In this Newsletter

Volume 2
September 2013

  1. Welcome
  2. Safe Sport Updates
  3. Training & Education
  4. Remind Your Clubs
  5. Safe Sport Literature 


Mark Your Calendar


9.26.2013 :: 1-2 p.m. ET
Best Practice in Screening Webinar

9.27.2013 :: 1-2 p.m. ET
Criminal Background Checks Webinar

10.16.2013 :: 12-1 p.m. ET
Peer-to-Peer Abuse and Safety Planning Webinar


13 Helpful Links

  1. USA Swimming Safe Sport
  2. USA Swimming Education
  3. USOC Safe Sport
  4. Stop It Now! Child Sexual Abuse Prevent
  5. National Children's Advocacy Center
  6. Stop bullying
  7. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
  8. Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network
  9. Child Welfare League of America
  10. Safe 4 Athletes
  11. radKIDS
  12. National Children's Advocacy Center Lookup
  13. Safe Horizon


USA Swimming Safe Sport Contacts


Susan Woessner,
Director of Safe Sport
719.866.3589
swoessner@usaswimming.org

Elizabeth Hoendervoogt,
Safe Sport Coordinator
719.866.3542
ehoendervoogt@usaswimming.org





Sponsored by:

Team Unify


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.

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.

The material in this e-mail is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement with respect to any company or product. One of the objectives of the USA Swimming Club Development News is to make coaches aware of potential resources available.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: USA Swimming reminds all member organizations and coaches to that you are responsible for complying with applicable copyright laws regarding publication and distribution of printed materials, including internet content. If you have any concerns about whether material you seek to reprint is covered by copyright law, we encourage you to contact the author and obtain permission or otherwise seek appropriate counsel regarding use of the materials.

© 2011 USA Swimming