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# Understanding and Conceptualizing Child Abuse Within Sport

Adam Beaunoyer<fnref n="1" />

## Introduction

In modern times, there has been a general understanding that it is essential to socialize children at young ages. Socialization is "the process of integration and adaptation of the individual to society through learning within the family, school, institution, profession, cultural products that enable coexistence in society" (Sopa, 2014, p. 44). One of the best ways to socialize children as a parent is to enroll the children in extracurricular activities such as sports.

Children learn essential skills valued in society, such as working together and taking on responsibility for specific roles within a system. Sports are such effective grounds for socialization because they offer individuals a chance to "evaluate themselves and others which contributes to self-image" (Sopa, 2014, p.45). Also, since it mainly takes place in groups, it creates a social environment where both competition and cooperation are present. Finally, since sports rely heavily on communication and cooperation with teammates, children are socialized to value these skills in society.

Evidence suggests that children who participated in team sports placed a higher value on communication and cooperation than children who did not participate in sports. Furthermore, the children who participated in sports formed more robust bonds with their classmates who were also participating in sports with them; some would even consider their colleague their best friend. The students also felt they were a vital part of the group and belonged to it. Children who participated in sports also worked better together when given tasks. The children would also spend more time outside of class or sports, socializing even more together. These same children were also more likely to help one another complete exercises if one was struggling (Sopa, 2014). It is clear that sports and physical activity are great socializers for children and even lead to children creating better relationships and habits for themselves. However, sometimes sports and these physical activities can be detrimental to children. There are plenty of dangers regarding sports. This paper aims to highlight the dangers children may face when participating in sports concerning physical

<footnote n="1">¹ MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta.</footnote>
abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse in sports; with a better understanding of these dangers,
society will be better equipped to create safe socializing environments for children.

## Literature Review

### Physical Abuse

As professional athletes get paid more and more, there is an increased emphasis on finding young talented athletes early. If an athlete becomes successful, it benefits the family, the trainer and the athlete (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020). This desire to become a professional athlete leads children to abandon a normal childhood in pursuit of intense training (Pinheiro et al., 2014). These athletes "spend their time in a cycle of school, practise, food, and sleep" (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020, p. 1), and within this cycle, there is a heightened risk of child abuse. Physical abuse is one of the most common forms of abuse children may face. It can involve any form of physical pain inflicted on a child, including pain inflicted on the child with a tool. In sports, there exists physical abuse in many forms; a trainer hitting their student, an athlete forced to overtrain, a trainer not taking precautions to ensure the safety of their athlete, a trainer encouraging their young athlete to perform extreme weight cuts in certain sports (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020).

Some sports are inherently more dangerous for children than others. American football is a sport that encourages physical contact between players. Even at a young age, children between the ages of eight and fourteen experience high rates of helmet-to-helmet contact. In the pursuit of finding talented athletes at certain positions, younger children in football leagues will play both offence and defence, which puts these younger athletes in even more danger of getting hit more since they play double the amount a typical football player would play if they only played offence (Wang et al., 2021). In order to increase the safety of young athletes, children should only play offence or defence for the entirety of the game. They can change in the next game if they want to try playing another position. It is crucial for their safety to limit the amount of hits they may experience on the field.

Similarly, gymnastics is a sport that puts children in positions where they may face physical abuse. Young children between the ages of five and six are expected to train in gymnastics, a physically demanding sport, between four and eight hours a day, six days a week. Not only are the young gymnasts expected to train for these unreasonable hours, but their coaches would also often slap or beat them if they have not done an exercise. Another gymnast was even pushed down flights of stairs, but she or her colleagues did not question the punishment since it is considered a standard practice in high-level training. These same young gymnasts are also expected to train and compete while injured. Often, a doctor would recommend a few weeks off training to let an injury heal; however, the gymnasts usually competed a week later, regardless of what the doctor prescribed. The trainers and coaches would not care how injured their athletes were. One gymnast explained that the coaches believed that the time lost due to injury would "decrease our performance and could not attain what they wanted. I practised many times with pain. I got used to the pain. It is a normal thing in gymnastics" (Pinheiro et al., 2014, p. 443). This once again high-
lights why these children do not question the abuse they are receiving, as they see it as normal behaviour in gymnastics. The athletes would often compete and train with their injuries and use painkillers to overcome the pain (Pinheiro et al., 2014).

## Sexual Abuse

Young children may experience sexual abuse from their coaches and trainers. In most cases, the perpetrator is usually a male and the victim is a female athlete. Sexual abusive behaviour can be defined under three major branches; sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and sexual abuse (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020).

