Youth sports come with potential risks

One afternoon when my mother asked about my school day, a coach’s comment came to mind. “As I left the shower, he told me, ‘You’re well put together, kid.’” My mother frowned and inquired, “Did anything else happen?” “Yes, he patted my shoulder and said, ‘See you later, alligator.’” “Why ‘alligator?’ she wondered, still frowning. “It’s from a song, mom.” She seemed unsatisfied but said nothing. Though apparently fearful of a possible stalker, she never broached the topic again. Nowadays conversations with children on such issues can be more open and relaxed as many Americans start confronting such disturbing realities.

Athletes’ sexual abuse has become increasingly publicized. In 2020 the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which Congress created to study and prevent mistreatment involving Olympic and Paralympic athletes, conducted the largest study to date of these elite performers, involving almost 4,000 respondents in over 50 sports and providing detail about several issues, including sexual abuse.

Over 90 percent of athletes who were sexually mistreated in the SafeSport study made no formal complaint, fearing retribution. Similarly, a respondent from a survey of college athletes indicated that as a walk-on in a major college football program, he worked hard to make the team, and so when a medical doctor sexually abused him, the choice was painfully obvious — that while he was “uncomfortable in the situation, it didn’t get identified because I would have had so much to lose.”

The SafeSport research also revealed that among racial/ethnic groups, Black athletes reported the highest rate of sexual assault, with Asian, Hispanic and multiracial peers close behind, and gender-nonconforming or disabled respondents were also disproportionately assaulted sexually. Like many issues involving oppressed groups’ mistreatment, reform has been maddeningly slow.

The Nassar case and beyond

Lawrence G. Nassar was a medical doctor who sexually abused hundreds of female athletes, many just children, in gymnastic training camps, gyms, his home, a Michigan State clinic and a Texas training center.

Largely concealed, Nassar’s abusive behavior persisted for decades, finally creating widespread attention when TV coverage of his trial featured testimony from over 150 gymnasts. In December, USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee reached a $380 million settlement with Nassar’s hundreds of female gymnasts.

While Nassar and other abusers have been imprisoned, many schools, gyms and other organizations have failed to warn athletes about likely violators. One case involved 13-year-old Kelly Cutright, whose coach, a known sex offender, declared he loved her two months after starting her training. She resisted, finding it “uncomfortable and weird.” He turned threatening, and Cutright relented, admitting that “[g]ymnastics was my whole world” and that he could destroy her promising career. The sexual cruelty so devastated her that nearly two decades later Cutright still couldn’t utter the word “abuse.”

Some researchers have become deeply concerned about such situations, analyzing the dangers and emphasizing an urgent need for action. The following ideas come from a review of 25 studies published during the opening two decades of the 21st century.

The research indicated that certain distinct factors influence outcomes. They include:

⏩ Coaches’ possession of extensive power, controlling the athletic process and making it difficult or impossible for outsiders to discern the occurrence of possible abuse. The emphasis on control is most potent when coaches are male and athletes female — a common occurrence. If those in charge are authoritarian, athletes, especially females, become particularly vulnerable to abuse.

⏩ Closeness between an athlete and a coach is a recognized asset, but it can be a risk factor promoting sexual abuse. For instance, coaches often become emotionally close to their athletes, taking on a parent-like role that can eventually lead to physical intimacy, or their frequent physical proximity can increase the likelihood of hugging or kissing.

The relationship between athletes and organizational officials, especially coaches, seems reminiscent of some elements of guerrilla warfare — where coaches like guerrillas have the distinct advantage of operating on home turf, putting them in an advantageous position when dealing with athletes, who find themselves in a new, often strange, even alien territory.

There are a pair of strategies that organizational personnel should emphasize in protecting students: first, coaching candidates and other prospective job holders need to be subjected to thorough background checks and hiring sessions, weeding out applicants who possess significant risk factors likely to promote sexual misconduct; and second, it’s essential to counsel the athletes by describing potential dangers and alerting them to reliable steps they can take to protect themselves or to seek out protection.