USA Swimming is to invite non-members who have been accused of misconduct to appear before a hearing to account for themselves - and those who refuse to appear will be placed on the list of those "suspended for life".
The move came to light in further clarification from the federation in light of decisions taken by its board this week and subsequent media coverage.
To avoid misunderstanding the federation issued the following statement to the media:
USA Swimming only has jurisdiction over its members. However, because we are committed to doing whatever we can to keep accused predators from being members of our organization, we have embraced the practice of “flagging” records of former members when we become aware of complaints against them (whether the complaint is about something that allegedly happened before, during or long after their membership in our organization).
This gives us a tool for identifying these individuals, should they attempt to become members of our organization in the future. Should they try, their computerized member record would immediately indicate that they would be ineligible for membership until they had a full hearing to find out if they had engaged in misconduct that would make them ineligible for membership.
Since the highest penalty available to a youth sports organization is revoking membership, “Flagging” their membership record used to be the only course of action available to USA Swimming. (Obviously, you can’t revoke membership of someone who isn’t a member).
However, now that we’ve published our suspended for life list - (an action taken by only one other youth organization - USA Gymnastics) - we have a course of disciplinary action against non-members. For this reason, at yesterday’s Board meeting USA Swimming committed to contacting these former-members with complaints against them, and offering a hearing to determine if they should be added to our “suspended for life list.” Those that decline the hearing will automatically be added to the list. Those who accept the offer will go through our investigation and review process to determine if they should be added to the “Suspended for life” list.
I am not aware of any other youth organization that does this“ but USA Swimming is committed to doing what’s right for our athletes, and doing everything we can in order to provide the safest possible environment.
I hope that answers your question. I’ve also included our release from yesterday’s Board actions on the topic of Athlete Protection.
