Developing frameworks to ensure clear communication and enforceable policies for athlete safety
Fostering athlete-centred team and sport culture
Enhancing safe sport principles in training and development for coaches

Learning Objectives

When you have completed this chapter, you will be able to:

LO1 Outline what Canadian high performance athletes perceive that organizations and the sport system are doing to address unsafe sport;
LO2 Explain the role of culture in perpetuating, and changing, unsafe sport;
LO3 Describe what high performance athletes in Canada believe can be done to promote a safer sport culture; and
LO4 Design a multi-pronged strategy for changing the unsafe culture of high performance sport in Canada.

Overview

Safe sport is on the minds of many stakeholders across the sport sector in Canada and abroad. The number of stories regarding maltreatment, in the Canadian sport context continues to mount. Maltreatment is defined as abuse and neglect which constitutes many types of physical, psychological, emotional, sexual forms of harm.^[1] Sport leaders from government, national sport organizations (NSO), provincial and territorial sport organizations (PTSO), University Sport and club-based sport are grappling with what has come to light as a long-standing problem of normalized abusive behaviour, amidst increased pressure and calls for change.

The increased evidence of athletes at all levels of the sport system suffering from various forms of harm (e.g., physical, emotional, psychological, sexual) is being responded to through the creation of policies and government initiatives (e.g., the Canadian Safe Sport Program, formerly the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner). However, it is essential to address the culture – or shared values and beliefs – underlying unsafe sport in order to effect meaningful and sustainable change.

The concept of culture, though often misused in a colloquial manner, is a phenomenon that helps understand, and address, maltreatment in sport because it reflects shared, often strong, and pervasive values that underlie actual behaviour, including maltreatment. Research on culture confirms that changing a culture is complex and nuanced. As culture develops and strengthens over time, it evolves into ‘the way of doing things.’ Herein lies the problem in that, if a culture is not challenged to change, it will be perpetuated.

A culture of maltreatment has become normalized in sport, and so there is a need to unpack this culture in order to normalize positive behaviours and practices. People shape culture as they bring their ideas and ideals on what matters or what works best. If left unchallenged, unhealthy behaviours can be perpetuated in the form of unsafe sport conditions seen in Canada.

Although challenging these behaviours can be uncomfortable, doing so allows change to be realized. Thus, it is important to understand the experiences and perceptions of those who live the high performance sport culture as a critical step towards changing that culture. Understanding what athletes experience and how they feel culture can and should change is critical to reframing the reality of unsafe sport that many athletes continue to experience.

In the News:
Toward a Safer Sport Culture

 

“’I feel (un)safe when …’: What athletes have to say about high performance culture” by Eric MacIntosh, Shannon Kerwin and Alison Doherty, The Sport Information Resource Centre, July 25, 2022.

“Federal government launching commission to probe systemic abuse in sports” by Ashley Burke, CBC News, December 11, 2023.

“Minister Duncan Announces Support for Sport Organizations to Address Harassment, Abuse, Discrimination and Maltreatment in Sport” by Canadian Heritage, May 21, 2019.

Athletes are increasingly speaking out about the unsafe environment of high performance sport.

With a culture lacking respect, support and accountable systems, athletes have struggled to report incidents of abuse, harassment, discrimination and maltreatment in sport. This silence has allowed abusive behaviour to become normalized, perpetuating an environment where athletes feel vulnerable and unsafe. These headlines confront this entrenched culture of normalized abusive behaviour at a time of mounting pressure, with athletes calling for change. Explore these news stories to understand some of the instances where athletes have felt unsafe and the calls to action to create a safer sport culture.

Our research on high performance sport culture offers insights to the athlete perspective regarding what organizations are doing versus what athletes feel needs to be done for change in the sport system. These insights help to illustrate perceived efforts to shift the culture of high performance sport and, in contrast, athletes’ perceptions of what would support the most impactful and sustainable culture change.

Self-Reflection

Think of a sport organization with which you have been involved.

1. What does the organization do to promote safe sport?
2. What does the organization do to address unsafe sport?
3. What should the organization do to promote safe sport?

