Introduction. The global movement toward safe sport has focused primarily on preventing abuse, harassment, and exploitation through compliance-based frameworks rooted in Western legal and institutional traditions. While essential, these approaches often neglect the cultural realities of contexts such as the Philippines, where athletes navigate hierarchical coaching practices, gender norms, familial obligations, and colonial legacies. Within such environments, discipline is valorized, silence is expected, and resilience is conflated with enduring hardship, conditions that undermine athlete well-being and delay help-seeking.


Purpose. This presentation advances a culturally grounded reconceptualization of safe sport in the Philippines. It emphasises psychological safety and an ethics of care as essential to athlete well-being, thereby contributing to SDG 3 (good health and well-being), SDG 5 (gender equality), and SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions).


Method. Drawing from over two decades of applied sport psychology work, the analysis is informed by case-based insights and lived experiences of Filipino athletes. This approach highlights how local cultural dynamics shape both risks and opportunities in safeguarding, while also showcasing emerging athlete-centered interventions that resist harmful norms.


Results. Findings indicate that Filipino athletes highly value relational trust, emotional safety, and being recognized as whole persons rather than mere performers. Emerging practices—including athlete-centered consultations, reflective coaching, peer-led support circles, and values-based team-building—demonstrate how psychological safety can be cultivated.


Conclusions. Safe sport must move beyond compliance with external rules to embrace care-driven, culturally responsive practices. Psychological safety and ethics of care are not add-ons to performance programs but transformative acts that redefine what it means for athletes to be safe enough to thrive. By grounding safe sport in local contexts, this work calls practitioners and policymakers to shift from harm prevention to care promotion—from rules-based compliance to relationship-based safety, aligning with global goals for well-being, gender equity, and just institutions.