Sport Management

Sexual abuse in sport is defined by the IOC as ‘any conduct of a sexual nature, whether non-contact, contact or penetrative, where consent is coerced/manipulated or is not or cannot be given’.2 Consent for sexual activity does not apply to children given their inability to understand the concept.3 Sexual abuse has been categorised as a relational threat to child athletes. In the Nassar case, the abuse can also be classified as an organisational threat with the added complexity that the abuse included medical mismanagement

Larry Nassar, a former doctor with USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University (MSU) who sexually abused hundreds of young athletes under his care, has received a sentence of 40 to 175 years in prison after a trial that ended with a week of harrowing victim impact statements from 156 young women. Nassar pleaded guilty to nine counts of first degree sexual assault.

No one knows exactly how many children have been sexually exploited in America’s gyms over the past 20 years. But an IndyStar-USA TODAY Network review of hundreds of police files and court cases across the country provides for the first time a measure of just how pervasive the problem is.

At least 368 gymnasts have alleged some form of sexual abuse at the hands of their coaches, gym owners and other adults working in gymnastics. That’s a rate of one every 20 days. And it's likely an undercount.

IndyStar previously reported that top officials at USA Gymnastics, one of the nation’s most prominent Olympic organizations, failed to alert police to many allegations of sexual abuse that occurred on their watch and stashed complaints in files that have been kept secret.

Victims of Lawrence G. Nassar, the Michigan State University physician who sexually abused young women under the guise of medical treatment, would receive $500 million from the university in a settlement that is believed to be the largest ever reached in a sexual abuse case involving an American university.

It dwarfed the size of the settlement reached in the sex abuse scandal at Pennsylvania State University. And it was larger than many of the settlements that followed the child sex abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church.

“I think the number being so large sends a message that is undeniable, that something really terrible happened here and that Michigan State owns it,” said John Manly, a lawyer for many of the 332 women who sued the university over abuse by Dr. Nassar. “When you pay half a billion dollars, it’s an admission of responsibility.”

Women who say they were abused by Dr. Nassar still have lawsuits against U.S.A. Gymnastics, the United States Olympic Committee and others, and the settlement with Michigan State could add pressure in those cases. The settlement by Michigan State, a public university that is the state’s largest, also sent a loud warning to other colleges about the potentially devastating cost of ignoring misconduct.

Judge Aquilina's comments to Larry Nassar before sentencing him to 40-175 years in prison for sexual abuse on January 24, 2018.

This cutting edge textbook not only covers the areas of administration in teaching and coaching, but also sports medicine, exercise science, adult fitness, sports management, and general administration. Its case-based methodology promotes high order thinking skills that are relative to administration issues