Abstract
Sexual violence against athletes in elite and leisure sport has become of growing interest in recent years. In line with social media initiatives such as #SportToo and #CoachDontTouchMe and a rise in general media coverage, research in this field indicates an urgent need for action. These recent developments occasionally have led to no-touch policies, which may result in moral panic, uncertainty, and fear of unjustified suspicion among coaches. However, the role of closeness and distance in the development of sexual violence within the coach–athlete relationship has not yet been researched systematically. In this scoping review, the authors focus on the coach–athlete relationship, particularly its predispositions to sexual violence and how to prevent abusive relationships. Some characteristics typical of elite sport may predispose coaches to commit abuse, such as gender and power relations, the need for physical touch, hierarchical structures in sport, and trust and closeness between coaches and athletes. This scoping review follows an interdisciplinary approach combining sociological and psychological perspectives. It comprises 25 publications in English and German published from 2000 to 2019. The literature review highlights that closeness, power, blurred boundaries, and ambiguous roles are areas that seem to be crucial to the analysis of the coach–athlete relationship from both sociological and psychological perspectives.
Highlights
Intense relationships between coaches and athletes seem to be a prerequisite for promoting young athletes’ success in sport
Not many studies were conducted using the scoping method in this field, this approach is helpful to create an overview concerning research that has been carried out over a larger period of time. This applies to the long-tabooed topic of sexual violence in sport
Our interdisciplinary approach of combining the sociological and psychological perspective seems to be unique regarding the question discussed here and helps to figure out which main topics are central for each discipline and to define the respective gaps
Summary
Intense relationships between coaches and athletes seem to be a prerequisite for promoting young athletes’ success in sport. The focus of this article lies in the tension between the necessity to keep a distance to prevent (sexual) abuse in sport, on the one hand, and the need for supportive, close, trust-based relationships between coaches and athletes, on the other hand This scoping review is aimed at synthesizing the state of research on the coach–athlete. The World Health Organization (1999) stresses in its definition of child sexual abuse that involving children in sexual activities is associated with the fact that children do not fully comprehend and are unable to give informed consent to these activities and that adults are in a position of responsibility, power and trust This occurs for coaches working with children and youth because they take a position of power and responsibility for young athletes in sport
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