URL:http://www.southam.com/kitchenerwaterloorecord/news/news2.html

The Record
   
ABUSE STORIES HAUNT COACHES
                                       
By Steve Cannon Record staff
They lined the rink during the pre-game skate Thursday, young girls in
baggy hockey sweaters and in obvious awe at being so close to the
world's best women players."There's Wickenheiser, she's awesome," one
pony-tailed fan screamed to her friends as she spotted Team Canada
star Hayley Wickenheiser at the Kitchener Auditorium.

With such adulation, is it any wonder minor hockey groups expect the
Women's World Hockey Championship to give birth to a new generation of
female players?

Registration in Kitchener alone is expected to double to more than
400.

But with such growth comes questions, like who best should be coaching
young girls? Should only women stand behind the bench or in the
dressing room?

Not in the opinion of Julie Anderberhan, coach of the Cornell
University women's hockey team and a former player with Team U.S.A.

"Hockey is hockey," Anderberhan told a group of coaches at a Thursday
seminar entitled Issues for the Competitive Female Player.

"Men play it. Women play it, and you don't have to coach differently.
Whether you use the proverbial carrot or the stick depends more on the
individual than whether they are a male or female."

Yet, in Canada, the question of who should coach our children is asked
for reasons other than coaching ability.

Graham James made sure of that last year, when it came to light he had
sexually assaulted one of his players more than 300 times when he
coached the Swift Current Broncos.

James is currently serving a 31Z2-year stint in jail for abusing
Sheldon Kennedy, who was 14 at the time of the first assault and is
now stitching his life and career back together with the Boston
Bruins.

But the legacy of James's crimes has been the scrutiny of all minor
coaches, who now endure sideways glances from parents who once blindly
handed their children over to the team.

These are the same parents who were also shocked when a Sports Canada
study revealed nearly 22 per cent of Canada's elite athletes admitted
having sex with someone in authority.

Of those, 8.6 per cent said they were forced into the activity. One in
five said they were under 16 at the time.

No wonder the microscope is being trained on men who coach young boys.
But how tough must it be for men who coach young girls?

"After what happened (to Kennedy), I became more cognizant of any kind
of actions that may be taken the wrong way," said Ker Ferguson, who
coaches teenaged girls in London.

"I became much more sensitive to it than I ever had been before. Men
should still coach girls. You just have to have the proper decorum in
and around the dressing room. It's just common sense."

As it is when the roles are reversed and women coach boys, as Laura
Urquhart has done in England.

Urquhart, who is co-coach of England's national women's team, said
it's essential to get the right people to guide young athletes.

"Back home, we don't have many women coaches yet so we have the
concerns of men going into the changing rooms of our girls," said
Urquhart, in Kitchener as England's delegate to the worlds.

"It's a big issue, really. I know when I've coached the boys teams,
I've made it a policy of not going into the change room until the boys
are completely dressed," she said.

"Not only do you have to act properly, you have to be seen doing the
right thing. Clearly, you don't want anybody confusing what you're
doing."

_________________________________________________________________

(c) Copyright Kitchener-Waterloo Record 1997 
Kitchener-Waterloo Record Online