Safeguarding, Child Protection and Abuse in Sport

The safeguarding of children and young people participating in sport has become an increasingly prominent concern in policy-making and research communities around the world. Major organisations such as the IOC and UNICEF now officially recognize that children in sport can be at risk of exploitation and abuse, and this concern has led to the emergence of new initiatives and policies aimed at protecting vulnerable young people and athletes. This book is the first to comprehensively review contemporary developments in child protection and safeguarding in sport on a global level.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One critically analyses current child protection and safeguarding policy and practice in sport across a range of countries, including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, China and Germany, providing a global context for current policy and practice. This represents the most comprehensive review to date of the landscape of child protection and safeguarding in sport and provides a starting point for critical international comparisons. Part Two explores a range of issues related to child protection and safeguarding in sport, including many not covered in previous books, such as emotional abuse, injury and over-training. While in many instances the impetus for policy in this area has arisen from concerns about sexual abuse, the second part of this book therefore opens up a broader, more holistic approach to child and athlete welfare.

By bringing together many of the leading researchers working in child and athlete protection in sport from around the world, this book is important reading for all advanced students, researchers, policy-makers or practitioners working in youth sport, physical education, sports coaching, coach education or child protection.

Melanie Lang is a sociologist and former British international youth swimmer, swimming coach and journalist who now works at Edge Hill University, UK. Her research centres on the policy and practice of safeguarding and child protection in sport and her work has featured in The Times and The Independent newspapers and on BBC Radio as well as in leading academic journals. She has sat on the Child Protection in Sport Unit Research Evidence Advisory Group since 2009 and is on the editorial board of the Irish Journal of Sociology.

Mike Hartill is a sociologist and Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University, UK. He conducts and publishes research on child maltreatment in sport. Recent publications include a review of this field for the Directory of Sport Science (6th edn) published by the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE). He has sat on the Child Protection in Sport Unit Research Evidence Advisory Group since 2003.