A Phenomenological Study on the Human Rights Violation Experience of Semi-professional Athletes at Workplace

Abstract

PURPOSE This study aimed to identify the nature of human rights violations experienced by semi-professional athletes in semi-professional sports teams and explored the relevant cases. METHODS For this purpose, 35 semi-professional athletes (20 men and 15 women) from the semi-professional sports teams participated in the study, and data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews and focus group interviews (FGI). The collected data were analyzed using the phenomenological research method proposed by Colaizzi (1978). RESULTS The study summarized the results into five categories, 14 theme clusters and 41 themes. Its inherent structures include ‘first step to becoming a semi-professional athlete: disadvantageous contracts for players,’ ‘unavoidable absolute power: obedience to the coach,’ ‘forced training camp: autonomy and privacy infringement,’ ‘structural problems of the semi-professional sports federation: tyrannized power’ and ‘female players who are in male-oriented society: gender-focused than performance.’ CONCLUSIONS The results of this study provided an understanding of athletes’ human rights violations experienced in semi-professional sports teams. Understanding athletes in semi-professional sports teams through phenomenological research was conducted based on previous studies discussing practical and policy intervention measures.

Keywords

• semi-professional athletes
• human right violation
• experience
• phenomenological method