Yesterday I attended the SafeSport seminar. SafeSport is an initiative adopted by the US Olympic Committee (USOC) who now require will all National Governing Bodies (NGB)'s - like US Figure Skating - to commit to. Put simply, SafeSport is a program intended to ensure that athletes and club members are able to participate in their sports without the fear of being the victim or target of any inappropriate or illegal behavior. It also echoes attempts to ensure athletes' injuries - in particular concussions - are recognized and dealt with appropriately so that an athlete doesn't feel pressured to return to the ice too quickly.
The requirements and elements of SafeSport are few while the benefits are great. Each club must have a SafeSport Compliance Chair, and for this year it will be me. The Chair's responsibilities lie in ensuring the program is rolled out, information is made broadly available to all club members, communication with the USOC and USFS is maintained, and procedures are upheld.
The most important step is to ensure club members and their parents understand what behaviors SafeSport intends to guard against. To do so, a link to an informative 15-minute video will be posted on the club website. Once posted we are required to have 3 members view the video but I will encourage everyone to take the time to view it.
In the coming week's you will see lots more information and education on SafeSport. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have an interest in being an advocate of this important program in our club!
Jacki
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