M9 Safe Sport Prevention: Systemic Implementations

Lecture Scope

Broadening the focus from micro/meso-level coach-athlete interactions (Brofenbrenner’s model) to macro-level sport organizations, policymakers, and administrators to define a safe sport environment

Human Rights Due Diligence in Sport Governing Bodies

Graphic from class outlines a four step-process for embedding human rights

1. Committing and Embedding

2. Identifying Risks

3. Taking Action

4. Communication

Committing and Embedding

Public commitment to human rights, integration into organizational culture, standards, and practices

• Policies should be publicly accessible

• Critique: Accessibility of safeguarding policies is often difficult, even for experts

Identifying Risks

Identify actual or potential human rights risks and prioritize them for action

Taking Action

Address identified risks

Communicating

Ensure awareness of issues and threats, and that the organization is addressing them

FIFA Example

FIFA has a human rights framework, but its response to current political climates and abusive policies (e.g. surrounding the World Cup in Canada/US/Mexico) has been criticized for undermining human rights and posing risks to various groups, with a perceived lack of action.

• Human Rights Watch offers further analysis

Changing the Narrative

We should shift our focus from merely “sport free from abuse or harm” to optimizing the overall sport experience

• Rationale:

  • Free from abuse sets a low bar for sport’s potential

  • Sport has significant capabilities to connect others and has other benefits

  • Despite past scandals and structural issues, sport can be a powerful positive force

Optimization Goals

Focusing on optimization still inherently covers relational safety, physical safety, and environmental harm (J. Gurgis)

• Performance goals and expectations are not incompatible with an optimized sport experience. Fun an enjoyment are crucial

Key Themes for Optimally Safe and Enjoyable Experiences

1. Defining Optimally Safe

2. Positive Relationships

3. Respectful Interactions

4. Physical Environment

5. Developmentally Appropriate

6. Cultural Contexts

Defining Optimally Safe

Should be fun, friendly, relaxed, instill a sense of security

• Allows for personal development and resilience-building even under stress

Positive Relationships

Environment should be comfortable, familiar, welcoming, friendly, and approachable

• All participants (athletes, coaches, parents) should get along

• Parental Involvement: parents should be welcome to observe practices

  • Speaker’s anecdote: High school baseball team with locked practices led to bullying, theft, players quitting due to lack of open dialogue and trust b/w coaches and parents

Respectful Interactions

Dialogue should be open, honest, and respectful

• Share goals and expectations between athletes, coaches, and parents are crucial

• Autonomy-supportive coaching and care:

  • Coaches should allow athletes choice (e.g. practice focus) and provide individualized support (Speaker’s experience: 12-year-old baseball team thriving under coaches who fostered autonomy)

  • This approach can diffuse negative parent involvement by maintaining open communication

• Fostering teamwork and respect within the club

Physical Environment

Must be safe, hygienic, and have up-to-date equipment and facilities

• Policies: should be up-to-date, in place, and accessible

• Injury Protocol: clear framework for injuries and return to play

• Reality Check: Many local sport organizations are simply under-resourced, leading to tokenistic compliance, or reliance on volunteer parents who may lack resources for ideal implementation

Developmentally Appropriate

Meeting the child/athlete where they are, not treating young athletes as adults; a psychological term originating from child development

• Focuses on increasing confidence and developing skills through games

• Emphasizes the compatibility of performance and fun

• There is no evidence that abusive coaching (e.g. yelling, punishment) optimizes athletic performance or mental health

Norwegian Example

Rights-based approach to creating developmentally appropriate sport

• Norwegian international Sport Federation’s “Rights and Provisions on Children's Sport” uses a rights-based framework, highly overlapping with developmentally appropriate sport

• Rights: safety, friendship, enjoyment, mastery (personal development), influence, freedom to choose (autonomy-supportive), and having a voice (e.g. on competition participation)

• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Emphasizes children’s views as primary, but acknowledges the need for adult involvement for safety and ethics

• Specific Provision: Results lists, tables, and rankings are prohibited for children under 11. This de-emphasizes COMPARISON (often done by parents) NOT COMPETITION. Acknowledges that competition is inherent in sport.

