Introduction

The high-profile cases of Jerry Sandusky at Pennsylvania State University and Larry Nassar at Michigan State University in the past decade helped to bring widespread attention to the issue of child athlete abuse. The shocking details of these cases—the number of victims, the length of time the abuse persisted, the subsequent discovery that many powerful people knowingly covered up these men’s crimes—led to tremendous public outrage and may have helped to fuel the growth of movements against sexual violence and harassment such as #MeToo and #TimesUp.

The resulting attention may have sped progress on abuse prevention efforts, but the now-synonymous association of Nassar and Sandusky with the issue of child athlete abuse creates communications challenges for advocates in the field. How are organizations with a mission to prevent child athlete abuse responding to the limitations and contradictions of this entrenched association? What can they do to ensure their own messages and missions aren’t hindered by it?

This field frame analysis has been produced as part of a larger research project to survey expert, public, and media discourse on child athlete abuse. Its goal is to identify possible avenues for increasing public understanding of and support for systemic solutions that will increase child athletes’ safety and foster their wellbeing.