Men Coaching Women Athletes

The serious issue of the sexual harassment and abuse of adolescent and child athletes by (usually) male coaches remains a problem in contemporary sport, where many of the contributing factors continue to be made manifest in recent investigations of different sports in various countries. The coach is in a position of extraordinary power over the adult athlete, able to grant and withhold rewards and opportunities. The athlete&s;s career is heavily dependent on these decisions. Burke questions whether this is even a relationship in the true sense. Burke draws on his own coaching relationship with his children to show how any dual relationship is difficult. But the mechanics of continuing such relationships rely on deeply reflective thinking by coaches about who has the power in any coach-athlete relationship. First, the chapter explains the practical, legal, and ethical reasons that such relationships, whether sexual or not, need deep contemplation by sporting organizations and coaches. Second, the chapter explores how the recent expansion of opportunities for women&s;s teams in what had, until the recent past, been exclusively male sports has resulted in new and expanding waves of males coaching females, and male coaches having to negotiate various types of dual relationships.