TW and @ - another sport with a horrible coaching problem

[rubytue]

Fencing in Canada. www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/fencing-more-than-50-canadian-fencers-make-plea-sport-minister-citing-2023-03-23/

I found this on the fencing Reddit, and to reddits credit, most of the replies are reasonable. But then, there is the one that said the problem is that coaches work for athletes and so the athlete shouldn’t put up with it. WTF dude! The problem is that a 10 year old girl didn’t fire her coach?! Come on now. And I imagine he will double down when challenged that it’s the parents fault. 

The 10 year old girl story is that the girls were made up to line up across from the boys and one was selected to help the boys change out of their whites (the thick layers of jackets worn for protection, they are hot, sweaty, nasty, but there should be clothing underneath, still deeming and cruel and 🤢)

Its like any sport involving young girls has issues… 

[erbear]

Read your last line again. It’s so true. Youth sports appear to be a safe haven for predatory (largely) men and we, as a society, turn a blind eye. It’s a sad commentary on how “important” sports have become that people know this kind of stuff is happening, know it’s not ok for a grown ass man to be screaming at a 7 year old, and we don’t step in.

I don’t know why I am surprised that this happens in Canada but I always am. A friend of mine was a whistleblower on Canadian soccer a few years back (she wrote a pretty explosive blog post about a coach who has since been fired but it was a long road) and it shocked me that this wasn’t a solely American phenomenon for some reason.

[rubytue]

erbear , not solely an American problem. And this I think shows it’s not sure the marquis sports. Fencing is a fairly niche sport and doesn’t have the widespread popularity. I didn’t start until college, so I can’t speak to anything happening at the junior levels. I have some stories, but I’m not sure they are truly fencing-related rather than just college student drinking too much and having very bad judgement. (We were club sport, self coached).

[loira]

Mar 24, 2023 8:20:43 GMT -5 erbear said:

I don’t know why I am surprised that this happens in Canada but I always am. A friend of mine was a whistleblower on Canadian soccer a few years back (she wrote a pretty explosive blog post about a coach who has since been fired but it was a long road) and it shocked me that this wasn’t a solely American phenomenon for some reason.

I read her blog post and remember this story! Canada isn't immune to this kind of stuff at all.

CRAVE Canada also has a documentary right now about gymnastics in Canada - nobody is surprised of course. Not just about sexual abuse, but even general physical and psychological abuse the athletes endure: www.crave.ca/en/tv-shows/broken-inside-the-toxic-culture-of-canadian-gymnastics

When I was a teen, I was very competitive in show jumping, and there were a few trainers and grooms in the area that we were warned not to spend too much time with (my trainer was a woman but it was normal to have clinics with other trainers). It's another sport that attracts a lot of young women and girls at the junior levels, and many trainers are men although it's evening out a lot. And it's a sport that requires a ton of investment, both financial and time-wise. Most parents of kids who were competing at my level either dropped them at the barn and left them there for hours, or once we turned 16 and got our licences we just drove ourselves out and back. At 16 I spent hardly any time at home and my parents certainly were not with me most of the time I spent at the barn. I'm just waiting for the day there's an exposé about my sport.