....."Kids are already ready to do what their coach says," said Kathryn Laughon, an associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. "A coach is often an authority figure and has true respect and is really creating a little community in a way that has historically been toxic. This helps take that energy and turn it into something positive."....

.....This study involved 973 male athletes in 41 middle schools in Pennsylvania. Half the schools were randomly selected to participate in the program. The study ran between spring 2015 and fall 2017, including one sports season and a year of follow-up.  By the end of the sports season, boys in the program were 50% more likely to intervene if they saw a peer being disrespectful toward others, researchers found.

This effect persisted through the following year. Male athletes were more than twice as likely to report positive bystander behaviors a year after the program`s conclusion than male athletes at schools that did not participate in the program.....