We interviewed 28 athletes in the high performance sport system from across the country regarding their experiences and perceptions of safe and unsafe sport.^[2] The athletes, 11 who identified as male and 17 who identified as female, from 21 summer and seven winter sports, were asked to describe what their sport is doing to address maltreatment and what they feel their sport organization and the sport system as a whole should do to enact meaningful change:

We share the athletes’ perceptions of unsafe sport briefly here, as an important foundation for their perceptions of how unsafe sport is and can be addressed. Our findings show that high performance athletes described feeling unsafe – vulnerable, fearful and intimidated, devalued, mistrustful, isolated – when:

• Coaches behave inappropriately, described as overstepping boundaries, blurring lines, gatekeeping resources, using overly aggressive language and training techniques, being uninformed and outdated in their sport-related knowledge, and being exclusionary.
• Teammates and fellow athletes behave inappropriately, described as being exclusionary through language and social tactics, and overly aggressive (physically and emotionally).
• There is a lack of resources that create insufficient ancillary support, including medical and paramedical (e.g., physiotherapy) support, psychological support, and financial support; also insufficient equipment, and sport regulations are not upheld.
• The sport system is inattentive to athlete concerns about maltreatment, with limited recourse for complaints, compromised confidentiality, and lack of accountability and action.

These behaviours and practices appear to reflect a culture of underlying values that have been taken too far, including autonomy (too much independence), authority, meritocracy or rewarding the best, and drive (to excel). Although these values are often celebrated, and perhaps particularly in high performance sport, when taken too far they appear to underly many of the issues athletes are experiencing related to maltreatment.

What Has Been Happening in Canada to Promote Safe High Performance Sport? The Athletes’ Perspective

Four themes are evident from the athlete interviews regarding what their sport, and the high performance sport system as a whole, are doing to address maltreatment and promote safe sport. In the following section, we look at the details of each of these four themes more closely:

1. Communicating about safe sport;
2. Establishing safe sport policy;
3. Implementing athlete accountability requirements; and
4. Launch of reporting mechanisms.

Communicating about safe sport

The athletes shared that quite a bit is going on in the sport system to communicate the importance of safer sport and the various means that stakeholders may address maltreatment. They described a variety of content being circulated, that ranges from information about maltreatment in general – “what to do if something is wrong” – and more specifically about eating disorders, drugs in sport, and media training for safe interactions. Athletes also described communication that is specific to handling safety issues in their own sport.

Overall, athletes noted increased communication regarding the importance of safe sport and, in particular, that their organizations were promoting the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner through various informal discussions, listing information on their website and some social media posts. They noted that there are regular updates about the unsafe sport reporting system in Canada, and a recent focus on athlete mental health in particular.

“I guess that the organization, in their communications to us, whether it’s via emails, or like Facebook posts, or Instagram posts, things like that … they spread the word.”

“Just getting the information out there, I think is a huge part of safe sport, and knowing what’s wrong and what’s right and what you can do if you do see something going wrong.”

“I think that it’s supporting athletes, mental health is a huge thing. This is absolutely massive for me. And it’s, I’ll be honest, it’s not as widely accepted, … we’re kind of getting past that stigma. You know, like if someone has depression it’s not like what’s wrong with you it’s more supportive.”

In all, the athletes described a range of information and resources that are shared with them through various communication efforts – both formally and informally – in support of a safer sport environment. They are very aware of efforts in the sport system to communicate information regarding safe sport.

Establishing safe sport policy

The athletes also noted that their sport, and the sport system as a whole, have been working on making things better through updated safe sport and related policies that are “covering all things,” including harassment and privacy. As one athlete described:

“There’s always been a harassment policy and privacy policies out there. But I think there’s been more and more effort to, first of all, make sure that people are aware of those and highlighting them, [and] ensuring that they’re updated and covering all the things they need to cover.”

According to the athletes, key stakeholders – including coaches and other athletes – are generally aware of and following these policies.