Sexual discrimination is a form of sexual abuse experienced mainly by women. It is identified by a "lack of a safe environment for women, lack of channels to complain about harassment and discomfort, facilities designed only for males, etc." (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020, p. 2). Young female athletes often face the reality that men usually hold positions where they can exert power over them. Even when a female athlete tells someone within the training system that a trainer had touched her, her confidants would be indifferent towards the athlete since such behaviour was normalized. Clearly indicating there is a lack of channels for females to complain about harassment. There is also a lack of safe facilities for young female athletes. Some gyms are held in isolated basement areas that people would not normally walk by. This creates a dangerous environment for a female athlete to train with her coach since the odds of anyone seeing sexual abuse occur here are nearly impossible. There is also a fear of being alone in the changing room, as this is yet another unsafe environment for young athletes. One athlete recalls that "In fact, they are the riskiest areas: changing rooms and shower areas. There's something like this. If you're alone in the gym, you'll never take a shower. No athlete does this in our community. You cannot feel safe" (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020, p. 8).

Sexual harassment can be defined as "verbal and written harassment and threats, remarks, jokes containing sexual content, sarcastic comments about one's body and clothing, mockery about performance, practical jokes based on sexuality, cornering, forced sexual contact such as kissing, etc." (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020, p. 2). Studies have shown that female athletes, both adult and child, are more likely to report sexual harassment than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the higher the skill and performance of the athlete, the more likely they are to experience sexual harassment (Lang et al., 2023). One of the most common ways child athletes experience sexual harassment is at the end of the grooming process. The grooming process is when a coach slowly builds up a trusting relationship with their athlete. Eventually, there are few boundaries between the coach and the athlete, putting the athlete at greater risk of abuse. Throughout the grooming process, the abuser slowly normalizes inappropriate behaviour with their athlete, which may eventually lead to coercion to commit sexual acts. The most common areas grooming will occur are in isolated areas away from other adults and, most importantly, one-on-one with their athletes. These are some of the most high-risk areas for grooming; "team travel situations, during massage or other training modalities, and in the home or car of a coach" (Johnson et al., 2020, p. 68).

The final overarching form of sexual abuse involves "exposure; sexual violence; sexual
intercourse including penetrative, anal, oral sex, etc., in exchange for rewards, favors, or privilege" (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020, p. 2). Ultimately, this final branch of sexual abuse is the culmination of the previous two headers discussed; sexual discrimination and sexual harassment. When an abuser grooms an athlete and the athlete lacks a safe environment, this may lead to sexual favours being exchanged (Johnson et al., 2020).

Emotional Abuse

Children will often be victims of emotional abuse inflicted by their coaches. Young athletes may experience emotional abuse in various forms; however, the main form of emotional abuse is through "verbal actions, glances, or other behavioral patterns by trainers, managers, friends, or family members" (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020, p. 2). Trainers may abuse their child athletes by humiliating their athletes verbally, and they may also shout and swear at the athletes. However, in some cases, the trainer intentionally changes their behaviour towards the athletes. In a particular case involving a gymnast, once the gymnast was injured, her coach seemed to completely ignore the gymnast (Salim & Winter, 2022). Another gymnast explained her relationship with her trainer as "On many occasions I accidentally called my coach 'mum'. I craved more love and affection from her [coach] than I did my mum" (Salim & Winter, 2022, p. 434). Therefore, the sudden change in the coach's behaviour towards a child once the athlete was injured emotionally hurts the athlete since they cherished the relationship they had with their coaches. However, the coaches would not reciprocate; they would neglect an injured athlete in order to focus on an athlete that would perform.

The sport of gymnastics also relies heavily on the weight of the athletes. Coaches explain that it is crucial that the athlete reaches an optimal weight in order to do the more complex techniques easier (Pinheiro et al., 2014). Coaches would emotionally abuse their child athletes in a variety of ways in order to coerce the athlete into trying to lose weight to meet their weight expectations. One of the most common ways trainers emotionally abuse their athletes is through name-calling and humiliation (Salim & Winter, 2022). One gymnast recalls, "My coach would call me fat in the gym or call me the 'big girl'", and that "My coach would make a point to highlight that I was bigger than other gymnasts and make it into a joke" (Salim & Winter, 2022, p. 434). The coaches also choose to abuse their gymnasts in other manipulative ways emotionally. A more psychological form of abuse is when a coach would make their athletes wear physical weights while practising; this is done to show the athletes how it would feel if they gained weight (Salim & Winter, 2022). Coaches would also encourage athletes to engage in behaviours that can only be described as eating disorders. In one case, the gymnast recalls how her coach would tell her "that if she was my size then she would go and make herself sick"; this same gymnast later stated that she "got into the habit of making myself sick and hiding it from my parents because I thought it was the right thing to do" (Salim & Winter, 2022, p. 435). In another case, the coach would force the gymnast to skip meals (Pinheiro et al., 2014). If the young gymnast gained weight or failed to meet a weight target, especially close to competition, the coach would not allow the athlete to eat. One gymnast recalls, "Sometimes when we did not lose weight the coach decided that we were
not allowed to have dinner, and we ate only the next day at breakfast" (p. 442). The coaches also used starving their athletes to punish them if a practice did not go well. In another example of emotional abuse, a gymnast recalls, "If the morning practise did not run well, the punishment was not to have lunch. During the afternoon, if the practise did not run well, once again, I did not have dinner" (p. 442).

