Athletes' Exposure to Different Forms of Violence

Sport nije samo igra. Sport je vaţna društvena aktivnost i ima mnoge funkcije u društvu. Iako predstavlja zabavu, neku vrstu socijalizacije za djecu, prijateljstvo i disciplinu, nije imun na nasilje. Nasilje u sportu je tema koja se često u literaturi obraĎuje, ali sa strane navijača, a ne sa strane izloţenosti samih sportaša nasilju. Upravo je to predmet ovog rada. Cilj ovog rada, koji je dio projekta „Mladi, nasilje i sport: usporedba Hrvatske i Slovenije“, bio je istraţiti izloţenost sportaša Grada Zagreba različitim oblicima nasilja, s obzirom na spol te s obzirom na to je li sport ekipni ili individualni. U istraţivanju je sudjelovalo 135 sportaša i sportašica. Sportaši su ispunili anketni upitnik koji se sastoji od nekoliko tematskih cjelina: stavova vezanih za sport, tvrdnji vezanih uz učestalost susretanja s neţeljenim situacijama, procjenu učestalosti verbalnog i fizičkog nasilja od strane osoba uključenih u sport i pitanja o demografskim karakteristikama sudionika. Ispunjavanje upitnika bilo je dobrovoljno i anonimno. Rezultati istraţivanja su pokazali da su sportaši izloţeni fizičkom, emocionalnom i seksualnom nasilju, najviše od strane trenera, roditelja i drugih sportaša. Svim vrstama nasilja sportaši su izloţeni statistički značajno više nego sportašice. Obzirom na tip sporta (individualni/ekipni) ne postoji statistički značajna razlika u izloţenosti ni jednoj vrsti nasilja.Sport is not just a game. Sport is an important social activity and as such has many functions in the society. Even though it represents fun, some kind of socialisation for children, friendship and discipline, sport is not immune to violence. Violence in sport is a topic that often gets mentioned in literature, but from the perspective of the fans, not from athlete’s exposure to violence. That’s exactly the topic of this study. The goal of this study, which is a part of the project “Youth, violence and sport: comparison of Croatia and Slovenia”, was to explore the exposure athletes of the City of Zagreb to various types of violence, considering their gender and whether their sport is individual or team sport. 135 sportsmen and women took part in the research. They completed the questionnaire containing a few themed parts: attitude linked to sport, statements linked to frequency of encountering unwanted situations, evaluation of frequency of verbal and pysical violence from persons connected with sport and questions about demographic characteristics of participants. Taking part in completing the questionnaire was voluntary and anonymus. The results of the research showed that athletes are exposed to physical, emotional and sexual violence, most of all from their coaches, parents and other athletes. Sportsmen were statistically significantly more exposed to all types of violence compared to sportswomen. Considering the type of sport (individual/team), there is no statistically significant difference in exposure to any type of violence