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SafeSport's Education and Training Enhances Participant Safety

By Scott Gray, SafeSport Coordinator, 12/07/12, 1:30PM CST

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USAH and Minnesota Hockey’s goal in driving the SafeSport Program is to form a comprehensive mechanism to minimize and ideally eliminate risks of abuse to all of our participants due to misconduct. A critical component in this strategy is the program’s requirements for education and awareness training. By providing materials that will provide a basic understanding of abusers and the strategies they use to seduce their victims, we will be in a far more proactive stance to potentially identify risks and prevent abuses from occurring. For the 2013-14 Season, SafeSport requires training for participants who:

  • have direct contact with or are supervisors of minor participants
  • are responsible for enforcing child abuse and misconduct policies
  • are in managerial or supervisory roles of a USA Hockey Member Program
  • are new and current employees/volunteers of a USA Hockey Member Program

The extent and content of the required training may vary for different types of employees. Notwithstanding that these requirements might be modified from time to time as USAH deems appropriate, the following is currently required:

  1. Local Program Administrators, which include leaders, administrators, board members and anyone else responsible for administering and supervising USAH programs at the local level will be required to insure that at least one representative complete the entire SafeSport Training program, and strongly encourage that all of their officers, managers and supervisors do so.
  2. Other Volunteers/Employees who have routine contact with minor participants including team managers, locker room monitors, chaperones and drivers shall complete entire training program.
  3. Coaches and Officials will be required to view a video focusing on prohibited conduct that will also be made of the curriculum of every level 1 coaching clinic and officiating seminar. Links to the complete video training programs will also be sent periodically to all coaches and officials who are strongly encouraged to view same.
  4. Parents/Players Parent education is a key in program safety. Links to all SafeSport Training materials will be provided to parents either through player registration confirmation and periodic e-mails, and we strongly encourage all parent to view these materials.

USAH SafeSport also requires consistency of relevant standards of training and testing in youth sports that may be statutorily mandated from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

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