In recent years, corporal punishment by coaches during athletic activities has been decreasing. On the contrary, verbal abuse, including rants by coaches have been reported frequently by the media. Some severe cases of verbal abuse have driven students to suicide. This severe form of coaching may be the background for coaches’ belief that “corporal punishment and verbal emotionally abusive behaviors are different” following the doctrine that “victory is everything.” The objectives of this study were 1) to clarify the relationship between corporal punishment and verbal abuse in terms of frequency and degree and 2) to identify crucial types of harassment, intimidation, and humiliation-related to severe cases of corporal punishment. A questionnaire on athletic coaching (specifically, corporal punishment and verbal abuse) in high school was answered by 361 college students. Among the respondents, 22.2% experienced corporal punishment and 45.7% endured verbal abuse. Moreover, more experiences involving verbal abuse by coaches were indicative of more experiences of corporal punishment (rs=0.53). Furthermore, more experiences of worrying about verbal abuse led to more experiences of worrying about corporal punishment (rs=0.35). Additionally, there was a significant correlation between experiencing severe corporal punishment and experiencing hearing phrases such as “that’s why everyone thinks you’re an idiot!,” “you’re out of this sport!,” “you’re not qualified to teach the younger members!,” “out of my sight!,” and “you don’t have any potential!” (V>0.35). This study revealed the relationship (frequency and degree) between verbal abuse and corporal punishment in sports coaching situations. Findings indicated that certain words were uttered as verbal abuse in combination with corporal punishment. Further studies may help with the development of methods that deter corporal punishment and verbal abuse by focusing attention not only on clarifying the direct cause of the former but also the daily relationship between coaches and students.
