Sexual Abuse in Youth Sports: Can You Trust Martial Arts Instructors?
Red Flags With Coaches and What Sexual Abuse Prevention in Youth Sports Really Looks Like
Recent news involving allegations against Andre Galvão, a well-known Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, has sparked debate across the martial arts community. While the legal process will determine the outcome of that case, the broader issue it raises is neither new nor limited to BJJ.
Sexual abuse in youth sports is a documented and recurring concern across athletic environments that involve authority, trust, and prolonged access to minors.
From a crime analysis and prevention standpoint, the pattern itself is not surprising. Research consistently shows that sexual abuse in athletic settings often unfolds in high-trust environments where mentorship, physical contact, and hierarchical authority structures are normalized (Bjørnseth & Szabo, 2018).
National data reinforces this concern. The 2024 Culture & Climate Survey conducted by the U.S. Center for SafeSport found that approximately 1 in 5 minor, student athletes reported experiencing some form of sexual misconduct in sport settings. Among adult athletes, the number increased to roughly 1 in 3. The survey further noted that many individuals who experienced misconduct did not formally report it, frequently citing fear of retaliation, uncertainty about reporting procedures, or concern about negative consequences within their athletic community.
High-profile cases in organizations such as USA Gymnastics demonstrate how institutional loyalty, reputation concerns, and unclear reporting systems can allow sexual abuse to persist despite warning signs. These cases are not evidence that all athletic programs are unsafe. They are evidence that most structural safeguards are insufficient.
This article is intended to help parents and adult athletes understand why sexual abuse in youth sports can persist in high-trust environments, how predatory behavior typically unfolds over time, what red flags in coaching behavior may look like, and what meaningful sexual abuse prevention in youth sports actually requires.
Why Sexual Abuse Cases in Athletics Are So Often Misunderstood
One of the most persistent myths about sexual abuse is that it is primarily committed by strangers. In reality, the opposite is true. Across multiple datasets, most sexual abuse is committed by someone known to the victim, a coach, mentor, teammate, or authority figure (Cheever & Eisenberg, 2022). This is especially true in environments built on trust, hierarchy, and access.
Martial arts gyms and youth sports share several key characteristics which increase vulnerability including clear authority gradients between coach and athlete, an expectation of physical contact, close-knit, loyalty-driven cultures, long-term relationships built around identity, belonging, and achievement, power imbalance for advancement and opportunity, high personal and family investment of finances, tine, and social circles, the normalization of discomfort that can blur the line of inappropriate behavior, and reputation-based credibility hierarchies that grant respected coaches implicit trust (Bjørnseth & Szabo, 2018).
Many of these characteristics are features of effective training communities that produce high-level athletes; they are also the same conditions under which sexual abuse can be concealed, sometimes for long periods of time (Cheever & Eisenberg, 2022)
The Galvão BJJ case is not unique to martial arts or youth sports, and recognizing this pattern is crucial for parents and youth athletic organizations who want to move beyond shock and toward prevention (Cheever & Eisenberg, 2022).
The Difficult Truth From Criminology
From a crime-control standpoint, secrecy is oxygen to sexual abuse. Athletic organizations and schools that allow discretion, silence, or informal resolution create the conditions under which sexual abuse is able to persist. A zero-tolerance approach to boundary violations can remove that discretion and replace it with clear, non-negotiable safeguards.
Research in criminology consistently shows that the severity of punishment alone does not reliably prevent child sexual abuse. What does reduce harm is the certainty and speed of intervention, the disruption of access to potential victims, and the elimination of opportunity.
Prevention is driven by risk reduction, not by waiting for criminal adjudication after harm has already occurred.
In policing and other high-risk professions, this is understood as risk management. Risk-based removal is a protective action designed to limit access to vulnerable populations when professional boundaries from coaches and instructors are violated. It does not determine criminal guilt. It determines suitability for continued access. Schools, youth programs, childcare facilities, and healthcare institutions operate under the same principle because duty of care requires erring on the side of protection, not discretion.
When institutions delay action in the name of reputation, legal caution, or internal loyalty, they preserve the very conditions that allow sexual abuse to continue. Zero tolerance removes ambiguity. It establishes clear thresholds, predictable responses, and immediate protective action when boundaries are crossed.
Unfortunately, across youth sports, schools, and other youth-serving environments, red flags are often dismissed and intervention can be delayed until criminal conviction. It is typical policy for organizations responding to allegations made toward coaches to announce an internal investigation, however, without predefined, transparent safeguarding policies, these processes can preserve discretion and access versus immediately interrupt risk for students. From a crime-prevention perspective, this approach is insufficient.
