The U.S. Center for SafeSport has released five training modules focused on Youth Athlete Training on athletesafety.org. The modules are age-based: Preschool, Grades K-2, Grades 3-5, Middle School and High School, and are anywhere from 10-20 minutes in length. A parent/guardian must first create an account in order to give consent for their child to access the training as well as select the appropriate module for their child’s age.
As provided in USSF Policy 212-3, U.S. Soccer members who are applicable amateur sports organizations under the SafeSport Act are required to offer training to your minor participants. While you are not required to use the training from the Center for SafeSport, communicating and offering this training meets your obligations under Policy 212-3. Please note your organization is not required to track which individual youth athletes take this training. Rather, your obligation is to ensure you have documented evidence that you have offered this free training to all youth (and their parents) in your programs. Your obligation to track training for adult participants (coaches, administrators, etc.) remains unchanged.
NCYSA encourages all of our associations and affiliates to use these USSF modules for their minor aged volunteers working with younger players and/or the TOPSoccer program instead of the Ministry Safe/Abuse Prevention Systems training to fulfill the requirement of Abuse Prevention Training. The Ministry Safe program was designed for adult training only and is not appropriate for minors unless the minor is supervised by a parent or guardian for the duration of the training and testing.
As a reminder, all minor aged volunteers must have a KidSafe pass on them when they are working with younger players and/or the TOPSoccer program. We will be mailing each association their applicable 2019-20 KidSafe passes by September 15, 2019. If you need your 2019-20 KidSafe passes sooner than that, you can request your FREE 2019-20 KidSafe passes by emailing a spreadsheet to me that includes the volunteers' full legal name and your association's name. KidSafe passes can only be printed for those minors that have completed a 2019-20 Risk Management application. (A background check is not ordered for anyone under the age of 18 years old).