The Importance of Touch in Sport: Athletes’ and Coaches’ Reflections

Abstract

This study examined athletes" and coaches" experiences of positive touch within the coach-athlete relationship, including examples of positive touch, reasons for the use of touch, and factors affecting athletes" acceptance of touch. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 coaches and 10 athletes from various sports. Data were coded using inductive and deductive coding techniques. All participants shared examples of positive touch in sport including: hugs, high fives, physical manipulation of the body, pats on the back, hand shaking, and spotting. Positive touch was reportedly used for affective, behavioural, safety, and cultural reasons. Touch was viewed by these athletes and coaches as being important and even necessary in the sport environment and within the coach-athlete relationship provided that it was individualized and contextualized. The findings are interpreted to suggest that the recent trend to avoid touch in child-populated domains ignores the many benefits of touch for health, instruction, and development.

Touch as a mediator of relationships in the sports coaching profession

“…In the case of research focused on touch exclusively in the coach-athlete relationship, it appears that both coaches and athletes consider touch to be important and even necessary in the sports environment, provided that it is individualised and contextualised, that is, the touch is preceded by the athlete's consent and the coach justifies its use in relation to the specific sporting situation (Kerr et al, 2015). Inappropriate touching is a risk that can occur in a sporting environment (Brackenridge, 2001).…”

How should we ensure that children are safeguarded in gymnastics?

“…In general disclosure of sexual violence is lower in sports [5] compared to reported prevalence. Within the child elite sporting environment, children are at risk because touch [5, 6] (often between children and adult males) is normalised and begins at an early age in order to help build the mechanics of the difficult skills required and in order for safety and to prevent injury. Furthermore, in many elite settings the coaches have high levels of authority and control which may be difficult to challenge, particularly if the coach is seen as being successful using their methods and regime.…”

“…None of the issues discussed above is unique to gymnastics. However, gymnastics is one of the early specialism sports where young children enter an elite training environment and perform many hours of training at a young age [6, 8, 9].…”