Effective safeguarding models treat substantiated boundary violations as disqualifying and require immediate removal from access to minors. While this stance is sometimes criticized as severe, it reflects the same risk-based logic used in policing and child protection: when vulnerability is high, access is conditional, not assumed.
Centralized information-sharing and reporting systems further support this approach by addressing the migratory nature of child sexual abuse. By reducing secrecy and limiting an offender’s ability to quietly relocate between institutions, these systems strengthen prevention and create safer training environments for young athletes.
Section Summary
Sexual abuse in youth sports is not primarily prevented by harsher punishment after conviction. It is prevented by early intervention and restricted access. Youth sports organizations and martial arts training programs reduce risk when access to student athletes is treated as conditional vs. assumed. Immediate removal following substantiated boundary violations limits opportunity and protects young athletes. In criminology, certainty of response reduces harm more reliably than severity of punishment. An example of this approach in youth sports includes immediate reporting to authorities, independent investigation, and suspension of access pending review. The same principle applies to sexual abuse in youth sports. Protection depends on limiting access early, not preserving institutional reputation.
Red Flags With Coaches Are Rarely Obvious
When sexual abuse occurs in sports settings, it is rarely the result of a single dramatic event. More often, it unfolds through gradual boundary erosion or grooming (Bjørnseth & Szabo, 2018). The process can include excessive favoritism framed as mentorship, increasingly private communication or special access, one-on-one situations that bypass normal oversight, boundary testing disguised as jokes, advice, or concern, subtle pressure not to misinterpret intentions or cause problems.
What makes this especially difficult for athletes and parents, is that each step can appear reasonable under isolation or the loyal, insular communities that are built into youth sports and martial arts dojos. Further, the normalized physical contact between coach and athlete, combined with trust and long-term proximity, creates what researchers describe as a gray area that can obscure boundary violations and delay disclosure (Bjørnseth & Szabo, 2018).
The harm becomes visible only in hindsight, once boundaries have already shifted, or sexual abuse has taken place. This is why red flags with coaches are so often missed, minimized, or rationalized, not because families are careless, but because the behavior exploits trust and respect.
Why Sexual Abuse Can Persist for Years in Sports Communities
Parents often ask, “How could this go on for so long without anyone saying something?” The answer lies less in individual failure and more in system design.
Disclosure is frequently delayed or prevented by fear of consequences, confusion about whether boundaries were truly crossed, loyalty to the team, and institutional cultures that discourage reporting (Bjørnseth & Szabo, 2018).
Several other forces also tend to suppress reporting, including the fear of retaliation, concern about harming teammates or the gym community, financial and social investment in the sport, uncertainty about whether a line has truly been crossed, and institutions prioritizing reputation and team status over transparency.
For minors, these pressures are amplified. For women and adult athletes, they are compounded by concerns about credibility and professional consequences.
None of this excuses sexual abuse. But it does explain why prevention cannot rely solely on speaking up after harm occurs.
The Right Question Is Structural
The better question for parents is not whether a particular coach seems trustworthy, but whether the training environment itself is designed for safety.
Schools, youth sports organizations, even after school programs ought have transparent, sexual abuse prevention policies and procedures in place and can include: clear, written codes of conduct that define boundaries between young athletes and coaches, policies that limit private one-on-one interactions with students, transparent communication channels (group vs private chats) that include parents, independent reporting options outside the gym hierarchy (for example anonymous reporting), consistent enforcement without exceptions for status or rank, multiple adults present during training and events.
Trust should never depend on a single individual’s character. It should be supported by accountability structures that protect athletes regardless of who is in charge.
While these internal structure may be a good fit for large sport organizations many martial arts schools are privately owned and operate on affiliation basis versus central ownership resulting in limited regulation for any policies, let alone those designed to recognize red flags or sexual abuse.
Small business though does not equal exemption and even small youth sport programs have a duty of care.
That said, written codes of conduct, defined boundaries, a removal protocol, and mandatory reporting policies do not have to be extensive but they ought be in place before sexual abuse takes place.
Background Checks, Boundaries, and What Parents Can Ask About Safety in Youth Sports and Martial Arts Training
Any facility that works with minors has a duty of care to conduct criminal background checks on coaches, professors, and adult staff, because registered sex offenders are not permitted to work with young people. While these checks are a bare minimum safeguard, they are bare minimum and not a complete prevention strategy. Effective child protection also requires clear boundaries, supervision, and accountability built into the environment itself.
Interestingly, many parents feel bad or embarrassed about raising questions in regard to safety, especially when a program is competitive, exclusive, feels positive or is community oriented.
