"The main task of the Estonian Anti-Doping and Sports Ethics Foundation (EADSE) is to prevent any concerns, but in this case, we cannot talk about prevention, we have a pretty difficult problem. We've heard debates on a few shows this year about whether it's okay to throw a ball at a child in training. So, there is a long way to go here. That's why we've printed posters with some recommendations," said Estonian Olympic Committee (EOK) President Kersti Kaljulaid on ETV show "Terevisioon."

"The context creates a heightened emotional tone," said Joe Noormets, a lecturer at Tallinn University, continued. "Being emotionally unrestrained is natural to sport in a certain sense, but of course not in children's sports. With children, these things ought to be very different. This problem first arose in the 1990s with the broader commercialization of sports. The mindset from the professional sports model gradually started to filter down and has reached the level of children's sport."

How can children involved in sport be better protected?

"The child's interests, health and well-being must come first. Children's sport is for the children, not the adults," said Noormets.

"Coaches and sports clubs have to be involved as third parties. It all starts with the sports club, they have to lay down the rules for parents and define what the rights and obligations of parents are, and if they are not respected, what happens. If it is a bigger sports club, there could be a coordinator especially to deal with children and parents."

"When you do the high jump, there are some rehearsed movements that your spine performs," Kaljulaid explained.

"In the same way, if you've learned from childhood to express your emotions in a form that doesn't hurt others, the you instinctively have it right. But if you try to learn the high jump as an adult – no matter what I do, I won't go over 2 meters 30cm, because I have no such muscle memory. There are exactly the same behavioral patterns in the brain that persist and are in place," said Kaljulaid.

Moe information about the campaign is available (in Estonian) here.

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