Cultural Context and Governance

1. National Sport Organizations

2. Governance in Sport Organizations

National Sport Organizations

Responsibilities include

• Providing safe spaces, leadership, support, compliance, and monitoring

• Challenge: widely held belief that sport is largely self-governing w/o an overarching regulatory body (unlike healthcare or education)

• NSO policies often grant Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs) discretion, leading to policy inconsistencies and difficulty for participants to navigate

• Financial component: Sport organizations are chronically underfunded. Funding frequently emphasizes performance, winning, and medals, diverting resources from safety infrastructure.

Governance in Sport Organizations

1. Professional Development

2. Meaningful Learning

3. Welfare Officers

4. Policy Implementation

Professional Development

Beyond technical training, coaches need development focused on relationships and appropriate safeguarding

• Elite Hockey Example: Historically, coaching culture in elite hockey (e.g. NHL) has overlooked relational aspects, leading to scandals and resignations

• Youth Sport Reality: Volunteer parent-coaches often lack the capacity or resources for extensive professional development in developmentally appropriate sport or safe guarding

Meaningful Learning

Training and education must be designed to promote meaningful learning and facilitate real-world application, not just “box-ticking’ (e.g. quick online courses)

Welfare Officer

An ideal role for guiding on-field application of safe sport principles, but often impractical due to underfunding. Requires specialized expertise.

Policy Implementation

The effectiveness and degree of implementation of policies can be inconsistent due to the lack of a central overseeing body for compliance and monitoring.

Safe Sport in Canada: Historical Context and Progress

1. 1990s Context

2. Peter Donnelly Study Findings

3. Further Scandals

4. Positive Steps Forward

1990s context

Cases of sexual violence in hockey (e.g. Sheldon Kennedy) prompted Sport Canada to mandate NSOs to:

1. Develop and disseminate publicly accessible harassment policies

2. Designate arms-length, trained harassment officers

3. Report annually on compliance to Sport Canada

Peter Donelly Study Findings (2016)

86% of NSOs and 71% of PSOs had harassment policies

• Less than half were publicly accessible

• Policies primarily focused on sexual violence, potentially overlooking neglect or psychological violence

• Crucially: No sport organization was denied funding for non-compliance, as the emphasis remained on performance

Further Scandals

Gymnastics scandals further prompted federal ministers to prioritize abuse in sport and introduce funding consequences

Positive Steps Forward

Establishment of reporting mechanisms: Abuse-Free Sport Helpline

Training Initiatives: CAC’s Safe Sport Training

Standardization: Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport (UCCMS)

Mental Health Focus: Establishment and investment in the Canadian Center for Mental Health and Sport

Ongoing Challenges

Despite these initiatives, issues and scandals persist, leading federal ministers to describe sport as being “in crisis”

Recent Initiatives

Future of Sport in Canada Commission (preliminary report Summer 2025, final repot March 2026)

• New Canadian Sport Policy (August 2025)

• Professor Erin’s work w/ Athletes Can

Goal Reiteration

The speaker emphasizes that the goal should be optimizing the sport experience, not just achieving “sport free of abuse”

Evaluation of International Child Protection Initiatives

UK: Highly professionalized safe sport system with a Child Protection Sport Unit. Professionals often hold master's degrees in child protection/welfare, exceeding typical Canadian certification-based training.

Australia: Significant government funding directed to their sport system, partly due to hosting the Brisbane 2032 Olympics. This funding, historically in Canada (e.g., Vancouver 2010), often emphasizes performance.

US Center for Safe Sport: Unique for having safe sport embedded in federal legislation, providing a strong legal foundation.

Educational Components: All countries have educational programs, which ideally cover all types of maltreatment, power dynamics, and transparent reporting processes.

EDI Policy: As of the 2022 paper, there wasn't extensive discourse around Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) policy within these initiatives.