Table 4

Neglect: classifications, constituents and examples in sport

Relational maltreatment	Classifications	Constituents	Examples in sport
Neglect	Physical neglect	Refusal of healthcare	Refusing an athlete recovery time and/or treatment for a sport injury
		Delay in healthcare	Delaying medical assessment/treatment of a sport injury until the completion of a competition
		Abandonment	Abandonment of an athlete as punishment for poor performance (eg, departure of a parent/coach mid-competition, leaving an athlete to fend for themself)
		Expulsion	Expulsion of an athlete from the team travel bus when away without any regard for how that athlete will return home from competition
		Inadequate supervision	Inadequate supervision of an athlete during travel, training or competition
		Inadequate supervision	Inadequate spotting of an athlete on skills of foreseeable risk
		Inadequate nutrition, clothing or hygiene	Prescribed dieting or other weight control methods (eg, weigh-ins, caliper tests) without regard for the nutritional well-being and health of the athlete
		Inattention to avoidable hazards	Failure to ensure the safety of athletic equipment
		Permitted drug or alcohol abuse	Disregarding/encouraging/enabling the use of performance-enhancing drugs by an athlete
		Permitted drug or alcohol abuse	Disregarding the use/abuse of alcohol or tobacco in conjunction with athletic events or celebrations
		Other forms of reckless physical disregard for a person’s well-being	Driving with an athlete while intoxicated
			Encouraging an athlete to return to play prematurely following a concussion or injury
			Encouraging an athlete to perform a skill for which he/she is not developmentally ready
			Awareness of harm resulting from a delay in maturation and encouraging an athlete to perform activities that may enhance this harm
	Educational neglect	Permitted/encouraged chronic truancy	Encouraging an athlete to miss classes for training/competition
		Failure to enrol or other truancy	Encouraging an athlete to cease education for training/competition
		Inattention to special education need	Discourage/disallow an athlete appropriate time to study or prepare for educational requirements
		Inattention to special education need	Failure to consider an athlete’s special education needs during training (eg, writing out training instructions for an illiterate athlete with no verbal explanation)
	Emotional neglect	Inadequate nurturing or affection	An unintentional chronic lack of attention or performance feedback that would be reasonably expected by an athlete (eg, ignoring less successful athletes during training or competition)
		Chronic or extreme spouse abuse/domestic violence	Chronic exposure of an athlete to violence among authorities in sport (eg, coach arguing/fighting with other coaches/parents/officials)
		Refusal of psychological care	Refusing psychological counselling of an athlete exhibiting disordered eating symptoms or any other perceived psychological distress
		Delay in psychological care	Delaying psychological care of an athlete
	Social neglect	Inattention to social needs	Chronic exclusion of an athlete from team social events
		Prohibited/discouraged social relations	Discouraging an athlete from having friendships with teammates/persons outside sport
		Chronic rejection	Chronic unrealistic performance expectations
		Permitted maladaptive behaviour (where the care giver has reason to be aware of the existence and seriousness of the problem and does not intervene)	Allowing an athlete to disregard sport’s rules, regulations, and standards
			Failure of a coach/parent to intervene when made aware of maladaptive athlete behaviour (eg, vandalism of another team’s banner/facility)

In order for the described behaviours to be defined as relational maltreatment, they must occur within a critical relationship.