Last year the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released its Final Report into sport, recreation, arts, culture, community and hobby groups. It marked a significant milestone in our collective awareness and understanding of child abuse in sport. The public hearings, private sessions and research of the Royal Commission gave us valuable insights into the characteristics of, and risk factors for, child sexual abuse in sport and recreation. These were encapsulated in Volume 14 of the Royal Commission and are worth considering as they help us better understand why abuse occurs, how we might prevent it occurring in the first place and how we might respond if it does occur.
In this article we will focus on simple strategies you can put in place to help prevent abuse occurring in your sport.
Grooming is essentially where a perpetrator builds trust with a child, and often the parents, in order to exploit and abuse the child. The Royal Commission noted that grooming in sport and recreation followed similar patterns to other institutional contexts.
However, the two types of grooming identified that were most prevalent in sport and recreation were:
In this context, we can look at the common strategies used for grooming and, importantly, some ways to help prevent them occurring in the future.
Coaches or instructors in sport are in a position of power and authority over their athletes. Trust is a vital component of any good coaching relationship. Coaches and athletes get to know each other well, often over years where the boundaries between a coaching relationship and a personal relationship can become blurred. Perpetrators can exploit this situation. It can be difficult for sports clubs to identify manipulative and controlling behaviours of perpetrators where small changes are made over time as ‘special relationships’ are formed with young athletes. This is further complicated where coaches use social media to communicate with athletes.
So what can be done to help prevent grooming situations developing over time?
Perpetrators of child abuse can use alcohol and other enticements as part of grooming. This is all part of building trust and a bond that is often hidden from others yet forms an important part of the grooming technique. Similarly, chocolates, illicit drugs and cigarettes can be used and seen as a favour or secret understanding between coach and athlete.
Even adult material, such as pornographic magazines, can be used to build a bond and desensitise young people to sexual behaviour. Perpetrators can gage the young persons reaction to pornography as part of grooming.
So what can be done to help prevent inappropriate activity?
Perpetrators may be able to employ subtle behaviours aimed at eroding the interpersonal boundaries of the child. The Royal Commission described this as a process of ‘gradual entrapment’. Here, the perpetrator seeks to disempower the athlete and reduce their personal autonomy. The athlete becomes more dependent on the perpetrator and, hence, the perpetrator has more control over the athletes life.
Many sports involve direct physical contact between children and their instructors. Most often there are legitimate reasons for this. However, lines can be crossed between what is appropriate and acceptable contact and what is inappropriate.
In the Royal Commission private sessions survivors of child abuse said they did not feel confident enough to talk about inappropriate touching and others, even though they were not fully comfortable with situations, failed to call out to stop it.
So what can be done to help prevent erosion of interpersonal boundaries?
Some children are more vulnerable to abuse than others. Perpetrators understand this. If a young persons home life is unsettled and insecure, with conflict, poor relationships or even violence, then that makes them vulnerable.
Sport can be a welcome reprieve from difficult family situations. Perpetrators can assume the ‘parental figure’ in a young persons life to build trust and affection. Sport also provides particular circumstances, such as camps or excursions, where perpetrators can exploit a young persons vulnerability.
Young people with communication difficulties or disabilities may be particularly vulnerable.
So what can be done to help prevent targeting vulnerability?
Sport and recreation clubs reflect the communities they are in. Sports clubs are generally very welcoming and open to anyone in the community. They are often the centre of community life.
The Royal Commissions research has shown that sport and recreation clubs are influenced by local cultures which can lead to and create risk factors for child abuse. Circumstances in which this may occur include:
In some circumstances where sports over-emphasise competition and competitive contexts, violent and aggressive behaviours can become normalised. Violent and aggressive behaviour can be part of expressing masculinity and viewed as an important part of being a member of a club.
Harassment can be normalised too - in the form of verbal abuse, trash talk, sledging or pranks. Again, these become ‘just what is done around here’!
Two types of harmful behaviours were identified by the Royal Commission:
These kind of practices makes young people vulnerable and isolated.
So what can be done to help prevent normalised violence and harassment?
Some sport and recreation environments lend themselves to sexualised behaviours being seen as normal. Where these type of behaviours are encouraged or ignored it can create particularly risky situations.
Sexualised conversations, even involving children, can become normalised over time, making it difficult to identify and remedy.
Perpetrators can escalate normalised sexualised behaviours, exploit situations and evade detection. What may be seen as harmless fun by some can be seen as an opportunity for perpetrators of child abuse.
So what can be done to help prevent normalised sexualised cultures?
Sometimes, the prestige and position of coaches and instructors in sport and recreation can take precedence over the welfare of children. Experienced coaches and instructors are high value, particularly when there is a great importance placed on athletic and team success. Clubs want to succeed and want the best coaches and instructors possible. This drive to succeed can lead to clubs and communities being blind to vulnerability and exploitation.
As the Royal Commission pointed out ‘the power, authority and influence that some perpetrators hold can be far reaching.’
In extreme situations survivors of child abuse have recounted the way some sport and recreation communities alienated them and treated them as complicit or responsible.
So what can be done to help prevent a culture of valuing adults over children?
Interestingly, the Royal Commission found evidence that further supports the link between the level of involvement in sport and an increased risk of abuse. The pressures on aspiring and elite performers can be intense, with heavy training routines and a lot of travelling to competitions and events. This can be socially isolating and a challenge for an athletes physical and psychological wellbeing.
The makes young people vulnerable to abuse, particularly where perpetrators are in positions of power and authority.
So what can be done to help prevent vulnerability due to level of involvement?
The simple strategies outlined above are doable for any club. They are not meant to be exhaustive or detailed. They are intended to help give you a way forward to address child safety in response to the most comprehensive and far reaching examination of child safety in sport and recreation ever conducted in this country.
Below are further resources you can access to help move forward and ensure that sport and recreation is a safe place to be for children and young people.