Safeguarding Young Athletes: Recognizing and Preventing Abuse in Sport

He was the best coach the club had ever had. Winning record, fundraising champion, the kind of adult who stayed late, gave kids rides home, and sent encouraging texts after tough losses. Parents trusted him completely. When a twelve-year-old finally told her mother that "something felt wrong" about the private sessions, the first reaction was disbelief. He would never. He's done so much for these kids. But he did. And the very traits that made him seem like the perfect coach — the extra attention, the boundary-crossing generosity, the emotional closeness — were not signs of exceptional dedication. They were grooming behaviors. And every adult around that child had missed them.

Abuse in youth sport is not a rare aberration committed by obvious predators. It is a systemic vulnerability built into the very structure of how youth athletics operates — the power dynamics, the physical contact, the private settings, the travel, the emotional intensity, and the culture of unquestioning trust in authority. Addressing it requires more than background checks. It requires a fundamental shift in how organizations design their environments, train their staff, and empower young athletes to speak.

The Four Types of Abuse in Sport

The IOC Consensus Statement on Harassment and Abuse in Sport (Mountjoy et al., 2016) identifies four primary categories of abuse, each with distinct characteristics and warning signs. Understanding these categories is the first step toward recognizing them.

Emotional abuse is the most common form of abuse in youth sport and the most normalized. It includes persistent criticism, humiliation, belittling, scapegoating, threats, isolation, and intimidation. Research by Stirling and Kerr (2008) found that emotionally abusive coaching behaviors are often rationalized as "motivational techniques" or "tough love" — by coaches, parents, and even the athletes themselves. Yelling at a child until they cry, using playing time as punishment for non-sport behavior, publicly comparing athletes in degrading ways, or threatening to cut a player who speaks up — these are not coaching methods. They are abuse. The fact that they are widespread does not make them acceptable.

Physical abuse involves any non-accidental physical harm. In sport, it can be disguised as training — excessive exercise used as punishment (running laps until a child vomits), forced participation through injury, throwing equipment at athletes, or physical contact intended to intimidate or cause pain. It also includes requiring athletes to train through injuries in ways that cause further harm, and withholding water, food, or rest as disciplinary measures.

Sexual abuse encompasses any sexual interaction between an adult in a position of authority and a minor athlete, as well as between athletes where there is a significant age or power difference. It ranges from inappropriate sexual comments and sexualized attention to grooming, exploitation, and assault. The UNICEF framework on violence in sport emphasizes that sexual abuse in sport is perpetrated overwhelmingly by individuals who are known, trusted, and respected within the sporting community — making detection and reporting extraordinarily difficult.

Neglect occurs when the duty of care owed to a young athlete is not met. This includes failing to provide adequate supervision, ignoring injuries, not providing access to appropriate medical care, exposing athletes to unsafe training conditions (extreme heat, dangerous equipment, inadequate facilities), and failing to address bullying or hazing among athletes.

Why Sport Creates Unique Vulnerability

Youth sport is not simply another setting where abuse can happen. Its structural characteristics actively create conditions that increase vulnerability. Understanding this is essential for anyone designing safeguarding policies:

• Power asymmetry: The coach-athlete relationship involves an extraordinary imbalance of power. Coaches control playing time, team selection, tactical decisions, competitive opportunities, and in many cases, the trajectory of a young person's athletic career. This power dynamic makes it exceptionally difficult for athletes to challenge, refuse, or report a coach's behavior — even when it is clearly harmful.
• Physical contact: Legitimate sport instruction often involves physical touching — spotting in gymnastics, technique correction in wrestling, physiotherapy, taping. This normalized physical contact creates ambiguity ...