Bullying behavior by athletic coaches.

A parent recently sought help addressing an individual bullying her child. When she provided more details, it became apparent the bully was not another student, but rather a high school basketball coach. One afternoon, the mother was early picking up her daughter from practice, so she went into the gym. She found the head coach screaming at the team that they lacked intelligence and were lazy because they had not executed a play properly. Horrified by this behavior, the mother waited until practice was over, then confronted the coach, telling him what she had observed and how upset she was by the screaming and name-calling. The coach responded by refocusing the conversation on the mother’s own transgression: parents knew that no one was allowed in the gym during practice “for safety reasons.” The mother felt as though she had to defend her own behavior. After the incident, she began asking around and discovered this coach had a long history of intimidating his athletes. She was not just witnessing a “bad day,” so she reported her concerns to the school and, again, was confused by the response. The principal told her he had spoken to the coach and the coach had apologized. He explained that the coach was very successful and won a state title last year, but sometimes got “overexcited.” Confused and angered by the school’s and coach’s reactions, she went to her pediatrician for advice. Although the study of bullying has made considerable strides over the last 2 decades, the definition remains vague. Bullying is generally defined as a systematic abuse of power, in which a stronger individual exhibits a pattern of intimidating behavior against someone weaker or less powerful. Although most research addresses peer-to-peer bullying, nothing in the definition requires a peer-to-peer relationship, only 1 individual with perceived power over another. The coach–athlete relationship involves an inherent imbalance of power, that is, a coach holds authority over his players by nature of his role. Bullying can have dramatic and long-lasting effects on its victims. It can impair social and emotional development and cause substantial harm to mental health. When the bullying occurs in an athletic setting, those harmful effects are augmented by the stress kids often feel as a result of athletic competition. Although plenty of coaches use affirming and encouraging coaching styles, bullying behavior such as demeaning, shaming, and name-calling remains a common aspect of coaching in sports at any level. More than 6000 young adults ages 18 to 22 years were interviewed about their experiences in sports earlier in adolescence. Three-quarters of respondents AUTHORS: Nancy L. Swigonski, MD, MPH,a Brett A. Enneking, BS,b and Kristin S. Hendrix, PhDa Children’s Health Services Research, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana; and Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana