The VA wants to actively combat transgressive behaviour, such as sexual abuse, intimidation and discrimination. An important tool is the Manual on tackling transgressive behavior in martial arts. It tells you how to deal if you are a victim or witness of someone’s misconduct. This handbook has recently been updated.
Unfortunately, everywhere in society we have to deal with people who do not respect the boundaries of others. Abuses regularly surface in the media, church, politics, business, and the sports world cannot escape it either. Martial arts is no exception.
The VA is trying to help victims and witnesses. The help mainly consists of listening to the report and helping people who seek help or justice to the right authority.
Trusted contact person
The role of the confidential contact person (‘vertrouwenscontactpersoon’ in Dutch) is central to this. You can report transgressive behavior to a confidential contact person who has been trained by the Center for Safe Sport Netherlands of NOC*NSF. If you can’t or don’t want to go to a trainer or gym owner, approach one of the people mentioned on this page.
Prevention
As a gym owner, trainer, promoter or other martial arts professional, you naturally also want to contribute to preventing problems. And if an issue does arise, you want to deal with it as sensibly as possible. The Guidance on tackling transgressive behavior is also intended for this purpose. For example, it contains guidelines on how to deal with traveling to competitions and staying in hotels. And you can read what you can do best if someone reports a case of possible transgressive behaviour. Check our Manual tackling transgressive behaviour in combat sports.
If you have a website, for example because you have a gym, you can also download the guide and place it on your website. The better we spread this information, the greater the chance that we can contribute to combating this persistent phenomenon.
Handbook of tackling transgressive behavior in martial arts
More information: https://www.vechtsportautoriteit.nl/vertrouwenskwesties/
