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.
Start the Conversation—And Keep It Going
Once parents and guardians understand how to identify the warning signs of bullying, they can have a conversation with their child or teen about bullying before it happens.
Mean or rude behavior, like teasing or spreading rumors, can lay the foundation for bullying, especially if it’s not stopped or corrected. Talking about these types of behaviors can help your child or teen make the connection that how they act towards others matters—even if they’re a bystander or a witness.
Here are two prompts to help you get the conversation going:
- Ask your child or teen to describe the core values of their team. These could be values like inclusivity, integrity, and respect.
- Ask them to reflect on how bullying goes against these core team values. How does behavior like teasing, making rude comments, or sending mean texts cause certain athletes to feel left out or harmed? In contrast, what are examples of athletes including and supporting each other?
When kids understand how bullying can harm and hurt others, they’re more aware, informed, and prepared to help stop the behavior.
Successful Strategies
Unfortunately, outdated and harmful belief systems persist in the world of sport. Some might think bullying is part of the sport atmosphere, like a rite of passage, or they may believe that experiencing aggressive behavior makes you stronger. But the statistics tell another story.
The effects of bullying are extensive, from the athlete who bullies to the athlete who was bullied to the witnesses on the sidelines. Everyone involved in bullying behavior is more likely to experience mental health issues, substance use, and other negative outcomes.
To break the cycle of harm that bullying causes, parents and guardians need to set expectations for their kids and be clear on what behaviors they will and will not tolerate.
Be clear with your kids about where you stand on bullying.
- Explain what bullying in sport is, including the different roles involved. Explore our Bullying 101 handout for helpful information.
- Clearly explain the consequences. Communicate how you expect them to be accountable for their actions and explain what the consequences will be if they participate in bullying. For example, sitting out the next game.
- Talk about how to calm down negative interactions. Go over strategies they can use to stop mean behavior from turning into bullying:
- If your child is being disrespectful, they can stop themselves in the moment, apologize on the spot, or decide to walk away.
- If your child is witnessing a disrespectful action, they can get help from an adult, check in with the athlete being bullied, or say something to the athlete who is bullying.
Explore More Resources
When we prevent bullying behavior in sport, we help create sporting environments that are inclusive and safe. By having conversations about inappropriate and harmful behavior with your kids, you can help create a culture of respect and belonging on your child’s team.
Preventing bullying is an important step in promoting positive team culture. But so is responding to and reporting harmful behavior. Continue your education—explore our Prevent Bullying In Sport webpage and learn Three Things To Do When You Notice Bullying.