leonie Swann debuted one of the most delightful detective teams in genre history: a flock of sheep on the trail of the person responsible for killing their shepherd with a spade through the chest. After a two-decade absence, Miss Maple, Othello, Mopple the Whale, and the other woolly sleuths are back on the case, this time on behalf of their new herder, Rebecca, the daughter of the early book's victim. 'Big Bad Wool,' by Leonie Swann, Soho Crime, $38.95. Rebecca, her intrusive Mum, and the sheep are overwintering in the lee of a French chateau where there are rumours of a marauding Garou — a werewolf — that is responsible for mutilating deer in the nearby woods. Among other strange occurrences, Rebecca's red clothing is found torn to pieces and some sheep go missing — and soon enough there's a dead human for the flock, in the uncomfortable company of a group of local goats, to deal with. 'Big Bad Wool' is a charming romp, whose pleasure comes largely from the ironic distance between the sheep's understanding of the world and that of the people who surround them. ('The humans in the stories did plenty of ridiculous things. Spring cleaning, revenge and diets.') Their enthusiasm and excitement results in prose that is a bit too reliant on exclamation points, and some of the more heavy-handed puns (like the sheep's insistence on 'woolpower') seem forced, but this is nevertheless a fun variation on the traditional country cosy. Detective Aunty Uzma Jalaluddin HarperCollins, 336 pages, $25.99 Romance novelist Uzma Jalaluddin takes a turn into mystery with this new book about amateur sleuth Kausar Khan. A widow in her late 50s, Kausar returns to Toronto from North Bay to help her daughter, Sana, who has been accused of stabbing her landlord to death in her Scarborough mall boutique. The police — including Sana's old flame, Ilyas — are convinced Sana is the prime suspect, but Kausar is determined to prove her daughter innocent. 'Detective Aunty,' by Uzma Jalaluddin, HarperCollins, $25.99. Her investigation involves a couple of competing developers, both of whom want to purchase the land on which the mall stands, along with members of the dead man's family and fellow shopkeepers. On the domestic front, Kausar finds herself concerned with Sana's deteriorating marriage to her husband, Hamza, and her teenage granddaughter's sullenness and mysterious nighttime disappearances. Jalaluddin does a good job integrating the various elements of her plot, and the familial relationships are nicely calibrated. The momentum is impeded, however, by a preponderance of clichés ('Playing devil's advocate, Kausar asked …'; 'Kausar's blood ran cold') and a tendency to hold the reader's hand by defining every easily Googleable Urdu word or greeting too programmatically. More attention to the writing on the line level would have helped move this one along. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The Labyrinth House Murders Yukito Ayatsuji; translated by Ho-Ling Wong Pushkin Vertigo, 272 pages, $24.95 Yukito Ayatsuji's clever postmodern locked-room mystery was first published in Japanese in 2009; it appears for the first time in English translation, which is good news for genre fans. 'The Labyrinth House Murders,' by Yukito Ayatsuji, Pushkin Vertigo, $24.95. Ayatsuji's narrative is framed by Shimada, a mystery aficionado, who is presented with a novelization about murders that took place at the home of famed mystery writer Miyagaki Yotaro, found dead by his own hand soon after the manuscript opens. Miyagaki has left a bizarre challenge for the writers gathered at his Byzantine Labyrinth House: each must write a story featuring a murder, and the victim must be the writer him- or herself. The winning author, as adjudicated by a group of critics also convened at Labyrinth House, will inherit Miyagaki's sizable fortune. As the writers compete for the reward, bodies start falling in real life and Ayatsuji has a grand time playing metafictional games with his readers, challenging them to figure out who the culprit is in the context of a story that owes more than a small debt to Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None.' But Ayatsuji does Christie one better; it is only once the afterword, which closes the framed narrative, has unfolded that the reader fully understands how cleverly the author has conceived his multi-layered fictional trap.

What does it take to portray the beautiful, tragic, complex heroine of ‘Anna Karenina'? It's physically and emotionally demanding for the National Ballet dancers sharing the role
What does it take to portray the beautiful, tragic, complex heroine of ‘Anna Karenina'? It's physically and emotionally demanding for the National Ballet dancers sharing the role

Toronto Star

time2 days ago

  • Toronto Star

What does it take to portray the beautiful, tragic, complex heroine of ‘Anna Karenina'? It's physically and emotionally demanding for the National Ballet dancers sharing the role

Among Western literature's tragic heroines Anna Karenina surely ranks among the most famous. And, like so many literary heroines, the title character of Leo Tolstoy's 1878 door-stopper novel has been lifted from the page to become the subject of stage dramas, films, operas and, to date, at least seven noted ballet versions. Reputedly there has even been an ice-dance production. The National Ballet of Canada, under Karen's Kain's artistic direction, performed an adaptation by American-born choreographer John Neumeier in 2018. Now Kain's successor, Hope Muir, is introducing Canadian audiences to the work of acclaimed German choreographer Christian Spuck with the North American premiere of his more compact — two- as opposed to almost three-hour — version.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store