March Safeguarding Spotlight: Bullying

This month, our Safeguarding Spotlight focuses on bullying — a serious issue that can affect individuals of all ages within the judo community. Bullying can have a significant impact on a person’s confidence, wellbeing, and enjoyment of sport, so everyone must understand what it is, how it can present, and how to respond.

This article covers sensitive topics – Please take care when reading.

What is Bullying?

Bullying is defined as: “The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological. It can happen face-to-face or online.”

Bullying can occur in a variety of relationships, including:

• Between an adult and a young person (including a parent and their child)
• Between young people
• Between adults

While bullying is often described as repeated behaviour, it’s important to recognise that even a one-off incident can have a significant emotional impact. If something makes a person feel unsafe, worried, or reluctant to attend their judo session or club, it must be taken seriously. People can experience the same behaviour in different ways, and the impact on the individual should always be considered.

Types of Bullying

Bullying can take many forms, and it’s important to understand how it might present in a judo setting:

• Emotional: Being unfriendly, excluding others, tormenting or deliberately upsetting someone (e.g. hiding belongings or making threatening gestures)
• Physical: Pushing, kicking, hitting, punching, or any use of violence. While judo is a contact sport and physical interaction is part of training, this may become bullying if it is intended to cause harm or distress
• Verbal: Name-calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, or teasing
• Online (Cyberbullying): Misuse of social media, messaging, or digital platforms, including abusive messages, calls, or misuse of images and video

Prejudice-Based Bullying

Bullying may also involve singling someone out because they are perceived as different. This is sometimes referred to as prejudice-based bullying, and can include:

• Racist bullying: Racial taunts, gestures, or comments
• Homophobic, bi-phobic or transphobic bullying: Targeting someone because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity
• Disablist bullying: Targeting someone because of a disability or additional need
• Sexism and misogyny
• Religion or belief-based bullying

This is not an exhaustive list. Bullying can also be linked to other characteristics such as socio-economic background, body image, care experience, or being a young carer.

Why It Matters

Bullying can have a lasting effect on a person’s mental health, confidence, and sense of belonging. Everyone deserves to feel safe, respected, and included in their judo environment.

Research shows that bullying remains a significant concern:

• More than 1 in 5 children experience frequent bullying
• Higher rates are reported among children with special educational needs or disabilities, and those from lower-income backgrounds

These findings highlight the importance of creating safe, supportive environments where all individuals can thrive.

Creating a Respectful Judo Environment

Everyone in the judo community has a role to play in preventing bullying. This includes:

• Promoting respect, inclusion, and positive behaviour
• Challenging inappropriate behaviour at an early stage
• Listening to concerns and taking them seriously
• Supporting anyone who may be affected

National initiatives such as Anti-Bullying Week (theme: Choose Respect) and Odd Socks Day help to raise awareness and celebrate that everyone is different.

Support and Resources

If you or someone in your club is affected by bullying, support is available:

• Childline – Free, confidential support for young people
• Anti-Bullying Alliance – Guidance and resources on preventing bullying
• Kidscape – Support for children and families, including practical advice
• NSPCC – Information on helping children deal with bullying and cyberbullying
• UK Government Guidance – Advice on bullying and responsibilities

Support and Contact

If you have concerns about bullying within your club or need advice, please contact:
safeguarding@britishjudo.org.uk