About two and a half years ago, there was a flurry of articles about inappropriate behavior between coaches and players -- more specifically high school and/or AAU-club coaches sexually abusing their young players.

You may recall this blog's coverage of the Rick Lopez case in Colorado, and this article wondering at the silence of the NCAA, AAU and WBCA in the face of this issue.

They're still rather quiet about the whole thing.

Not surprisingly, it's the Women's Sports Foundation who continues to take the lead in educating and activating about coach-athlete sexual relationships. You can check out their position paper here and recently their "It Takes a Team!" newsletter included a Chalk Talk by Pat Griffin, best known for her seminal book, "Strong Women, Deep Closets."

In the article, Griffin writes:

Parents are entitled to assurances that the adults who coach their children are ethical professionals who respect appropriate intereaction boundaries between coaches and athletes. Coaches need to set appropriate boundaries in their relationship with athletes regardless of the athlete's age. Even when athletes are college age or older and a consensual sexual relationship between a coach and an athlete occurs, these relationships are never acceptable regardless of the gender or sexual orientation of the people involved.

Griffin also addresses the issue of homophobia as it relates to the issue:

No evidence supports the claim that lesbian and gay coaches pose a greater sexual threat to young athletes than coaches who are heterosexual. In fact, police statistics support the contention that sexual abuse or harassment is more likely to occur between adult males and young girls. This is not to suggest that males should be prohibited from coaching young girls, but that all coaches, male and female, should be vetted to assure that they are trustworthy and ethical leaders as well as knowledgeable about their sport.

The newsletter also included an article on "No Name-Calling Week" and a link to the Executive Research Summary on how effective "It Takes a Team!" has been in making sports safer and more respectful for LGBT athletes and coaches.