Thursday, January 20, 2005
Coaches who prey - The abuse of girls and the system that allows it
What is it with our society and coaches or other sports figures? Why do we let them get away with horrible things because they can run or jump better than the rest of us? This article at The Seattle Times: Coaches who prey - The abuse of girls and the system that allows it paints a stark picture of the state of youth coaching in America and how sports fans tend to look the other way when trouble comes to their favorite star.
Some of the statistics they cite are startling, especially when you realize these come from Washington state with only 6 million residents. Imagine what it might be in your part of the country.
Get this:
Think I'm over doing it? Read on:
Seems this may be the case. The article goes on to talk about the many times school administrators allowed coaches to continue after being caught abusing children and even hired people they knew to be sex offenders to coach their teams to victory.
The story ends with:
Go team. Is that really all we as a society care about? I wonder how many coaches you can find on a Megan's list?
Some of the statistics they cite are startling, especially when you realize these come from Washington state with only 6 million residents. Imagine what it might be in your part of the country.
Get this:
"Over the past decade, 159 coaches in Washington have been fired or reprimanded for sexual misconduct ranging from harassment to rape. Nearly all were male coaches victimizing girls. At least 98 of these coaches continued to coach or teach."WHAT? Can this be true? I thought we had laws and lists and things to "protect the children". Oh wait, that's to protect them from bad people, not good folks like our coaches. Coaches are special.
Think I'm over doing it? Read on:
"The number of offending coaches is much greater. When faced with complaints against coaches, school officials often failed to investigate them and sometimes ignored a law requiring them to report suspected abuse to police. Many times, they disregarded a state law requiring them to report misconduct to the state education office."What, because he took us to state a couple of times and brought recognition to our school? Because we held him up for all to see as a perfect role model above all the other teachers?
Seems this may be the case. The article goes on to talk about the many times school administrators allowed coaches to continue after being caught abusing children and even hired people they knew to be sex offenders to coach their teams to victory.
The story ends with:
"Unfortunately, everyone has an investment in the silence the parents, the team and community," said Sandra Kirby, a Canadian sociologist who studied sex abuse of athletes by coaches. "The measure is, if a coach has had good successes, that's all they are worried about. They're ignoring the victims."
Go team. Is that really all we as a society care about? I wonder how many coaches you can find on a Megan's list?
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