Abusive Coaching in Collegiate Athletics

[Listen to an audio version of this blog here.]

Unless you were there, it may be hard to understand how much influence our coaches exerted over us. I mean, we were kids. Eighteen year-olds leaving home for the first time, diving into a sea of changes and trying to compete athletically at an elite level. “Abuse” is a strong word, one I hesitated to use until I realized that the insidious and duplicitous nature of abuse often gaslights victims into accepting it, thereby perpetuating its existence.

Psychological abuse is not a new concept, and once I give you the definition you may understand that you’ve experienced or witnessed this at some point. Psychological abuse: involves the regular and deliberate use of words and non-physical actions with the purpose to manipulate, hurt, weaken, or frighten a person mentally and emotionally; and/or distort, confuse or influence a person’s thoughts and actions or change their sense of reality.

The problem with my coaches and dozens of other collegiate athletic programs underscores an even larger problem that could be called systemic racism or sexism. I’m going to say it’s that plus the capitalization of sport as well. Collegiate athletics is a system that is built not around athlete well-being, health, or even long-term success, but rather around short-term success so that the people in…