Video 3.1 From the Front Line: Athlete Experiences – Allison Forsyth, OLY – 2023 Safe Sport Forum

Video provided by Dr. Julie Stevens, Conference Chair, 2023 Safe Sport Forum, Centre for Sport Capacity, Brock University. Used with permission. [Transcript]

Implementing athlete accountability requirements

In addition to information and policies intended to address maltreatment and uphold safe sport, the athletes noted that they are expected to do their part to ensure a positive high performance environment. They must complete specified safe sport educational courses and training to be eligible to receive “carding” money, which is funds allocated to high performance athletes who have been designated by their sport for financial support from the federal government. As one athlete described it:

“[We are] having a number of conversations in those [safe sport] areas with athletes and that’s part of our national team. You know, to get your carding and to be affiliated with the national team centre, you have to talk through those seminars and presentations.”

Launch of reporting mechanisms

Finally, athletes described two mechanisms for reporting maltreatment: One is a formal process that is supported by a confidential help line, reporting to a third party, and arms-length counsel if needed. Another is an athlete representative to whom an athlete can take any concerns to the management and/or board of their NSO in attempts to solve issues. The athletes also described a more informal reporting mechanism which is characterized by the opportunity for open dialogue with senior leaders in their sport about individual experiences or maltreatment in general. A national team athlete representative, or senior athlete, was considered an important part of this more informal mechanism:

“She’s a really good advocate for safe sport and the safe environments and everything. So, she is always open to, if we have a problem, she’s like, ‘come forward; come talk to me about it. I’ll deal with it and try to figure out who to tell, to help with it’.”

But…

Despite the existence of these practices in the Canadian high performance sport system, athletes further shared that the communication efforts and reporting mechanisms are generally reactive, more token than authentic with regard to addressing the problems, and with few consequences for omission or failure.

The following quotations provide rich insight to these perceptions:

“But it was more political answers and meeting with relatively vague answers rather than super useful. And [there weren’t] concrete timelines on when things are going to improve. So, I left that meeting feeling pretty bought in and feeling like, ‘okay, we’re good; it’s gonna be all set.’ And then now it’s been about a month later and nothing has changed.”

“In the last 12 to 18 months, I would say it [safe sport] has really come to the forefront. [However] I would say it was more reactionary than proactive. And maybe more tokenistic than authentic… I really do hope that these issues are taken in the most serious way and that it’s not only when an issue arises that people have that reaction and freak out and decide that something needs to be done.”

Athletes also expressed concern or doubt about the anonymity and arms-length of the reporting mechanisms. As one athlete shared:

“I was hesitant to go through it [third party] because it literally had the name [of the sport organization] on it. So I think for a lot of athletes to actually take steps to, you know, feel comfortable doing something, it needs to be fully independent from the sport organizations, like it needs to be its own independent thing.”

Overall, there was widespread acknowledgement among the athletes that their sport, and the sport system as a whole, are starting to respond to the crisis of maltreatment through increased communication, relevant and updated policy (including holding athletes accountable themselves), and reporting measures in place. Yet, despite the presence and visibility of these safe sport mechanisms, the athletes expressed concerns and doubt about the safety in these very practices and their potential to make the change needed to shift high performance sport to a safer sport culture. They spoke next about what they believe is needed for meaningful and sustainable culture change.

What Should Be Happening in Canada to Promote Safe High Performance Sport? The Athletes’ Perspective

Six themes about what athletes believe their sport and the Canadian sport system as a whole should be doing were evident in the interviews. In the following section, each aspect of what athletes believe is fundamental to a safer sport system is considered:

1. Building an athlete-centred team/sport culture;
2. Demonstrating greater accountability for policy non-compliance;
3. Supporting an independent third-party reporting system;
4. Providing interactive safe sport education;
5. Promoting coaching development; and
6. Ensuring coach protection.

Building an athlete-centred team/sport culture

Athletes called for a better and stronger team culture, and broader high performance sport culture, founded on athlete-centredness. They described this as an environment of mutual respect among all stakeholders – athletes, coaches, administrators support, and understanding, with a particular focus on athletes feeling listened to, and heard. As one athlete described it:

“Every time an athlete speaks up, they’re taking a risk with their career. So, believe athletes when they speak up because, like, they have so much to lose, and they are still choosing to speak up, which means its important.”

