Abuse prevention in sport: “We don’t want that to happen in the first place” | hr-INFO

Cases of child abuse in sport are uncovered again and again. At the Frankfurter Turnverein 1860, the topic is tackled actively and preventively. He takes part in the prevention project “Child welfare in sport”. Among other things with a four-eyes principle.

By Saskia Klingelschmitt

It is early evening, but the girls and boys who are doing their judo training at the Frankfurter Turnverein 1860 have power. They throw themselves onto the mats in the new gymnasium and hold on there. Paula says she’s been there for years. “It’s still a difference, of course, if you’re fighting someone who’s three heads taller than you or someone who’s shorter.” You have to adapt to each partner. “Some you like to fight with and feel more comfortable with, with others you don’t. But there are techniques and it’s important to stick to them, otherwise something can really happen.”

As if we were not only talking about judo, but also about social etiquette. The club reconsidered after it came out that judo coach Sven G. was arrested for sexual abuse and sentenced last year. FTV has nothing to do with G., but nevertheless reacted immediately, says Vivienne Treutel, the club’s child welfare officer: “We said we would approach the parents, we spoke to the parents.” The open discussion met with a lot of encouragement from the parents, “so that we said, ‘well, we’re going to start doing something in the club so that something like this doesn’t even happen to us.”

The right to say ‘no’

A lot has changed since then: people talk openly, parents can watch the training, there is no individual training. But in the end, judo remains one thing – a full-contact sport. Coach Christian Reul reports how the training is still a little different than it used to be: “Where you used to say, ‘Come here, we’ll practice this together’, it has changed to the point that you ask the children and say do you want them do tech with me?” And if a child says no, then they have the right to do so and don’t have to train together.

A basket for the coach. Christian Reul also had to take a no. But how are you going to teach the kids? First, it is difficult to determine why a child says no. “You don’t know at first, if the child is just saying no now, because it just doesn’t want to, or because the situation is uncomfortable now.” The first thing to do is to approach the situation openly and explain why you want to show something. That would help 99 percent of the time.

This takes training time, but talking helps. Different techniques can also be learned with more experienced children. But that’s not all, in the meantime the FTV has even changed the association’s statutes after some discussion and anchored the well-being of the child in it. The parents and little judokas seem to have a good feeling. Judoka Luka puts it this way: “Well, I feel at home here.”