Teachers College of Columbia University, United States
Maltreatment in sport, encompassing physical, emotional, and sexual harm, has garnered significant attention due to research advancements and high-profile abuse cases (Parent & Fortier, 2018). Athlete safety is often seen as an individual issue, blaming harmful behaviors on a few problematic coaches while overlooking broader systemic factors sustaining harmful cultures in elite sport (Mountjoy et al., 2016). Research by Monton et al. (2024) used the Masculinity Contest Culture (MCC) framework to explore the high-performance sport environments, which were marked by intense competition and traditionally masculine traits, prioritizing performance above all else, including, well-being, health and safety (Monton et al., 2024). This study extends Monton et al.'s (2024) findings by investigating covert team-level processes that sustain toxic organizational dynamics using the X-Ray Vision model (Noumair et al., 2017). Through a secondary analysis of qualitative interview data (n=30), consisting of retired Canadian national team athletes, three key dynamics were identified. Covert team-level dynamics, included fear-based authority, dysfunctional interpersonal behaviors, and tacit motivational contracts, which fostered control, dependency, and tension, leading to isolation, exhaustion, and fragmented team cohesion. The results indicated that these patterns undermined athletes’ well-being and performance, highlighting the need for systemic intervention to address toxic team cultures in elite sport.
