Making Sport Safer: Allison Forsyth

• 2 years ago
• Radio
• Duration 25:43

These are trying times for athletes, coaches and national sporting organizations in Canada. The incidents of abuse and maltreatment in amateur sport seem to be neverending. Hockey dominates the horrible headlines, but very few sports can claim a problem-free record. Olympian Alpine Skier Allison Forsyth has turned her own experience of sexual abuse at the hands of a coach into a positive movement for change. Her career is dedicated to educating all involved, correcting transgressive behaviour, and improving the prospects for Safe Sport. Her advice for parents and athletes is clear and direct. Her warnings to coaches are blunt. And she has run out of patience with senior managers of organizations who fail to see the urgency of their situation. Forsyth has an athlete-first attitude, and that includes a deep awareness of the psychological complexities involved in high performance coaching. As an Olympian speedskater, Anastasia has lived the dynamic. Coaches become quasi-parental figures. Athletes become the sum of their results. In the pressure cooker of high performance, what are the warning signs? When does gruelling exercise become unacceptable punishment? When is a raised voice a red line? Complex problems don't necessarily have complex solutions. As Forsyth explains, three very familiar words- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, go a long way toward putting an end to the abuse.