Preventing Bullying in Youth Sports: From Starting Conversations to Setting Expectations, Parents Play an Important Role

When you sign your child up for a youth sports team, it’s natural to think about the many positive attributes of playing a sport—like discovering the power of teamwork or forming healthy friendships.

But it’s important to also pause and reflect on how sport environments might create an opportunity for bullying.

This National Bullying Prevention Month, take a moment to learn the signs of bullying behavior, including how it can manifest in sport. By understanding how athletic environments can be home to negative or harmful behavior, parents and guardians can take action to prevent bullying from happening in the first place.

Understand Bullying Behavior

Preventing abuse or misconduct in sport relies on parents and guardians understanding what it is and how it happens. Bullying behavior is repeated or severe aggressive behavior directed at someone under age 18. The behavior is intended to hurt, control, or tear down that person emotionally or physically.

Bullying can come in many forms. It can be:

• Physical: an athlete (or group of athletes) hitting or beating up another athlete
• Verbal: an athlete ridiculing or calling another athlete names
• Social: an athlete spreading rumors about another athlete (in person or through technology)

When you notice any of these actions occurring, take the initiative to step in and stop the behavior in its tracks. By intervening early, adults can correct mean or harmful behavior before it turns into something more, like bullying.

Read the full article at U.S. Center for SafeSport >