Athletics should be fun. You should feel safe and enjoy your sport. You can’t do that if you feel unhappy – if someone is abusing or bullying you. You can click these links to skip straight to the sections on this page:
I need help now
How do I know when something is wrong?
I’m worried about someone else
Historic abuse
If you are being abused or bullied, it is not your fault. Help is available.
You can also get help from the following places:
Childline online support
You can also contact Childline for confidential chats via online messaging or email.
Tell an adult
Tell your parents/carers, teacher, or another adult you trust.
Welfare officer at your athletics club
Every athletics club with junior members has a designated welfare officer who you can talk to get help if you are being abused or bullied.
Tell us
If you don’t know who your club welfare officer is, or you don’t feel comfortable talking to them, scottishathletics has its own welfare officer who can help. His name is Angus Macdonald and you can contact him on 07983081122 or angus.macdonald@scottishathletics.org.uk
More help
For more links, including help for bullying, staying safe online and more, visit the Children 1st website.
Something is wrong if someone:
What can I do?
If you are being abused or bullied, it is not your fault. The most important thing to do is ask for help using the details above. Other useful things you can do when something bad happens are:
Keeping safe
You should not need to change your life and habits to avoid people who abuse or bully you – you can ask for help to make sure it stops. But some things you can do to keep safe are:
Children who are worried
You can talk to any of the people above if you’re worried about someone else being abused or bullied. You don’t need to wait until you’re certain something is wrong to talk to someone about your concerns.
Adults who are worried
If you were abused in the past, and you want to report it or seek help, we recommend that you report it to the police first.
If the abuse happened in an athletics environment, you can also contact the scottishathletics welfare officer, Angus Macdonald on 07983081122 or angus.macdonald@scottishathletics.org.uk
There is useful information about child abuse on the Victim Support website, including how it might affect you, and where you can go for help.
Survivor Scotland also has three directories of resources to help you find support:
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