Safe Sport Newsletter - August 2022

Reporting can be difficult, but it is vital to providing a safe and healthy environment for our athletes. Pursuant to federal law, all adults authorized to interact with minor or amateur athletes, who learn of facts that give reason to suspect that a child had suffered an incident of abuse, including sexual abuse, must make a report of the suspected abuse to law enforcement and/or your state's designated agency within 24 hours. 

Read below to learn more about physical and emotional misconduct and the mandatory reporting requirements for them. 

To make a report, please click here. For any questions or clarification on what constitutes as abuse, please reach out to safesport@usaswimming.org. 

The U.S. Center for SafeSport's Code states physical misconduct can include contact violations, non-contact violations, criminal conduct and exclusion..

Some examples of physical misconduct are:

• Not giving appropriate water breaks during swim practice

• Forcing athletes to train or compete when they are injured

• Hitting or other forms of aggressive physical touch

• Binding, strapping or using other forms of physical restraint 

 

The U.S. Center for SafeSport's Code states emotional misconduct can include verbal acts, physical acts, acts that deny attention or support, criminal conduct and/or stalking.

Emotional misconduct is determined by the objective behavior/s and not simply by if harm was intended or results from behavior. 

Some examples of emotional misconduct are:

• Repeated or excessive verbal assault without motivational purpose.

• Repeated or severe physically aggressive behavior such as throwing sports equipment and water bottles. 

• Ignoring or isolating a person for an extended period of time. 

• Stalking, including cyber-stalking. 

USA Swimming's work to help athletes extends beyond free Safe Sport educational opportunities, valuable resources and response efforts for members.

Learn more about USA Swimming's SwimAssist program is and who qualifies. 

Reach out to your USA Swimming Zone Safe Sport Chair to check in! Take the time to establish a relationship with your Zone Chair and see if they have any recommendations for you. 

Remember, each Zone Chair can assist in the training of and dissemination of information to LSC Safe Sport Chairs/Coordinators. It is important to know who your Zone Chair is as they will help guide, support and share information with you throughout the year. 

See below for our current USA Swimming Zone Safe Sport Chairs and their email addresses.

Southern Zone | Mike O'Shaughnessy | oshaughmdc@gmail.com
 

The Safe Sport for Parents page on USA Swimming's website can be a valuable asset for swim parents. Feel free to explore the page and share to your membership.

Safe Sport is committed to creating a healthy environment that is free from abuse for all members. As we continue with virtual learning opportunities throughout 2022, we will be increasing security measures to keep parents, athletes and coaches safe during trainings. All trainings will require individuals to register ahead of time.

In addition, we have enhanced our Safe Sport Trainings' security measures and will have the following in place:

• Meetings will be locked

• Athlete attendees will only have access to chat with hosts 

• Multiple USA Swimming Safe Sport staff will be on all trainings and will monitor participant video share

• Frequent check-ins with attendees

• Screen share and annotation capabilities will be disabled

• Meetings will require registration and athlete training registrations will be cross-checked with USA Swimming member records

• USA Swimming has enabled the At-Risk Meeting Notifier tool from Zoom. This tool searches the public internet for Zoom meeting information and checks the meeting's security settings. Zoom notifies USA Swimming if a meeting appears to be at high risk for being disrupted. This tool is enabled for all USA Swimming hosted Zoom meetings. 

Safe Sport trainings are held monthly, please view upcoming training dates below: 

Parent Training:

• Wednesday, September 7 at 8 p.m. ET (REGISTER HERE)

Athlete Training (ages 12-18):

• Thursday, September 8 at 8 p.m. ET (REGISTER HERE)

Coach Training:

• Friday, September 9 at 3 p.m. ET (REGISTER HERE) 

If you cannot attend these trainings, athletes and parents can independently complete trainings using the USA Swimming LEARN platform. Click the link below for more info on Safe Sport trainings.

Safe Sport Club Recognition Tips Sheet
Has your club achieved Safe Sport Club Recognition? Use our Tips Sheet to help spread the word. 

Coaching Boys Into Men and Athletes As Leaders Cards
These free, digital cards are available for clubs on USA Swimming's Safe Sport Team Talk page. 

Parent Resource Guide
Although these were sent to every USA Swimming member household, save the digital copy for future reference!

Safe Sport Activity Books
You can either purchase books on Match-Up or download PDF versions for 5-11 year olds and 12-18 year olds.