Paper Title
The Impact of Bullying and Harrasment on Participants of Organized Sport: Coaches’ Attitude

Abstract
Relevance of the research. Scientific research not only emphasizes the necessity to prevent discrimination and abuse of power against athletes but also points out the problems of negative interpersonal relationships between various stakeholders in sport and the need to reduce them. One of the named problems destructing interrelationships in the context of sport is bullying and harassment, the impact of which is felt by the entire sports community, including athletes too. This means that athletes will encounter various consequences of bullying and harassment, as it is the case in other contexts, having experienced various forms of bullying. Although there is not much research on potential consequences of bullying and harassment for sports participants, it can be predicted that persons who have experienced them will encounter various health or psychosocial problems. Their manifestation will vary: refusal to take part in sports activities, depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal behaviour. It is likely that after experiencing bullying victimization, certain individuals will feel loneliness and feelings of unhappiness, demonstrate lower academic achievement, etc. Some of them are likely to encounter problems of the use of alcohol, tobacco or illicit drugs, poor financial and occupational functioning or even poor life in the future. Knowledge of potential negative consequences of bullying and harassment makes it relevant to reveal the attitude of all participants of organized sports activities to this problem as well. However, the attitude of coaches as relationship builders and constant participants of all sporting activities becomes very important. Its revelation will enable to envisage different aspects and provide an opportunity to go into the analysed problem in greater detail. The research problem is raised by the question “What is the impact of bullying and harassment on participants of organized sport and how can the consequences of negative interrelationship phenomena be avoided and/or minimized from coaches’ standpoint? The research aim: to reveal the impact of bullying and harassment on participants of organized sport, highlighting coaches’ attitude, in order to avoid and/or minimize the consequences of negative interrelationship phenomena. Research methodology. The empirical study was conducted using the qualitative research strategy that provides an opportunity to look at the problem by focusing on the unique human experience with regard to the analysed phenomenon. The study refers to the attitudes of coaches as key persons shaping interpersonal relationships in sport. To conduct the study, a semi-structured interview method was used. Data analysis was performed applying the content analysis method. The study was conducted in February-April, 2019. The study involved seven coaches representing team, combat and individual sports. Before the interview, the aim of the study, the use of future research results was explained to research participants and anonymity was guaranteed. Research results. The study sought to elucidate coaches’ attitude to bullying and harassment in sport, revealing potential consequences of these phenomena for individual athletes and teams/groups. The research results demonstrate that individual athletes experience negative psychological consequences, manifesting themselves by short-term anger, isolation and reticence, long-term stress, fearing for repetitive bullying, lack of self-confidence. Besides, athletes who have experienced bullying and harassment are weighed down by lasting memories. The results of the study revealed that bullying and harassment could also negatively influence the athlete’s career, as in many cases, the tension that has developed prevents athletes to achieve high personal results or even is the reason for their sports career termination. From the coaches’ standpoint, the negative impact of bullying and harassment on the team is also inevitable. Bullying and harassment result in poorer performance of the team or club. The study highlighted a relevant category of bullying consequences, defining team competitiveness. The non-cooperative, polarised team that is not consolidating all team members’ psychological and physical capabilities cannot achieve high results. Due to destructive relationships grounded on bullying and harassment, teams/groups lose their members or, in individual cases, the team/group disintegrates completely. Research results also revealed that in some cases coaches did not take active steps to reduce bullying and harassment and even tolerated the prevailing bullying-friendly environment. During the study, coaches confirm the complexity of eliminating bullying and harassment, as the experience of athletes who have been bullied and harassed determines negative behavioural changes manifesting themselves by increased social threat to the environment: athletes who have gone through a difficult period of bullying and harassment may often not control their behaviour and demonstrate its antisocial manifestations against other sports participants. Funding. This research is funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity ‘Improvement of researchers’ qualification by implementing world-class R&D projects of Measure No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0190. Keywords - Bullying, Harassment, Sport Participation, Athletes, Coaches, Consequences, Lithuania.