Abuse in Sports
By: Stephanie Banat
Abuse comes in many different forms and takes place in various spheres of life — including in sports. Three stories by Kessler, Griswold, and Babb discuss examples of tragic abuse that occurred in three situations involving three different sports.
In each example, the abuse stemmed mainly from the excessive pressure victims felt to become an athlete, or moreover, to become what society considers a “successful” athlete.
In Kessler’s article, main character Conrad Mainwaring is an former olympian athlete who coaches teenage male athletes in track and field and simultaneously, molests them. Mainwaring uses his athletic credentials and status as a former olympian to manipulate his “squad” of athletes into doing what he said.
Mainwaring convinces the young athletes that there is a correlation between getting erections and achieving athletic success and mental strength. He massages their genital areas under the guise that its a form of “physiotherapy” — all things that he made up. When one young athlete asked when this bizzare “training” would stop, Mainwaring replied by saying things like “How bad do you want the Olympics? What are you willing to do for it?” and finally, resorted to total blackmail, saying “If you stop, I won’t coach you.”
These two questions, “How bad do you want to be a successful athlete?” and “What are you willing to do for it”, are reoccuring questions in all three articles.
In the following article by Griswold, inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary are placed in the “Angola Prison Rodeo”, where they compete in treacherously dangerous Bull-riding and Bull-dogging contests. 2,000 pound bulls charge them and trample them, often causing severe injuries and even deaths. The inmates are told they are being given a “taste of freedom” and an opportunity to participate in a sport while being imprisoned. These claims alone are a form of mental abuse by the Prison’s authorities and those who run the Rodeo. Inmates may think they are participating in a so-called sport, or getting to experience brief moments of freedom, but in reality, they are being subjected to severe physical abuse, and are also participating in the abuse of animals. Is being involved in a sport worth abusing yourself and others?
The main character in Babb’s article, Kelly Catlin, seemed to also think that her involvement in a sport was worth abusing herself. Kelly was also a victim of mental abuse by her parents — the incessant pressure they put on her and her siblings to be physically fit and thrive in athletics. At just eight years old, the Catlin parents forced their children to work out every day for 30 minutes, and keep a log of it that had to be initialed by a parent. If they failed to do so, they would not get their $20 a month allowance.
The Catlin children were allowed no time for fun, but only time for sports, working out, and school.They constantly struggled to earn the approval of their parents. Their mother stated that she didn’t like when parents would tell their children “good job” for minor achievements, and that she would only compliment her children if their achievement was large enough to meet her standards. Eventually, Kelly Catlin was pushed to the edge. She lived a life of solitude for many years, studying for twelve hours at a time and training for cycling for six hours afterwards. She rejected social interaction. After winning the silver medal in the Olympic Cycling competition, she was deeply disappointed in herself that she didn’t win the gold — as the U.S lost to England by just 1.06 seconds. Kelly never felt good enough, and eventually, it led her to take her own life.
It would be difficult to include multimedia aspects, like photographs and videos, in these stories, as they concern very disturbing topics. Griswold’s story about the Angola prison rodeo, however, might have been brought to life a bit with some videos and photographs of the massive animals and the inmates in the arenas. This imagery, although graphic, is definitely astounding and breathtaking. Babb’s article might have been enhanced by the addition of video footage of the Olympic competition in which Kelly Catlin won the silver medal. This would provide the reader with some insight into just how talented she actually was, unbeknown to her, and how close she was to taking the gold.
These stories point to a larger issue in our country. The excessive pressure to be an athlete or to achieve “athletic success” is ingrained in American culture and society. In America, sports are highly valued and even obsessed over. The Sports Entertainment Industry produces billions upon billions of dollars per year. Many individuals quite literally rely on sports to live, not going a day without watching sports on TV or reading about them in the media. People gamble away thousands of dollars on sporting events. Evidently, people also seem to get carried away by the so-called “magic” and prestige of being a professional or successful athlete or coach, to the point where they think its acceptable to abuse themselves or others. These people need to realize that life is precious, and athletic success is not the key to happiness — love, integrity, and respect for the self and others are.
