Safe4Athletes

There are simply too many unsolved questions that need to be addressed before we can truly be effective in protecting young athletes from the unethical and possibly criminal actions of coaches:

The American Association of University Women released survey results revealing that during the 2010-11 school year, 48 percent of students in grades 7-12 experienced some form of sexual harassment in person or electronically via texting, email and social media.  The survey asked 1,002 girls and 963 boys from public and private schools nationwide whether they had experienced any of various forms of sexual harassment including unwelcome sexual comments, being called gay or lesbian in a negative way, being touched in an unwelcome sexual way, being shown sexual pictures they didn't want to see, and being the subject of unwelcome sexual rumors.  56 percent of the girls and 40 percent of the boys said they had experienced at least one incident of sexual harassment during the school year.

A: Athletic teams commonly justify rituals or behaviors as rites of passage for team or group acceptance.  These activities commonly make the athlete feel humiliated, embarrassed, or devalued or may even threaten the athlete’s safety or dignity.  Following are examples of activities that should be classified as hazing, initiation rituals, and physical punishment and be prohibited:

A: When an adult or another athlete who is bigger, stronger, older, or in a position of power tries to make an athlete do something wrong, directs verbal taunts at the athlete to make the athlete feel worthless, makes fun of the athlete in order to embarrass him or her or make the athlete feel bad.  Bullying is also when someone yells at an athlete in a disrespectful or belittling way, calls an athlete names, uses profanity in addressing an athlete or physically tries to intimidate the athlete by pushing, shoving, punching, pinching or hurting him or her in any way.  Bullying may also involve saying things via text messaging, using email or other forms of social media to make the athlete feel like he or she is a bad person or is an effort to encourage others to dislike the athlete.

A: Sexual, intimate, romantic, or similar close personal relationships between a coach and an athlete should be strictly prohibited, even if that athlete is an adult, because creates the appearance or actuality of favoritism and special treatment.  Examples of other inappropriate behaviors that should be expressly prohibited include:

A: Some of the more common forms of physical abuse include when a coach:

In  2002, a Penn State University graduate student told the university’s head football coach, Joe Paterno, that he witnessed one of Paterno’s former assistant coaches, Jerry Sandusky, sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in the Penn State football facility’s showers. The next day, Paterno told his athletic director. Neither the athletic director nor the president of the institution, who informed of the report, contacted the state’s Department of Public Welfare as required by law. But this wasn’t the first time for Sandusky or Paterno.

Sylvie Parent of Laval University examined 3 Quebec sport federations and 3 Quebec sports clubs each affiliated with those organizations respectively to examine the interventions used in cases of sexual abuse and the perceptions of 27 stakeholders within these organizations regarding this issue.  Several factors were identified which impeded the process of disclosure and caused victims to remain silent:  prejudice, beliefs, and myths that seemed to perpetuate a culture of inaction and silence.

A: Coaches and athletes constantly engage in verbal interactions. It is the coach’s responsibility to use such interactions for instructional and motivational purposes.  Emotional or verbal abuse of athletes should be expressly prohibited.

A: Not unless the Athletes says Ok– only in these generally accepted ways - when correcting physical form for skill or strategy execution, injured or congratulating an athlete for a good performance.  Always ask the athlete first.  If it does feel ok, it isn't ok.