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Coaches Are Abusive To 1 In 5 NCAA Athletes, Survey Finds

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on March 4, 2025.

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 4, 2025 -- Yelling. Taunts. Insults. Harsh words. Physical violence.

About 1 in 5 college athletes receive such abuse from their coaches, researchers report.

Overall, nearly 19% of more than 3,300 athletes on National College Athletic Association (NCAA) teams said they’d experienced abusive supervision from their coach.

Athletes in team sports and athletes with a disability had significantly higher odds of drawing abuse from their coach, results show.

“Overall, athletes rely heavily on their coaches for professional and personal growth,” the research team led by senior investigator Dr. Yetsa Tuakli-Worsornu, founding director of the Stanford University Center for Sports Equity, noted.

“The presence of abusive leadership behaviors can hinder this development, as well as negatively affect an athlete’s performance, experience of sport and mental health,” the researchers added.

For the study, they analyzed data from the 2021-22 myPlaybook survey administered by the University of North Carolina Greensboro Institute to Promote Athlete Health & Wellness, in collaboration with Stanford University's Sports Equity Lab.

The survey included questions regarding abusive supervision, to which 3,317 student athletes provided responses.

Of those, 618 (nearly 19%) said their coaches had been abusive, results show.

Athletes participating in a team sport were about 10% more likely to be abused, and those with a disability were 17% more likely, results show.

Abuse was not significantly associated with an athlete’s race, gender identity or sexual orientation, however.

Coaches who reacted harshly to events and who focused mainly on winning were deemed more abusive, with a 24% to 47% increased risk of athletes viewing them as abusive, results show.

“Abuse from coaches is influenced by a higher focus on winning over well-being and can affect how athletes perceive team culture, coach leadership skills and how much respect their coaches have for their personal well-being and autonomy,” researchers wrote.

On the other hand, coaches who acknowledged and respected their athletes’ needs and efforts, were accountable for their behavior, and regularly communicated respectfully with their athletes had a 35% lower risk of being reported as abusive, the study says.

Researchers recommended that NCAA schools consider a nationwide policy mandating training for coaches to recognize and address abusive supervision. Likewise, student athletes should be provided a safe space to report abusive coaches, they said.

“Ultimately, these systems would help to recognize abusive coaches and hopefully prevent future abuse from identified perpetrators going forward,” researchers concluded. “Such systems would also help encourage supportive coaches and characterize nurturing coaching behaviors.”

The new study was published March 3 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted March 2025

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