However, being aware of how sexual abuse actually occurs requires moving beyond assumptions about intent or instructor reputation. Background checks only reflect documented past behavior of the adult in question, not boundary violations that were never reported or patterns that developed over time.
Parents do not need to suspect individual coaches to ask informed questions; they simply need the knowledge that prevention depends on systems, supervision, and transparency versus blind trust.
Before committing to a martial arts or youth sports program, parents of potential students should feel empowered to ask and receive clear answers on how policies and procedures between students and coaches are handled including: understanding how boundaries are defined and enforced and learning who supervises private lessons or travel and what policies are in place to ensure your child's safety.
And safety conversations between parents and their young athletes ought include: teens being taught that discomfort is a signal vs. a weakness, reinforcing that leaving an uncomfortable private training session early is always acceptable, and an honest dialogue about inappropriate behavior between adult coaches and minors.
Prevention works best when teens know that their safety matters more than medals, belts, or the worlds approval.
Before an “Investigation”: What Parents Should Already Know About Youth Sports Policies
When allegations surface in schools, youth sports, martial arts programs, the organization often respond with a familiar statement: “We are conducting an internal investigation.”
The more important question is not whether an investigation will occur but whether the policies governing that investigation were clearly defined, written, and accessible before the incident occurred.
From a safeguarding perspective, parents should be able to ask, and receive clear answers, about the following:
1. Is there a written child protection policy available to families?
2. Are criminal background checks required for all coaches and staff?
3. Who conducts investigations, internal leadership or an independent third party?
4. Are law enforcement or child protective services notified immediately when allegations involve minors?
5. Are accused individuals removed from contact with children during review?
6. Is there an anonymous or external reporting channel outside the training hierarchy?
7. Are there defined timelines for action?
Organizations that hesitate to share these procedures in advance often default to improvisation during crisis. In cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse, improvised responses and undefined timelines of action can preserve discretion, delay mandatory reporting, and leave young athletes exposed during review.
In practice, improvisational response protects institutions while pre-established policy protects young athletes.
Policies and procedures matter in criminology and risk management. Clear thresholds, mandatory reporting, and documented removal protocols reduce discretion and shrink the space where secrecy can operate.
Parents should not have to wait for a scandal to discover how a facility handles misconduct, merely hoping they will do the right thing. The existence of a transparent policy is itself a prevention measure.
Section Summary
When allegations of sexual abuse in youth sports surface, organizations often respond by announcing an internal investigation. In youth sports and martial arts training environments serving children and young athletes, that response is only meaningful if investigative policies were defined before the incident occurred. Parents and other responsible adults should be able to confirm that the sport or training program has written procedures governing reporting, removal from access, background checks, and independent investigation. In structured youth sports settings, adults in authority must operate under predetermined thresholds for action, including immediate reporting to authorities and suspension from training duties when boundaries are violated. Without defined timelines and investigative standards, discretion expands and access to children can be prolonged during review. In criminology and youth sport risk management, certainty and speed of response reduce harm more reliably than delayed investigation. Transparent investigative policies are not administrative formalities; they are core prevention measures against sexual abuse in youth sports and essential safeguards for young athletes.
Supervised Training Environments Matter
Youth organizations and sports programs spend millions of dollars annually on injury prevention programs while sexual abuse in youth sports continues to fester in isolation. Safe training environments reduce isolation and will prioritize the safety of their athletes in all respects.
In youth sports and martial arts programs, children should not routinely be placed in unsupervised one-on-one situations with instructors behind closed doors. Best practice for organizations in youth sports training include an open-door policies during private lessons, multiple adults present during youth training (including private) sessions, viewing areas for parents during practice, and group text messaging channels that includes parents / guardians.
Because close physical instruction is inherent in many sports, especially martial arts, grappling, or contact sports, defined boundaries become even more critical. Clear standards for physical correction, demonstration, and supervision reduce ambiguity or what is appropriate behavior.
Safety Conversations Parents Should Have With Young Athletes
Sexual abuse prevention in youth sports is strengthened when parents talk openly with their children about boundaries and are taught their concerns will not be dismissed. Generally speaking, every safety conversation between parents and young athletes should clarify who the child can talk to if boundaries feel unclear.
When adults are clear that the safety of a child matters more than medals, belts, rankings, or approval from instructors, prevention becomes practical.
Open discussion about sexual abuse in youth sports reduces ambiguity. When children understand how boundary violations develop and how reporting works, uncertainty decreases and opportunities for manipulation narrow.