The athletes also emphasized the need for a more balanced approach to sport, where each athlete is recognized as a whole person and not just a body and mind preparing for high performance.

“When all the athletes really need you, isn’t when all the cameras and TV are on, you know, it’s when almost nobody wants anything to do with you because you haven’t performed to the best of your ability, when the athlete doesn’t want to talk to anyone because they’re, like, mad at themselves, ‘oh man, I could’ve done better.’ You know, especially at those bigger events where you kind of just need a hug, or something like that, but when you look around and literally know, everywhere, all over, just congratulating whoever’s performed better.”

“Just supportive and there to help you without criticizing or judging your needs or anything like that.”

Another athlete described that “promoting healthy team culture from the get-go is really important.”

Building a better and stronger team and sport culture also includes, according to the athletes, intentionally dismantling the current unsafe aspects of high performance sport. One athlete called for:

“[A] need to talk about some of the culture of our sport… and some of the practice situations that people found themselves in and having discussions ‘bout, ‘okay, is that something that is safe or is it something that has just been part of our culture that we’ve accepted for a really long time, that is not appropriate anymore?’”

A few athletes commented specifically about the need to eradicate “the negatives of locker room talk and lack of confidentiality in team culture”:

“It can be kind of daunting… you know; that locker room talk is not great, in a sense, and they should kind of promote less of that and kind of more inclusive environment for athletes.”

Video 3.2 Towards a Safer Sport Culture: Management by Values – Dr. Eric MacIntosh – 2023 Safe Sport Forum

Demonstrating greater accountability for policy non-compliance

The athletes expressed an overall concern for stakeholders understanding and knowing the rules while, most importantly, following through on the new policies in place. That athletes were wary about whether or not sport leaders would in fact have meaningful sanctions in place to maintain the promise of accountability and transparency is a telling feature of the current day sport system. Mistrust about being protected seems to be the general feeling from the athletes we spoke with.

The athletes called for clear and meaningful accountability around safe sport policies as they perceive that procedures are not necessarily followed and non-compliance is waived off. So, it may not be surprising that they also supported a more rigorous – and especially independent and confidential – reporting system for sharing and responding to issues and allegations around maltreatment.

Concerns about confidentiality were noted earlier as a limitation of existing reporting systems: “it needs to be fully independent from the sport organizations, like it needs to be its own independent thing.” This is the nature of a “truly autonomous system” that athletes are calling for. Athletes would have greater confidence that the third party would empower them to:

“Submit that feedback… where [the third party would] say ‘okay, this is feedback and we’re going to take it seriously,’ And maybe ask around with other athletes, ‘Hey, is this something you’re finding too?’”

Providing interactive safe sport education

Counterpoint:
Cash, Culture, Change

While it is clear that an increase in funding has the potential to help sport organizations in their capacity to handle a variety of objectives, it does not directly address the fundamental issue of understanding why maltreatment behaviour is occurring in the first place. Culture is about the values and beliefs that influence the choice of behaviours. Having more money in the system may only support further high performance objectives and a win at all costs focus, and do little to address the attitudinal and behavioural issues that plague sport.

Money is important to operational issues in sport and is certainly needed to increase ancillary resources in support of athlete health and wellness, but can it actually change maltreatment behaviour?

Supporting coaching development

Ensuring coach protection

Interestingly, a few athletes also recognized that coaches need protection too, as they are in vulnerable situations where their job may be on the line if their athletes do not perform well. They characterized this vulnerability as systematic maltreatment, where the coach is at the mercy of the sport’s leaders, and thus the power imbalance in that situation needs attention. They called for job security as expressed here:

“I guess job security for one, especially when you look at coaches, and I think coaches have, much like players, a lot of pressure on coaches to perform and succeed as well. Right? So I think, you know, having that certainty in your environment is going to allow you to feel safe.”

“It’s just as important to me that the coaches feel supported and feel safe as the athletes. I think that sport has done a good job in the last few years enabling the athletes to speak up. But in some cases, it’s been at the coaches’ loss and they feel now at risk.”

Summary