## Long Term Effects

Once these child athletes have grown up, the damage caused by their abusive trainers continues to be a part of their lives. Plenty feel regret, and if they had known what they knew now as adults, they would have recognized that the behaviour of their coaches and trainers was abusive (Çetin & Hacısoftaoğlu, 2020). Plenty of athletes are now suffering from injuries caused by the physical abuse their coaches inflicted on them due to forcing them to train through injuries and over-train. One gymnast admits to having a "permanent injury in my back that affects me in my everyday life. If I stand up for a long time, my back hurts. I have these pains for so long that I got used to them" (Pinheiro et al., 2014, p. 444). Another gymnast claims, "Due to overtraining and the constant impacts, I have a loose bone in my heel. When I am doing something like rotating my foot, the tendon passes behind that loose bone becoming stuck" (p. 444). Both of these injuries are caused by overtraining and not following the necessary safety precautions to keep the athletes healthy.

There is also a lasting impact due to the psychological damage the trainers and coaches have inflicted on the child athletes. Gymnasts especially, are more likely to develop eating disorders, have lower self-esteem and have a worse self-image (Pinheiro et al., 2014). After years of constantly worrying about being the ideal weight and strict repercussions if they gained any weight throughout their childhood, the gymnasts as adults struggle with their body image: "Since I can remember I have worried about my size. I will look at my stomach every day in the mirror and worry about getting fat... I am now obsessed with my weight and fret about any change in my body" (Salim & Winter, 2022, p. 435). The gymnasts also cannot let themselves enjoy food. Throughout their childhood, gymnasts constantly worried about what to eat, forbidding themselves from ever eating a dessert, especially around their coach (Pinheiro et al., 2014). Now after having a childhood where they were always concerned about what they ate, some gymnasts struggle to enjoy eating; one gymnast admits, "I still see eating as a bad thing, because that was what I was made to believe for so long" (Salim & Winter, 2022, p. 435).

Furthermore, the athletes continue to struggle with self-worth. Since gymnastics is mostly an individual sport, and contestants are directly judged individually, the gymnasts often have poor self-worth if things they did were not perfect. This is compounded by the constant fear of punishment if they are not perfect or have not won their competition. One gymnast says, "My coach told me I was useless, and I believed it because I believed everything she said... I would never meet her expectations... Feelings like that become ingrained in you. My coach broke my mind as a young gymnast, and it stayed with me" (Salim & Winter, 2022, p. 435). This point is even pushed further by another gymnast who claims that even when she won first place, her coach was still unimpressed with her since her routine was not perfect (Salim & Winter, 2022).
## Room for Improvement

Providing children with safe environments has to be a top priority. As shown previously, sports are great socializers for children and should help them grow into great members of society. In order to provide children with safer environments, changes must be made. Children need to be given more power in order to balance these athlete-coach relationships. As it stands, the voices of children are not being heard by the sports clubs for a multitude of reasons. The first reason is that the clubs are often simply unaware of the expectation that the children in their club should be involved in critical decision-making for the club, which indicates "that the majority of organisations at this level do not feel under any formal compulsion to listen to children's voices" (Everly, 2022, p. 6). The following reason is that there is often an adult relaying the voices of the children to the governing bodies of the clubs. This causes concern since the adults may not wholly capture the message that the young children are attempting to deliver, either by not understanding what the children want, or because the parents feel pressured to conform to the standards the club sets. While there is no clear solution to this problem, there needs to be a focus on ensuring that the adults representing the children have the children's best interests in mind. Finally, the last reason children struggle to be heard is due to the assumed superiority of adults. Adults often believe that they do not need to listen to a child since the adult believes they are superior to the child; thus, their opinion should be listened to over the child's. When questioned about this issue, clubs often identify "senior members as not recognising the value of doing so" (Everly, 2022, p. 7). This is yet another complex problem with no clear solution. Often the parents of the child athlete have little power in decision-making for the club themselves; therefore, the prospect of giving more power to the children seems nearly impossible. In order to begin giving children more power in their relationship with their coaches, these areas need to be improved.

## Conclusion

Sports continue to be a great socializer for children. However, the balance of power between the coach and the athlete is out of order in certain situations. In many cases, the coaches behave in ways that can only be considered as child abuse; whether it is physical abuse, sexual abuse or emotional abuse towards their athlete. While there is no clear solution to this issue, the review provided by this paper should undoubtedly help increase awareness of this issue. Nevertheless, more studies and research must be done to increase the power children have in these relationships to decrease the chances of child abuse occurring.
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