How to create a ring of safety around athletes
The incident of a cyclist complaining of sexual harassment against a coach was unfortunate. In recent times, these cases are coming out in the open. As in every walk of life, such things are happening in the field of sports too. But this doesn’t mean that sport is not safe, or parents should not send their children to train. However, we must be vigilant. We need to educate and support our children and give them courage so that when it is really needed, they should speak up.
I had a long career as an athlete, and I never encountered such situations or heard anything in my close circle. Normally, coaches and athletes share a close bond — like that of a parent-child relationship. But unfortunately, you still have incidents like this. In this case, the coach was part of the team for many years, but you can never predict the behaviour of a person. You don’t know when it will get worse. So, it is important that children aware and immediately report such behaviour and escape a potentially dangerous situation. In school, we teach children about bad touch and good touch. Education is a must, so that they are conscious and remain alert to the environment. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) frequently educates athletes about sexharassment. It is also part of the coaching courses.
This woman cyclist showed courage and needs to be backed and given every support. By revealing the name of the girl in public, the federation has acted immaturely. Nowadays, because of the media, there is a lot of awareness and even small children know that a victim’s name should not be openly mentioned. I don’t know how a federation could miss such an important point.
There are guidelines in place in SAI. However, I feel there should be a strong mechanism, not only for our elite athletes, but for sportspersons across the country. There should be women support staff travelling with the team. We need to have a centralised system, led by a group of women, that can allow athletes to get in touch and relay their fears if they face a dangerous situation. A woman Indian police force officer should head such a wing and the number should be circulated across the country. If a victim needs immediate assistance, they can call and can directly contact this panel. It can be under SAI, the Union sports ministry or an independent body. This panel can address not only harassment but other potentially dangerous situations. For example, when an athlow
lete travels alone for a competition and suddenly faces danger, and needs to reach out to some officials, a system like this will help. Not everybody can speak to the top authorities. So, a strong mechanism is needed for them to directly communicate and approach fearlessly. The government and the sports ministry are taking strong steps whenever such things happen.
Once it is passed, the National Sports Development Bill, which covers the prevention of sexual harassment, will be a strong binding force for all the stakeholders to folual the measures that can protect our athletes from such abuses. It will go a long way in making the ecosystem strong.
Our athletes do a lot of hard work, sweat day and night in training. They want to succeed. Sometimes, they might be desperate and overlook the bad behaviour of support staff or a coach. But they should never be forced to compromise on their safety. They should not think that they have to obey the coach and follow whatever he says. They should not allow such people to take advantage. Athletes need to be aware of their rights. And the system around them should be strong enough to encourage them to come out against any acts of sexual harassment. We need to understand and correctly analyse a situation and act accordingly.
It is very disturbing for athletes when these things happen. They will be mentally distracted and if an athlete is a minor, it will take time for them to come back to sport. They will need psychological support, support from parents and from the system, and we must provide everything possible to help them. In my academy, I keep on talking to the athletes, try to get their inputs and I am always vigilant. Nowadays, they are open to a lot of things such as mobile phones and social media — and there is a lot of danger lurking around the corner. We cannot predict what may happen, but we can anticipate the possibilities and take requisite precautions.