This article summarizes the thoughts and events many athletes face today. It displays how sports can materialize into a nightmare, when athletes face coaching bullying. This story represents just one of the many the Foundation continually receives.
By Kayan Brown
Published: August 13, 2008
Every day she wakes up dreading to go to practice. Common refrains of “you suck” and “you are the reason we lost” echo in her head as her feet touch the ground. She believes she might be dreaming, but the chill that runs through her body reminds her that, unfortunately, this is her reality. Her monotonous routine cruises by as the school bell rings, sounding the alarm to the end of her regular day and marks the beginning of her battle. She enters the gym dressed and ready for practice with her basketball in hand, only to hear someone yell her name. She cringes at the sound of the sharp whistle, followed by her coach’s attempt at an inspiring start to practice. “Listen up; I’m tired of you girls dragging your fat butts up and down this court. Therefore, as a nice treat for losing the game yesterday, we will spend practice time on conditioning and play a little game of clean the gym.”
The scenario above represents many of the calls the Foundation receives each month. The growing issue of coaching “bullying,” the verbal and psychological abuse by coaches toward athletes, must be addressed. Coaching “bullying” involves coaches relentlessly humiliating athletes by constantly directing demeaning comments or profanities at student-athletes, plus perpetually making comments about an athletes’ size, weight, height, or outer physical features or appearance. This rising trend is currently occurring all over the country and does not adhere to just one sport, gender or ability level, but forces its way into the lives of athletes from middle school to college ranging in sports from field hockey to basketball. Not every coach possesses the innate ability to speak a few words and inspire athletes, but the harsh reality today seems to be the increasing number of coaches leaving the rousing words behind and instead opting to fire disparaging, hurtful and degrading remarks toward athletes.
This type of abuse can compromise anyone’s physical and emotional health, especially teenagers who already face so much in an ever-changing world. For many athletes, the result of constant bullying by coaches usually leads to ending a sport career they hoped would carry on further than high school.
Regrettably, the students in one mother’s particular story suffered the same undeniable fate. During the 2007-08 season, the mother claimed that the coach “tortured” one senior player until she finally quit the team with one week left in the season, referring to her as “a cancer, and cancer is bad.” An example of the torture of this student includes a 30-minute post-game locker room tirade reprimanding the player for “poor body language and attitude…,” in which her father had to burst into the locker room and pull his daughter out, according to our contact. This verbal assault stemmed from the player putting on a sweatshirt and crossing her arms because she was cold.
Sadly, other players were humiliated, denied participation at practices, continuously questioned about their loyalty and commitment, and told they were incapable and inferior because they supported the abused player. The mother said players spent a majority of their season trying to avoid the coach’s tantrums, swearing and verbal abuse. Adding insult to injury, last season the coach refused to support or aid the senior players trying to achieve scholarships for a college position, leaving the players to assemble support and referrals from coaches at other schools.
For the upcoming season, four senior players refuse to participate if he is the coach, choosing to not complete their high school basketball careers. The mother has the support of former and current players, parents and fans in order to address the people who can make change, like the district’s athletic director, the school board and the department of compliance. She understands that another failed “plan for improvement” will not do the trick and already has stories about retaliation, like denying gym access during the summer, against players who have lodged complaints “because of that thing that happened last season.”
After attempts to fix the problem, the mother contacted the Foundation about her daughter’s basketball team. The mother enlightened us about her thoughts on the harsh behavior of her daughter’s basketball coach and the abusive treatment the girls received for years without an end in sight. The mother said she spent three months in conference with administrators in her school district to try to work out a peaceful way to take care of this situation. She stated that she did research regarding the school athletic association’s policies, school district policies and the state laws, and she believes the basketball coach has violated all three. According to her letter, the school district has received numerous complaints about this coach for the past three seasons, but he seems to always receive redemption after given a “plan for improvement.” Unfortunately, the mother also spoke about the severity of a particular situation going as far as the school principal suggesting the parents of a student who received significant abuse lodge a criminal complaint against the coach.
Many who have participated in sport know the value one can gain. Patience, discipline, determination and hard work all jump to mind when thinking of the lessons we learn through sport. However, learning cannot occur without the proper person to impart such knowledge. Coaches who tell their players that they are “stupid,” “useless” and “fat” and who punish their athletes after losing a game are hardly the right people for this important task. If we do not stop this now, what will children start learning from sports?
Click here to learn more about verbal and psychological abuse.