ABSTRACT
There has been a growing interest from scholars and researchers in athlete welfare over the last decade, and important efforts have been made by sport stakeholders to focus on aspects of athletes’ lives beyond sporting performance. This more humanistic approach aims to improve coaching practice and enhance the quality of the sport experience, especially among young athletes. Many international sport organisations now have strategies to prevent and tackle issues such as violence, abuse, and discrimination. Bullying is included within these but, perhaps surprisingly, has been studied very little in sport. In this chapter, we examine the power dynamics involved in bullying generally before moving on to understandings of bullying based on initial research in school settings. We then explore bullying specifically in sport. To do so, we analyse its nature and provide an overview of the international research in this area so far. Finally, we present some general guidelines for coaches, parents, and athletes to prevent and manage bullying in sport.
