Athlete training regimens should be improved to better protect athletes and uphold their rights, the Humanistic Education Foundation said yesterday.
With the ministry of sports to be inaugurated on Tuesday, minister-designate Lee Yang (李洋) should make sure training models are revamped to reduce the physical and mental trauma that athletes face, the group said at a seminar, citing interviews with athletes.
The verbal abuse and physical punishment that athletes face is beyond reason, and the conditions are not conducive to building a healthy competitive sports industry, it said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The foundation played videos of interviews with 16 athletes aged 18 to 39, who said that in addition to trauma, verbal abuse and physcial punishments, they faced sexual harassment, while some coaches helped athletes cheat on their courses.
Most athletes have to endure abuse because coaches can decide whether they pass or fail required courses, the foundation said.
Student athletes are sequestered in a closed environment with almost every moment focused on their sport, so they are at a disadvantage when it comes to life planning or developing alternative interests, it said.
Foundation executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) urged the soon-to-be-established minsitry to implement transparent channels for complaints and oversight, improve moral education for coaches, make funding transparent, define “inappropriate charges” and set up fines to enforce laws against corporal punishment, bullying and sexual harassment.
Despite laws banning corporal punishment, 30 percent of education providers still use it, especially in athlete training programs, Feng said.
The ministry should compel sports education providers to make science-based training mandatory, including methods to prevent sports injuries, and to discontinue the practice of using athletes’ performances at competitive events to determine the effectiveness of training programs, the foundation said.
Moreover, the “antiquated system” in which senior students hold sway over other students should be eradicated, as it invites bullying, it said.
National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) Student Association president Huang Liang-teng (黃莨騰) said that the NTNU women’s soccer scandal reflected how authority was abused in the sports sector.
Many coaches are unaware of how to establish benign interaction with their students, which causes pain for students, Huang said.
NTNU said that this semester it has launched four new measures to guarantee the rights of sports students and help them balance competitions with their studies.
It is also establishing a center for students’ physical and mental health, it said.
On July 20 the NTNU women’s soccer team issued a formal apology over a controversial research project that allegedly coerced students into having blood drawn.
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