Abstract

Bullying of students by other students has been an ongoing concern over many years. Many schools have initiated policies and trainings related to bullying in attempts to prevent and stop students from bullying. However, an area not yet well researched is the topic of bullying by teachers or coaches toward students, particularly those who are student-athletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of former athletes in regards to the abusive actions of their former high school sport coaches. Participants for this study included 920 college students from universities located in nine states across the United States. Participants were equally divided by gender. Data were gathered via an online survey in which participants identified if their coaches had engaged in any of the twenty-four listed actions among three types of bullying (physical, relational, verbal). Participants identified whether these actions were directed toward them or if they had seen them being done to fellow athletes. The results indicated that the most frequently identified incidents for high school athletes were being embarrassed by their coaches in front of others, coaches poking fun at them, name calling without hurtful intent, dirty looks meant to hurt, and critical comments meant to hurt.