WHAT IS SAFESPORT TRAINING?

SafeSport training refers to the “Core SafeSport Training” created and offered by the U.S. Center for SafeSport consisting of three modules: (1) Sexual Misconduct Awareness Education, (2) Mandatory Reporting, and (3) Emotional & Physical Misconduct as well as the “Refresher” courses offered by the U.S. Center for SafeSport to all individuals who have already taken the Core SafeSport Training. SafeSport training also refers to the Center’s Training for Health Professionals.

IS MY ORGANIZATION REQUIRED TO OFFER AND PROVIDE TRAINING?

Public Law 115-126, the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017 (the “SafeSport Act”), requires applicable amateur sports organizations to offer and provide consistent training to adult members in regular contact with minor amateur athletes and, subject to parental consent, to members who are minors, regarding prevention and reporting of child abuse.

In addition, U.S. Soccer’s Athlete and Participant Safety Policy 212-3 requires each Organization Member that is required to comply with the SafeSport Act or otherwise is required to have a risk management program under Bylaw 212 to maintain, as part of that risk management program, an athlete and participant safety program that includes a policy requiring education and training designed to meet the Organization Member’s obligations under the SafeSport Act to (1) Organization Member employees and board members; (2) Adult Participants; and (3) Minor Athletes. 

The Core SafeSport Training meets U.S. Soccer’s requirement and is expressly designed to meet the SafeSport Act.  

MY ORGANIZATION IS REQUIRED TO OFFER AND PROVIDE TRAINING. ARE WE REQUIRED TO USE THE SAFESPORT CORE TRAINING?

Organization Members subject to USSF Policy 212-3 are required to provide the Center for SafeSport’s training. Organization Members may always offer training in addition to SafeSport Training.

The “SafeSport Trained Core” consists of three modules:

1. Sexual Misconduct Awareness Education,
2. Mandatory Reporting, and
3. Emotional & Physical Misconduct

Once a Participant has taken the SafeSport Trained Core, they will only need to take a SafeSport Refresher Course on an annual basis each of the next three years, which will be available in their SafeSport account when they login to take the training, and then the SafeSport Trained Core again in the fifth year.

Anyone who has NOT completed the SafeSport Trained Core requirement (which consists of Sexual Misconduct Awareness Education, Mandatory Reporting, and Emotional & Physical Misconduct) should complete those courses and NOT the Refresher. 

WHAT IS THE SAFESPORT “REFRESHER” TRAINING COURSE?

Anyone who HAS completed the SafeSport Trained Core requirement, should complete Refresher 1: Recognizing and Reporting Misconduct.  Participants can simply go to https://safesporttrained.org/#/public-dashboard and sign in — the Refresher course will be available to them on their “Learning Dashboard”.   

Anyone who has NOT completed the SafeSport Trained Core requirement (which consists of Sexual Misconduct Awareness Education, Mandatory Reporting, and Emotional & Physical Misconduct) should complete those courses and NOT the Refresher.   

NEW USERS VS. RETURNING USERS TO WWW.SAFESPORT.ORG

USSF has provided its members with a custom link to share with their participants/members, who then registered on safesport.org.  USSF members can continue to use that link for any new users.  If members who have already created an account in the system use the custom link again, they will receive an error message that their email address has already been used.  They should sign in instead of creating another account. 

Any participant who already has an account should simply go to https://safesporttrained.org/#/public-dashboard and sign in.  If they do not remember their password, they should click on the forgot password link and reset their password.  If users choose to create a new account instead of signing into their existing account, they may have to retake the SafeSport Trained Core requirement again (one 90-minute course) as opposed to the Refresher (less than 30 minutes). 

WHAT HAPPENS ONCE MEMBERS ARE SIGNED IN?

Once participants sign in to safesport.org, they will be able to find the appropriate course (or courses) they need to complete on their “Learning Dashboard”.  Participants who have not completed the SafeSport Trained Core requirement will NOT be eligible to take the Refresher, while Participants who have completed the Core SafeSport Training requirement will only have the option to complete the Refresher. 

I AM A USSF MEMBER OR MEMBER AFFILIATED-CLUB. HOW DO I TRACK WHICH OF MY COACHES HAVE MET THE SAFESPORT TRAINED REQUIREMENT?

USSF is working with the U.S. Center for SafeSport to provide access to appropriate Application Programming Interfaces to its members to support electronic tracking.  In the meantime, we encourage you to ask your Participants to email you their “SafeSport Trained” certificate, which they can download from their personalized Learning Dashboard at: https://safesporttrained.org/#/public-dashboard.  Importantly, you should only accept the final “SafeSport Trained” certificate, the SafeSport Training for Health Care Professionals, or the Refresher certificate and not a certificate from one of the three core modules.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD MY PARTICIPANTS TAKE THE TRAINING?

Pursuant to Policy 212-3, USSF requires training designed to meet the Organization Member’s obligations under the SafeSport Act to (1) Organization Member employees and board members; (2) Adult Participants; and (3) Minor Athletes.  Pursuant to USOC and U.S. Center for SafeSport Policy, and as contemplated by the SafeSport Act, Adult Participants are required to complete training concerning child abuse prevention.

 Organization Member policies must require Adult Participants to complete either 1) the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s SafeSport Trained Core:

Before regular contact with an amateur athlete who is a minor begins, or

Within the first 45 days of initial membership, or upon beginning a new role subjecting the participating adult to this policy; and

WHAT ABOUT MINOR ATHLETES AND THEIR PARENTS? IS TRAINING AVAILABLE FOR MY SOCCER PLAYERS?

The U.S. Center for SafeSport provides age-appropriate training for players and training for parents.  USSF’ Policy 212-3 requires Organization Members to offer this training to parents and Minor Athletes.