USA Swimming is taking further steps to bolster its athlete protection measures in light of complaints against abusive coaches, a few of whom were successfully prosecuted. The measures include a requirement for "all USA Swimming member Clubs to complete a series of pre-employment screening actions prior to hiring".
The federation statement reads as follows:
At a meeting today in Newark, N.J., the USA Swimming Board of Directors voted to approve a number of measures to expand and strengthen USA Swimming’s Athlete Protection programming. Present at the meeting were the USA Swimming Board, select staff and independent experts from the Child Welfare League of America.
The Board voted to approve actions and put forth proposed legislation aimed at improving and expanding USA Swimming’s athlete protection efforts. The legislation put forth for the September House of Delegates meeting would:
- Approve the newly-drafted “Athlete Protection Policies” and add these policies to the USA Swimming Code of Conduct.
- Require that adults who serve a local club in roles that provide direct interaction with athletes become members of USA Swimming;
- Expand mandatory background checks to include all non-athlete members of USA Swimming;
- Require all USA Swimming member Clubs to complete a series of pre-employment screening actions prior to hiring;
Because the above bullet points require changes to USA Swimming rules, they must go to the USA Swimming House of Delegates for formal vote at the annual U.S. Aquatic Sports Convention in September.
In addition to the legislation items above, the Board formally adopted “Best Practice Guidelines for Coach Behavior.” These guidelines do not require a vote of the House of Delegates, and will be added to USA Swimming’s policy manual on September 19, 2010. These guidelines will work in tandem with the new Athlete Protection Policies. Both documents can be found here.
The Board also approved a proposed policy that USA Swimming report any accusation of sexual misconduct involving a minor to law enforcement. Also, USA Swimming will, after offering a due process hearing, add individuals who are no longer members, but who are found to have committed misconduct or who have refused a hearing, to its suspended-for-life-list.
Lastly, following a presentation by the CWLA, the Board gave direction to USA Swimming to continue to work with the child welfare group to develop educational resources for coaches, officials, athletes, clubs and parents. This programming is expected to be complete by early 2011.
The above actions taken at today’s meeting were communicated to USA Swimming’s membership in a letter. The full text of the letter, including more detail on the above measures, is available here.
