Continued practices of verbal abuse, emotional abuse and sexual misconduct by coaches of the Women’s National Soccer League. These are the main conclusions of the research report commissioned by the Federation of that country and released this Monday.
Cited by The New York Times, the document, with data collected over a year, also warns of abuses in youth soccer. “Our investigation uncovered a league in which abuse and misconduct — verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct — became systemic, encompassing multiple teams, coaches, and victims,” writes Sally Q. Yates, lead researcher, in the abstract. Of the report. .
“Abuse in the US Women’s National Soccer League is rooted in a deeper culture, beginning with youth leagues, that verbally normalizes abusive coaching and blurs the lines between coaches and players.”
Among the cases identified, and cited as examples of these practices, is that of a coach who invited a player to his home to watch the video of the match and who instead showed her pornography and masturbated in front of her.
A second coach repeatedly spoke to the young athletes he coached about their sex lives. Another coach has even forced several players to have sex with him.
Researcher Sally Q. Yates notes that teams, the League and the Federation “not only failed to respond adequately when confronted with player reports and evidence of abuse, but basic measures to prevent and address this were not implemented.”
Yates adds that “abusive coaches moved from team to team, wrapped in press releases thanking them for their service” while maintaining a culture of silence.
Source: Observadora
