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Sports can and should be a place where athletes can glean the benefits of sport and compete, train, and practice in safe and healthy environments. However, as research and sentiments show, sporting spaces can often breed harmful practices that get normalized and perpetuated within the culture, contributing to the abuse of athletes.
Sports systems must be athlete-centered and athlete-informed to change the status quo and sustain effective safeguarding initiatives. Listening and responding to athlete voices is critical in promoting and ensuring athlete well-being across all sporting spaces at all levels of play.
In a recent study from the Sport Management Review Journal, “Informing a culture shift in high performance sport in Canada: athletes’ unsafe and safe sport experiences,” authors Eric MacIntosh, Alison Doherty & Shannon Kerwin learned from 28 athletes about their feelings on the safe and unsafe aspects of their high-performance sporting experiences. Athletes interviewed in this study were 18+, and represented team, individual, winter, summer, Olympic, and Paralympic sports.
When asked, “‘What does unsafe sport mean to you?’, and ‘What are some things you have seen, heard, or been exposed to directly or indirectly that are unsafe?’”, athlete responses applied to experiences with their coaches’ behavior, teammates’ behaviors, lack of resources, and inattentive sport systems.
Athletes detailed the harm experienced through blurred boundaries in the coach-athlete relationship and the power imbalance between them and their coach, leading to dynamics of power and control rather than care and support. Athletes highlighted how abuse can be conducted by teammates, for example, bullying and physical abuse. Athletes recalled how insufficient physical and educational safeguards and training led to neglect and safety concerns. Lastly, poor institutional response and the absence of bystander intervention contributed to feeling unsafe in their sporting environments.
Athletes described these manifestations as feeling vulnerable, fearful, intimidated, devalued, mistrustful of others, and isolated. These circumstances and feelings came from the athletes’ perceived values of authority, autonomy, meritocracy, and drive in high-performance sports emblematic of the culture in their sporting environments.
When asked, “‘What does safe sport mean to you?’, ‘What features of your sport and organization make you feel safe?’” athlete responses applied to experiences of having a knowledgeable coach, prioritization of the athlete’s best interests, a sense of community, having ancillary support available, and having rules and regulations upheld.
Athletes detailed that when their coaches had credentials that applied to their physical and mental health and sports skills, and promoted their holistic best interest, they felt safer. Athletes recalled how inclusion in their community, hallmarked by connection and trust, is critical to safe sport. Moreover, when athletes had tertiary support available, such as mental health and media training resources, feelings of safety were enhanced. And when codes of conduct and protocols were adhered to, environments were safer.
Athletes labeled the feelings of safe sport conditions as trusting of others, fitting in and belonging, and feeling valued. These manifestations reflected values of caring, credibility, inclusion, and respect in the sporting environments.
As stated by the authors, “Effective culture change requires understanding acceptable and unacceptable value-informed behaviors and practices.” We all have a role to play in protecting our athletes and keeping our sports safe and healthy and must commit and adhere to following agreed-upon standards for our behaviors and practices. We must learn from the insights and perspectives of our athletes. We must demonstrate meaningful responses and actively work together to change our interpersonal interactions, policies, and systems to shift our sporting cultures from those of unsafe values and conditions to those of safety.
Additionally, we must recognize that abuse and misconduct in sporting environments exist on a spectrum.
Safe versus unsafe sport is not black and white.
Athletes across the globe at every level of play are at risk of experiencing unsafe environments and abuse and misconduct in sports. This again emphasizes the necessity to examine and listen to all athletes’ perspectives as each individual has a unique perspective and may experience different elements of unsafe sport.
To embark on cultural change in your sporting community, take the following steps:
- Ask your athletes, what does healthy sport mean to you? How does your sporting environment make you feel?
- This can be done formally or informally through an anonymous email survey or during a team meeting before or after practice, conducted by a team captain or coach.
- This demonstrates the desire to listen to the voices of your athletes. Action steps and follow-ups should align with responses, showing a commitment to improving your sporting environment culture.
- Increase your awareness of power imbalances at play in sporting environments.
- Watch this short video and/or read this blog post.
- Then, gut check if your interpersonal dynamics mirror that of power and control or care and support using the Coach Athlete Relationship Dynamics Diagrams (C.A.R.D. Diagrams).
- Ensure your organization has a Code of Conduct and a safeguarding policy.
- These documents should be widely displayed and easily accessible by all sporting community members.
- Unacceptable and acceptable behaviors should be clearly outlined. Additionally, response and resolution protocols should be transparent and upheld. If your organization needs help developing or bolstering these documents, #WeRideTogether provides policy consultation and support, free of charge. Reach out at info@weridetogether.today
- Improve your training, credentialing, and hiring practices.
- Coaches should have physical, mental health, and sports skill-specific education. Utilize these resources for free online training courses:
- For organizations under the USOPC umbrella:
- For organizations outside of the USOPC umbrella:
- For international organizations:
- For organizations under the USOPC umbrella:
- Improve your safe hiring practices at your organization by following these best practices.
- Coaches should have physical, mental health, and sports skill-specific education. Utilize these resources for free online training courses:
- Provide your athletes with free and accessible resources.
- Athletes need holistic support and have access to third-party resources on various topics.
- Check out these crisis resources and general resources.
- Encourage all members of your sporting organization to be safe, active bystanders.
- Watch this short video and/or read this blog post for quick best practices on multiple ways to safely intervene if you witness or observe a troubling interaction.
- You can also practice responding to disclosures of abuse or misconduct with these quick tips on what to say versus not to say and this role-play.
If you or someone you know needs support, please visit our crisis resources or resources for assistance.
Kathryn McClain, MSW, MBA
Program and Partnerships Director at #WeRideTogether
kmcclain@weridetogether.today
