NEW YORK– NYU Sports and Society recently hosted nearly 120 high school athletic directors, coaches, and school administrators from across the New York metropolitan area at a conference titled, “Character, Respect, and Civility in Youth Sports: Ending Bullying, Improving Performance,” with the goal of beginning a conversation about anti-bullying efforts that would serve to create effective solutions across communities.
The conference was the manifestation of one of the initiatives proposed by NYU Sports and Society this past winter in a white paper that examined the phenomenon of bullying and other intolerant forms of behavior in sports and how to combat them. The paper was commissioned by Stephen M. Ross, managing general partner of the Miami Dolphins, after the Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin bullying incident was publicly disclosed. Research was conducted by faculty members and students of the NYU School of Law and the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
“Character, Respect, and Civility in Youth Sports: Ending Bullying, Improving Performance” provided stakeholders with the unique opportunity to hear from leading experts on the causes and the effects of bullying; compare their programs’ efforts toward maintaining respect and civility on and off the playing field; discuss personal experiences; hone in on solutions which can be implemented in sports and school programs nationwide; and develop previously nonexistent channels of communication to head off disrespect and abuse on all fronts.
The event kicked off with four presenters–Dr. Marianne Engle, renowned clinical child and adolescent psychologist, and sports psychologist; Wade Davis, executive director, You Can Play Project and retired NFL player; Troy McKenzie, professor of Law, NYU School of Law; and Kenneth L. Shropshire, David W. Hauckprofessor, The Wharton School, and faculty director, Wharton Sports Business Initiative, University of Pennsylvania–giving brief, “TED talks” style presentations on “Disrespect, Abuse, and Bullying: Causes and Effects; Identification and Prevention.”
Bob Costas, Emmy Award-winning sports broadcaster, journalist, and commentator, provided his thoughts on the evolution of youth and professional sports culture in a recorded interview with Arthur R. Miller, chairman of NYU Sports and Society, NYU University Professor, and NYU-SCPS director of Public Dialogues. Professor Miller also interviewed Stephen M. Ross, managing general partner of the Miami Dolphins, and Fred Wilpon, majority owner of the New York Mets, about the importance of character, respect, and civility in youth sports. In addition, he did a one-on-one interview with 2014 Hall of Fame inductee Joe Torre, executive vice president of Baseball Operations, Major League Baseball (MLB); founder of the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation; and former MLB All-Star player and manager.
Arthur L. Caplan, Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty professor and founding head of the Division of Bioethics at the NYU Langone Medical Center, moderated a panel of coaches and athletics administrators which explored the state of youth sports culture and their experiences addressing disrespect, abuse, and bullying in individual athletics programs.
Renowned sportscaster and journalist Lesley Visser moderated the “Leadership in the Locker Room” panel featuring Harry Carson, Professional Football Hall of Fame member, and former New York Giants linebacker and captain; Mark Messier, chief executive officer, Kingsbridge National Ice Center, six-time Stanley Cup champion, Professional Hockey Hall of Fame member, and former captain, New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers; Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, NBA champion, NBA Rookie of the Year, and Basketball Hall of Fame member; and Teresa Weatherspoon, former NY Liberty/LA Sparks star, voted one of the top-15 WNBA players of all time. Panelists talked about their leadership roles and their experiences in creating a positive locker room culture.
The results of an NYU Sports and Society/Ipsos nationwide poll on bullying also were announced during the conference. According to the survey of over 1,000 respondents, ages 13-54:
- Bullying in youth sports is pervasive – 74% of those who have been bullied and 71% of those who have bullied others feel bullying is a widespread issue.
- Some feel bullying and hazing have a place in youth sports. Surprisingly, nearly one in four (22%) see a need for some bullying in youth sports to build character and teamwork (54% of those who have bullied vs. 15% of those who have not bullied).
- The majority agreed that anti-bullying policies should be enforced – 67% of 13-20 year olds and 80% of 21-54 year olds believe youth sports environments should have strict and enforced anti-bullying policies.
- Only one third believe youth sports leagues are properly addressing bullying (42% of parents vs. 27% of non-parents).
- Many supported the idea of third-party monitoring as a preventative measure against bullying. 62% say that to prevent bullying, youth sports locker rooms, playing fields, and other sports settings should be monitored by a third party.
- Many fail to stop bullying. While 76% feel bullying in youth sports can be reduced if proper training is enforced, 52% admit to not doing anything to stop someone from bullying another person in a sports setting while playing or coaching a sport. 60% of those who have bullied vs. 15% of those who have not bullied someone have not done anything to stop someone from bullying another person.
Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire
Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire
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