Why Service Providers Need to Understand the Nuances of Sport to Better Support Athlete Survivors

As a professional, you know the importance of compassion, belief, and trauma-informed care when working with all survivors of sexual assault, but are you aware of the layerd complexities of working with athlete survivors of sexual abuse in sport?

Sports environments are unique cultural ecosystems with their own language, norms, and power structures. For athlete survivors, these dynamics shape how abuse happens, how it’s reported, and how they heal. Without understanding these nuances, even the most well-intentioned provider can miss critical opportunities for effective support.

The Unique Vulnerabilities of Athletes

Athletes, especially youth athletes, often enter sports as children, sometimes committing to intense schedules, year-round training, and early specialization. For many, sport becomes a cornerstone of identity.

These factors create vulnerabilities that perpetrators can exploit:

• Power imbalances between coaches, trainers, and athletes
• Pressure to sacrifice well-being for performance and winning
• Small, tight-knit communities where “everyone knows everyone” and reputations are protected
• Limited timeframes to achieve career milestones, increasing reluctance to report abuse

For survivors, disclosing abuse may feel like risking their entire athletic future.

How Abuse in Sports Can Look Different

In athletic settings, abuse often hides in plain sight under the guise of training or discipline. 

Common tactics include:

• Isolation from teammates, friends, and family under the pretense of “focus” or “commitment”
• Grooming through gifts, special attention, or promises of career advancement
• Coercion tied to playing time, scholarships, or endorsements
• Physical corrections without consent, normalized as “part of the sport”
• Secrecy is encouraged by phrases like “what happens at practice stays at practice.”
  

These patterns of coercive control may be unfamiliar to providers outside of sports systems, making specialized training essential.

How Traditional Trauma Response May Miss the Mark

Without sports-specific knowledge, service providers may unintentionally:

• Misinterpret an athlete’s reluctance to report as fear of the process rather than fear of retaliation or career impact
• Overlook the role of sports identity in a survivor’s self-worth and future plans
• Miss signs of grooming and abuse that look like mentorship or extra training opportunities
• Fail to connect survivors with sports-specific reporting pathways

Practical Steps for Service Providers

1. Adapt Intake Processes
Include questions about sports involvement, current athletic participation, and the role of sport in the survivor’s life.

2. Build Sports-Specific Knowledge
Train your team on how abuse occurs in sports, what coercive control could look in a sporting environment, the systems of accountability, and how to connect survivors to the right reporting channels.

3. Establish Relationships with Local Sports Entities
Connect with K-12 athletic programs, club teams, college athletic departments, and even professional organizations. This creates trust and smoother referral pathways.

4. Use Trauma-Informed Practices with an Athlete Lens
Recognize that athletes may need support navigating both their healing and their athletic careers, and that their definition of safety may include returning to sport.

5. Advocate Beyond Your Walls
Work to change policies and cultures in local sports communities to prevent future abuse.

The Bottom Line

Understanding the nuances of abuse in sport is essential if you serve athlete survivors. Abuse in sports has unique dynamics, and athlete survivors have unique needs. By building your knowledge, adapting your approach, and forging connections with sports systems, you can provide the informed, holistic support every survivor deserves.

For more tools and training on supporting athlete survivors, visit The Assist’s Resource Library or reach out to our team for technical assistance.