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USA Swimming Safe Sport Newsletter
The purpose of this newsletter is to provide a foundation that allows for direct on-going communication with each
of you. Information contained within will cover the most current Safe Sport related information. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions,
please e-mail us at athleteprotection@usaswimming.org. |
Safe Sport Updates
Please help us recognize Safe Sport
Committee member Ron Van Pool for being honored with the USA Swimming Award at the United States Aquatic Sports Convention in Anaheim, Calif., this
month. Ron has been involved with USA Swimming for approximately three decades and has served in many capacities, including an official, a
representative to the United States Olympic Committee and National Governing Body Council, and a member of the USSIC Board of Directors. He also
served as president of USA Swimming from 2002-2006. Ron is more than deserving of this award which is considered the highest honor in our sport.
We also
would like to thank Joshua Williamson, Utah Safe Sport Chair. Joshua got involved in swimming at the early age of 7. His coaches
helped instill in him a love for the sport, while swimming for North Coast Aquatics. While getting a chance to coach between college semesters Joshua
decided to change his career choice from corporate law to education; this change would provide him more opportunities to coach. Joshua has enjoyed
being the Utah Safe Sport Chair as he believes that the Safe Sport initiative plays an important role that creates a safe and comfortable environment
on and off the pool deck for athletes, coaches, parents and volunteers. Joshua says that being a part of the Safe Sport initiative has been an
adventure; one that has allowed him to see the support and dedication that all members have for one another. Joshua co-facilitated two trainings at
Convention: the Train-the-Trainer session and a Safe Sport session with the athlete representatives. Using skills from his day job of teaching, Joshua
connected with the athletes and helped make the training one of the most enjoyed by the athletes.
New legislation was adopted by the
House of Delegates at Convention. This legislation expands the USA Swimming Code of Conduct, specifically prohibiting peer-to-peer sexual abuse and
romantic relationships between an adult coach and an adult athlete where there is an imbalance of power. Please click here to see these amendments and all others passed
by the House of Delegates. |
Training and Education The USA Swimming Safe Sport
Program is proud to offer free athlete protection training to all member athletes. We have recently released an Athlete Facilitator Training Manual to assist in teaching the training to your club or LSC. The
manual is available here. For help facilitating
the training, please contact athleteprotection@usaswimming.org.
To help promote the training please use this flyer.
There have been approximately
589 users who have completed the training for athletes. Of those users only 423 are unique users. This means that only 0.001
percent of USA Swimming’s athletes have seen the free abuse prevention training developed just for them. Therefore, it is highly encouraged that
more awareness be made to this training so more athletes take advantage of viewing it.
The same awareness should also be brought to the parent training. There have been 3,722 users and of those 2,735
are unique users. Parents can access the free parenting abuse prevention training
here.
We have received feedback from LSC Safe Sport Chairs that it would be helpful to have a better understanding of
what a Safe Sport tab should include for websites. We recommend that LSC websites include the following Safe Sport materials:
Please take some time to look at the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Make the Commitment: Stop Abuse in Sport campaign. This is the USOC’s 12
month Safe Sport campaign which runs from April 2013 through April 2014. This campaign offers free monthly newsletters, supporting resources and
webinars to help stop child sexual abuse. Find information about the campaign here.
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Remind Your Clubs Renewals for the Athlete Protection Training are now available. All APT expiration dates at any time in 2013
have been extended to Dec. 31, 2013. The APT will now be required annually and expire on Dec. 31 of each year. Non-athlete members of USA
Swimming are required to complete the mandatory education. Please initiate the training by clicking here.
If you are interested in bringing a speaker to your HOD or Swimposium to address Safe Sport issues, please
contact athleteprotection@usaswimming.org |
Safe Sport Literature
Teaching Tolerance is a magazine that provides inspiration and
support through educational materials. Its most recent issue addresses bullying and how it can be changed because it is a behavior. You can access the
full PDF version here. Additionally, you can
access all of the Teaching Tolerance articles here. |
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