A Final Note on Responsibility
Sexual abuse in youth sports is not a martial arts problem, a BJJ problem, or a single-coach problem. It is a power-and-access problem that appears anywhere authority, trust, normalized physical contact, and opportunity intersect in sport and training environments serving young athletes.
Acknowledging this does not diminish the value of youth sports or training communities. It strengthens them. When adults are willing to talk openly about boundaries, reporting and how sexual able in youth sports can unfold, uncertainty and fear decrease and expectations become more clear.
For parents, the goal ought not be withdrawal from activities that build confidence and discipline, but to insist on training environments where safety is intentional, boundaries are clear, and accountability is non-negotiable.
Safe Training & Prevention Checklist for Youth Sports and Martial Arts Programs
When discussing sexual abuse in youth sports, parents often focus on individual character: “Can I trust this coach?” or “Does this martial arts instructor seem professional?” While those questions are understandable, prevention does not begin with personality. It begins with structure.
Safe youth sports programs and martial arts training environments are defined less by charisma and more by accountability.
The following checklist outlines what a structurally safe training environment should include across youth sports, martial arts schools, and athletic programs serving children and young athletes.
1. Clear Written Child Protection Policies
Every youth sports program that works with children should have a written child protection policy that addresses sexual abuse in youth sports explicitly.
That policy should define:
1. Boundaries between coaches, instructors, and students
2. Acceptable and prohibited forms of physical contact during training
3. Communication rules for texting, social media, and private messaging
3. Travel guidelines for tournaments and events
4. Consequences for boundary violations
If a youth sports organization or martial arts school cannot provide written policies upon request, parents should view that as a organizational weakness.
2. Supervised Training Environments
In youth sports and martial arts training, children should not routinely be placed in unsupervised one-on-one situations with instructors. Best practice includes:
1. Multiple adults present during training sessions
2. Open-door policies during private lessons
3. Transparent viewing areas for parents
4. Group communication channels that include guardians
Sexual abuse in youth sports frequently develops in isolation. Structurally reducing isolation reduces risk. Parents should feel comfortable asking how training sessions are supervised and how instructors are monitored. Young athletes should be taught that they have the right to questions, leave, to report situations that feel in appropriate.
3. Defined Boundaries in Martial Arts and Athletic Training
Martial arts training and contact sports involve physical instruction. That does not eliminate the need for boundaries. Safe training environments ought define what physical correction is appropriate, when same-gender instruction is required, and how locker room supervision is handled.
The presence of physical contact in sport does not excuse ambiguous boundaries. In fact, youth sports programs that involve grappling, striking, or close contact require clearer standards. When evaluating sexual abuse prevention in youth sports, parents should ask how instructors are trained in professional boundaries and how those boundaries are reinforced.
4. Mandatory Reporting and External Oversight
Prevention requires more than ambiguous internal investigation. Youth sports programs and martial arts schools serving children should have mandatory reporting procedures, clear protocols for notifying law enforcement or child protective services, external reporting options outside the gym hierarchy, and a defined timelines for action.
When sexual abuse in youth sports is addressed only through internal discretion the risk for offense increases. Independent reporting channels reduce secrecy and increase accountability.
5. Background Checks and Ongoing Screening
Criminal background checks are a minimum standard for youth sports programs, however, prevention does not end with a one-time check.
Effective screening ought include initial criminal background checks before hiring or subcontracting, periodic re-screening, clear disqualification standards, and documentation of screening procedures.
A background check confirms whether a coach has a documented criminal history. It does not identify unreported misconduct or grooming behavior. Sexual abuse in youth sports often involves individuals with no prior convictions.
6. Education for Athletes and Parents
Prevention improves when young athletes and their parents are taught about red flags and grooming behavior. Youth sports programs and martial arts schools should provide clear explanations of what constitutes inappropriate behavior, guidance on how to talk about uncomfortable situations, defined reporting pathways, reassurance that reporting will not result in punishment, lost opportunity, rank, or team exclusion.
Parents should talk with their children about their right to leave a training session if something feels wrong and who to talk to if boundaries feel unclear.
References
Bjørnseth, I., & Szabo, A. (2018). Sexual Violence Against Children in Sports and Exercise: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 27(4), 365–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2018.1477222
Cheever, J., & Eisenberg, M. E. (2022). Team Sports and Sexual Violence: Examining Perpetration by and Victimization of Adolescent Males and Females. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(1–2), NP400–NP422. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520915549
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Renée Rose is a Medicolegal Consultant, Forensic Crime Analyst, and creator of the Trauma Informed Self Defense™ framework. Her work integrates clinical forensic psychological education and research with Evidence-based self defense focusing on skill acquisition under stress and how judgment and decision-making function under stress in real-world contexts.
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