Tennis great Pam Shriver: 'I was in an inappropriate relationship with my 50-year-old coach at 17
American tennis great Pam Shriver breaks her silence on sport's unspoken scandal, why she believes it is still rife and how by telling her story she hopes to promote future safeguards.
When the pandemic cut back my work schedule last year, I realised I couldn't put it off any longer. I finally found the courage to visit a therapist and address my experiences as a young tennis player. Now, another year on, I have decided to share my story publicly.
The short version of this story is that I had an inappropriate and damaging relationship with my much older coach, which began when I was 17 and lasted a little over five years. I've set out the details of my painful and emotional journey below. It hasn't been easy to rake over what happened, but I believe this is an important issue, and one that needs to be brought out into the open.
My main motivation is to let people know this still goes on - a lot. I believe abusive coaching relationships are alarmingly common in sport as a whole. My particular expertise, though, is in tennis, where I have witnessed dozens of instances in my four-and-a-bit decades as a player and commentator. Every time I hear about a player who is dating their coach, or I see a male physio working on a female body in the gym, it sets my alarm bells ringing.
It's not only women who suffer from abusive coaching relationships, but they make up the majority. Sometimes it's young girls and much older men. Sometimes the ages are similar, and you could argue that two consenting adults are entitled to do what they want. But mixing your personal and professional lives creates all sorts of extra tensions, especially in the pressurised world of sport.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/tennis-great-pam-shriver-i-was-in-an-inappropriate-relationship-with-my-50-year-old-coach-at-17/DY3BL7Q7L2NRXO2C56B5PH5PRE/
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