Google News Judy Murray tells terrifying coach/player scene she witnessed in major junior event
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 7744
Judy Murray applauded Pam Shriver for coming out and opening up about a traumatic experience, with the hope it would lead to positive changes. This week, Shriver detailed to The Telegraph an "inappropriate and damaging relationship with my much older coach." Shriver was 17 when her relationship with coach Don Candy started.
Candy, who died in 2020, was 50 when the relationship with Shriver started. “It was great to read Pam’s story,” Murray told Telegraph Sport, “which was beautifully written and communicated. I’m also applauding Steve Simon for saying that coaches will have to go through an education program.
That’s been a very long time coming."
Murray witnessed a scary player/coach scene
Murray once witnessed a tennis coach grab a 13-year-old girl by the throat against the outside back wall of a tennis venue. Murray reported it to the referee but he said he could do nothing because the coach who did it was also the father of the 13-year-old girl.
“It’s important to marry that with a safe and secure reporting system,” Murray added. “That’s one of the biggest problems. Who do you speak to? I once reported a coach-slash-father who had a junior player – a 13-year-old girl – by the throat against the outside back wall of a tennis venue at a major event.
The referee said he couldn’t do anything as it was the parent. “It’s vital that if we see, hear or experience any kind of abuse – physical, financial, emotional, or verbal – that there is a trusted and secure means of reporting it and an assurance that it will be acted upon and not brushed under the carpet.
“What encourages me is that more and more female athletes are finding the confidence to use their voices and share their experiences in an effort to make the sporting environment a safer place for women and girls”.