Safe Sports, USA Swimming and CCA
USA Swimming is committed to fostering a fun, healthy, and safe environment for all its members, and in 2010, it formally implemented a comprehensive Safe Sport program to respond to and prevent instances of abuse and misconduct within the sport of swimming. Since then USA Swimming Safe Sport has worked tirelessly to educate members, put policies in place, and empower LSCs and clubs to create the best possible environments for all members.
USA Swimming is committed to safeguarding all of its members with the welfare of its athlete members as top priority. Safe Sport is USA Swimming’s comprehensive abuse prevention program and provides tools for swim clubs to educate their members and intervene in risky situations
CCA fully endorses and supports USA Swimming’s Safe Sport and Safety programs by helping to provide these resources for our club members:
- Safe Sports: Safesports.org
- USA Swimming Safe Sports https://www.usaswimming.org/Home/safe-sport
- USA Swimming Code of Conduct: https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/safe-sportdocuments/safe-sport-basics/2018-code-of-conduct.pdf
CCA Team Policies
Below are CCA's team policies related to Safe Sports:
- Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy
- CCA Electronic Communication Policy
- CCA Team Travel Policy
- CCA Photography Policy
- CCA Policy Addressing Bullying
- CCA Locker Room Policy
Safe Sport Concern
To deal with a Safe Sport concern, contact USA Swimming at (719) 866-4578
Contact the U.S. Center for Safe Sport to make a report. Call 833-5US-SAFE (587-7233) or use the
online reporting form or find more information at http://www.uscenterforsafesport.org/
Team Safe Sport Contact Melissa Bentley - admin@ccaswim.com
Best Practice Guideline
The following Best Practice Guidelines are strongly recommended for all USA Swimming
members:
- Parents should be encouraged to appropriately support their children’s swimming experience.
- All swimming practices should be open to observation by parents.
- Coaches should not initiate contact with or accept supervisory responsibility for athletes outside club programs and activities.
- When only one athlete and one coach travel to a competition, at the competition the coachand athlete should attempt to establish a “buddy” club to associate with during the competitionand when away from the venue.
- Relationships of a peer-to-peer nature with any athletes should be avoided. For example,coaches should avoid sharing their own personal problems with athletes.
- Coaches and other non-athlete adult members should avoid horseplay and roughhousing withathletes.
- When a coach touches an athlete as part of instruction, the coach should do so in direct viewof others and inform the athlete of what he/she is doing prior to the initial contact. Touchingathletes should be minimized outside the boundaries of what is considered normal instruction.Appropriate interaction would include high fives, fist bumps, side-to-side hugs and handshakes.
- Coaches should avoid having athletes as their favorites. They should also avoid creating asituation that could be perceived as them having favorites.
- Gift-giving, providing special favors or showing favoritism to individual athletes is strongly discouraged.
Updated: June 23, 2019
Sample forms for use:
- Permission for a Licensed Massage Therapist or Other Certified Professional or Health Care Provider to Treat a Minor Athlete
- Permission for a Mental Health Care Professional or Health Care Provider to have One on One Interaction
- Permission for an Unrelated Adult Athlete to Share the Same Lodging with a Minor Athlete
- Permission for an Unrelated Applicable Adult to Provide Local Transportation to Minor Athlete
- Permission for an Unrelated Applicable Adult to Travel to Competition with Minor Athlete