Your Stories

Gender: Female
Grade Level of Event: 8th
Sport Played: Soccer
Your Story: I was playing select soccer for a well known and “renowned” male coach. He coached boys high school and recently started coaching girls. He was beyond demeaning and used belittling language towards all of us as motivation. He coached with fear and the sport was no longer a safe place for me.

Gender: Female
Grade Level of Event: Sophomore
Sport Played: Cross Country/Track
Your Story: I told my coach I was going into treatment for anorexia and had to leave the team. After treatment she agreed to let me do less mileage. At a meet the next season I didn’t do very well and at the finish line she yelled at me saying I needed to run more and eat healthier if I wanted to be fast.

Gender: Female
Grade Level of Event: 12 years of my childhood
Sport Played: gymnastics
Your Story: i was always skinny. my coach would find anything to tear me apart. she told me i looked anorexic, and that my body embarrassed her. constantly comparing me to the way my teammates looks and would make sure i hated everything about myself. she downloaded a weight watching app on my phone at age 11.

Gender: Male

Grade Level of Event: Varsity

Sport Played: Football

Your Story: The coach rode my classmates hard, but the upperclassman seemed unphased by it. Coach berated one player and then belittled him in front of the team for the entire two-hour practice because he came in last in a relay. He never came back to the team, others soon followed. I worried I would be next.

Gender: Female
Grade Level of Event: Junior
Sport Played: Basketball
Your Story: He told me I was nothing. He said I was dumb — I’m not going to go anywhere in life. He’d use words that degrade LBTQ and us as girls with obscenities in practices and games. He personally called me a whore.

Gender: Female
Grade Level of Event: 10th grade
Sport Played: Basketball
Your Story: I had a coach throw her keys at me when I didn’t like how I was playing in practice. She then cornered me in the empty locker room with the captain of our team, who was 2 years older, screaming and swearing at me that I was an “f—-ing cry baby!”