So here is the problem.
Athletic coaches at all levels and in just about every sport are not trained in how the development of the body schema (i.e., the experience of the body and its appearance) affects body image (i.e., how a person feels about their body identity). Consequently, there are bad coaches who encourage winning at any cost even to the point of unhealthy BMI, over-exercise, participation despite injury, disordered eating, performance enhancers, and applying group pressure by the team to force individual members to meet training goals. This kind of abuse—and that’s really what it is—usually occurs at the adult and professional levels of various sports, but it can begin at the grade school and high school level depending on the coach. Coaches pursue the development of an ideal body form and ability style and remain uneducated in how training may affect body image; an essential aspect of the sense of the body-self.
This blog-lecture is about the athletic experiences of young girls based on their coaching with special attention to body image. Healthy participation in sports yields many physical, social, and psychological benefits (LaVoi, 2018). Sport activity can help build a positive body image when the sporting environment is supportive and nurturing. It can be so by emphasizing the body’s functionality—what it can do–over its ideal appearance (Alleva & Tylka, 2021; Sabiston et al., 2019). Yet many young girls drop out of team sports because of body image disturbance, uniforms that objectify their bodies, teasing from peers and coaches about their physical form and performance, unhealthy intra-team social dynamics, and the encouragement of disordered eating (Murray et al., 2021; Vani et al., 2021). These conditions are often created by coaches and usually out of ignorance (LaVoi, 2018).
The Schneider et al., Study
The study being highlighted here investigated the awareness of a small sample of 34 coaches from France, India, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States regarding body image concerns of their players. Semi-structured, focus-group interviews were used (Schneider et al., 2023).
Coaches represented the following sports:
Boxing (n = 3)
Dance (n = 6)
Netball (n = 6)
Rhythmic gymnastics (n = 2)
Rugby (n = 2)
Soccer (n = 10)
Surfing (n = 3)
Taekwondo (n = 1)
Yoga (n = 1)
Coaches were on average 31.6 years old and had 9.1 years of coaching experience. Focus group and survey responses were analyzed for common themes with three main areas emerging: (1) coaches’ attitudes toward the issue of body image in sports; (2) coaches’ use of body image interventions, and (3) how the issue of body image was influenced by cross-cultural dynamics. The coaches were all aware to a degree regarding the possibility of body image disturbances within their sports in general and their own teams in particular. They were sensitive to such body image disorder behaviors as self-objectification and body self-surveillance. They all acknowledged that each of their sports was based on a “body ideal” for optimum performance and that not all of the participants met that ideal. They observed that the further a girl’s body was away from meeting the idea, the greater their dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
One of the largest issues was that of sports uniforms. Outfits that are too “tight” or “revealing” cause distress along with the common problems of limited size and style options and, in some sports, the absolute lack of girls’ uniforms. This theme was strongly voiced in the United Kingdom and the United States focus groups. One very interesting finding because it was culture-specific was that of girls in India feeling very self-conscious when wearing shorts for fear of their bodies being judged by their friends and families.
The coaches were also very sensitive to the effects of puberty on body image and sports performance. Most coaches across all focus groups reported the self-conscious distress most girls experience at this time. The coaches also noticed that after puberty they observe the girls engaging in more fat talk, body comparisons to other players, and self-checking when performing.
The coaches were also aware of the different gender norms and stereotypes specific to their countries inhibit athletic participation, enjoyment, and safety when going to and from practice. These cultural prejudices were reportedly prominent in India, Japan, France, and Mexico. The French and Mexican coaches expressed great concern about how gender roles and norms affect girls in sports not approved by cultural beliefs.
Closing Thoughts
This particular study is encouraging for several reasons. First, because it samples coaching attitudes from six different cultures and so gives a nice overview of how young girls are treated in athletics in different countries here in the West. Next, coaches were aware to a degree that body image concerns occur in sport settings and were cognizant of common causes of body image concerns especially those regarding athletic attire.
But, as the study concludes, the fact remains that there are no body image intervention or treatment programs designed for the young female athlete. Body image health education is usually not given in the field of sports at any age level, competition level, or gender group. This needs to change because sports participation is so very beneficial to developing a healthy body image as well as physical, social, and emotional development.
As for me, the study is very encouraging, but I take it with a grain of salt for two reasons. First, it focused solely on the coaches rather than the players and public discussions among peers leads people to accentuate the positive while minimizing the negatives. On the other hand, I’m confident about the responses from the dance and yoga coaches given their areas are highly attuned to body image.
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
References
Alleva, J. & Tylka, T. L. (2021). Body functionality: A review of the literature. Body Image 36, p. 149–171.
LaVoi, N. (2018). Girls’ physical activity participation: A best practices model and summary. In N. LaVoi (Ed.), Developing Physically Active Girls: An Evidence Based Multidisciplinary Approach, The Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, pp. 197–213.
Murray, R., Lucibello, K., Pila, E., Maginn, D., Sandmeyer-Graves, A., & Sabiston, C. (2021). “Go after the fatty”: The problematic body commentary referees hear—and experience—in adolescent girls’ sport. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology 11(1), p. 1–11.
Sabiston, C., Pila, E., Vani, M., & Thogersen-Ntoumani, C. (2019). Body image, physical activity, and sport: A scoping review. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 42, p. 48–57.
Schneider, J., Matheson, E., Tinoco, A., Silva-Breen, H., Diedrichs, P., & LaVoi, N. (2023). A six-country study of coaches’ perspectives of girls’ body image concerns in sport and intervention preferences: Template analysis of survey and focus group data. Body Image 46, p. 300-312.
Vani, M., Pila, E., deJonge, M., Solomon-Krakus, S., & Sabiston, C. (2021). ‘Can you move your fat ass off the baseline?’ Exploring the sport experiences of adolescent girls with body image concerns. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 13(4), p. 671–689.f
Revised on 05-06-24.