hankyoreh

"I wouldn’t dare talk back to my coach. It’s one of the golden rules of remaining on the court as a player. The rule is as good as a shackle."

A rookie female professional basketball player thus defined the coach-player relationship in a sexual harassment complaint against her ex-coach, Mr. Park, 45. The ex-coach was alleged to have twice forcibly undressed and groped the player, then attempting sexual intercourse. The incident allegedly occurred in a hotel room when the team was training in the U.S. on April 10.

The female player said she resisted, but was stripped completely naked by her coach. She said on both occasions, she was saved from the situation when colleagues or managers knocked on the door.

An anonymous source within the female basketball industry told The Hankyoreh that there are most likely other incidents of sexual misconduct by the same coach, as he has been in charge of the same team for 19 years and those involved in the recent alleged sexual assault were rookie players.

This is not the only case in which a coach did not hesitate to use his dominance over his players to commit indecent acts, extortion, assault, and other crimes.

A group of male Judo players on a company-owned team stated in a recent police investigation that their ex-coach, Mr. Lee, 46, had extorted 220 million won (US$236,559) from them over a five-year period.

"If we wanted to remain as an active Judo player on a team that pays well and has a better chance of not being restructured, we had no other choice but to do what the coach said," one of the players said.

School athletics are no exception. In some schools, it is a well-known secret that coaches demand payment from parents on the pretext of funding team entertainment dinners, away-from-home training camps, etc. A parent of a middle-school baseball player said, "I must curry favor with the coach, so that my son can be on the roster and so that the coach does not bully him. I paid the coach an allowance and wined and dined him."

In the realms of both amateur and professional sports, often female athletes are forced to serve their male coaches as if they were maids, such as washing their underwear and cleaning their quarters.

Coach Jung Deok-wha of Samsung Life Women’s Basketball Team said, "When I came to the team as a new coach in May 2004, I was surprised to hear that the girls did the laundry and room cleaning for the coach."

But the sexual harassment is by far the most insidious. One after another, witnesses are coming forth with tales of misconduct by male coaches, saying the situation is far worse than what is known.

A female athlete who is currently on the roster of a professional team and wished to remain anonymous said, "I had been sexually harassed by a coach on one of my previous teams. I couldn’t dare fight back, because I was as good as a slave to the coach." A staff member on a female sports team said, "The coach squeezes the atheletes’ breasts when he tells them he is not happy with their playing. The girls feel harassed, of course, but not one of them can raise a hand and call it foul play."

As sexual misconduct by coaches has raised alarm recently, politicians have unexpectedly made statements on the issue. Assemblyman Sim Sang-jeung of Democratic Labor Party urged in a statement that "the teams in question come up with fundamental measures."

In addition, related to the issue, the Women’s Korean Basketball League announced it will open up an ‘Athlete’s Hotline’ from May 28.

Kang Hyeon-suk, Technical Director of the Korea Basketball Association and in charge of a program to counsel female athletes, said, "This is not a problem only for some. All athletes must act."

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]