Analysis of the dimensions of child abuse in sports from the athletes' perspective

The aim of this research is to determine the causes, dimensions of child abuse in sports and what abusive behaviors are from the perspective of elite athletes. The phenomenology approach, one of the qualitative research methods, was used and the data of the research were collected by individual interview method. The study group of the research consisted of 16 adult participants, 9 women and 7 men, who took part in the national team during their childhood in some of the Olympic disciplines. In-depth interviewing was conducted with these participants and the data obtained were analyzed by content analysis method. The findings of the study show that elite child athletes are exposed to physical, emotional, sexual and neglect-related types of abuse. As a result of the research, it was determined that child abuse in elite sport occurs most in the dimension of emotional abuse and verbal violence behaviors are dominant one. It has been found that physical violence such as hitting, beating and excessive physical coercion lead to physical abuse. Nevertheless, it has been specified that behaviors such as physical contact and sexually explicit conversations lead to sexual abuse, and problems such as unprotected accommodation and inadequate facility infrastructure increase the risk of abuse caused by neglect. On the other hand, the study points out that the abuse behaviors are primarily carried out by coaches, other parties (such as managers, administrators, health personnel) and elite child athletes' families. In addition, it was emphasized that abuse had predominantly psychological impacts in rest of the person's life. The fact that the elite child athletes, who represent their country at the international level, are under extreme pressure in the competitive environment expressed as the reason for them to quit the sport at an early age. In terms of the safety in sports for athletes and all stakeholders, child protection programs in sports in Turkey should be brought to international standards and implemented as mandatory condition. At this point, it is understood that abuse-based behaviors are common in sports and this issue causes the problems specified above.