KEVIN PAYNE ON KEEPING KIDS SAFE IN SOCCER

All of US Club’s 75,000 staff members must take the SafetSport course and be in compliance with the new laws on reporting suspected abuse.

All athletes deserve to participate in sports free from bullying, hazing, sexual misconduct or any form of emotional or physical abuse.

Interview on Keeping Kids Safe in Soccer with US Club’s CEO Kevin Payne

Related Youth Soccer News: KEEPING KIDS SAFE IN YOUTH SOCCER – US Club’s CEO Kevin Payne letter

Youth Soccer News: The question of player safety and who is assuming responsibility for that safety still needs clarity but everyone agrees that when parents drop their kids off at soccer practice, we want the players to be safe.

According to SafeSport, whose team of subject matter experts are developing best practices to champion respect and end abuse in sports,

Education and awareness are the most critical components to creating safe and respectful sporting environments, free of abuse and harassment.

U.S. Center for SafeSport’s mission is to make athlete well-being the centerpiece of our nation’s sports culture.

If you are a parent looking for resources on keeping your athlete safe, you can access the SafeSport’s Parent Training at no cost. The FREE online training for parents is a great resource for parents and so is the comprehensive 90 minutes online training course for coaches, team volunteers, official or team staff members, athletic trainers, team doctors, etc.

While some organizations still have yet to announce an official requirement for background checks, beginning July 1, 2018, US Club Soccer is adding SafeSport online training to the stringent requirements for Player Health and Safety Initiatives already in place for all US Club Soccer-registered coaches and staff members.

Yesterday, a Letter from CEO Kevin Payne was sent out informing every one of the new required SafeSport online training.

Here is SoccerToday’s Diane Scavuzzo interview with Kevin Payne how the importance of keeping players safe and how US Club is creating a safer environment by educating coaches, administrators, registrars and volunteers on what to look for.

Diane Scavuzzo: Can you tell me what has motivated U.S. Club to launch this comprehensive program and why you feel it’s so important?

Kevin Payne: There are two reasons. One is obviously, we want everybody that comes in contact with kids in our environment to be familiar with the dangers that they should be on the lookout for. And, they also need to be familiar with their responsibilities. 

We think that the SafeSport online courses provide guidance in both areas. 

They help staff members be on the lookout for potential inappropriate relationships between adults and children, and they also actually include training on recognizing things like bullying and harassment and possible signs of physical abuse. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of ways in which kids’ welfare is endangered by those around them. 

The other reason that’s really critically important is that we want out coaches and staff to understand what their responsibilities are under this new federal law. This is no joke. And I think the vast majority of people have no idea what is coming down the road.

Diane Scavuzzo: What is coming down the road with the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and SafeSport Authorization Act of 2017?

Kevin Payne: There are very substantial reporting obligations in this new law. And they’re very specific. 

This morning, I was on the phone with a friend who’s a very smart, sophisticated guy who’s been running a club for a long time, and I asked him if he knew about SafeSport. And he said, “No, not really.”

I said, “Well let me ask you a question, what would you do if a parent came to you with credible information that one of your coaches might be having an inappropriate relationship with one of their players?”

And he said, “Well, we would, initially, we would suspend the coach. We would try to meet with the parent and the player to ask them what was going on. And then we would decide from there.”

I replied, “Well, when would you do this?”

And he said, “Well, as quickly as possible.”

And I said, “Well, you’re in violation of federal law.”

And he said, “What do you mean?”

The federal law doesn’t require you to moderate or mediate any of these issues. It doesn’t require you to investigate anything. It does require you to inform local law enforcement within 24 hours. It requires you to further inform U.S. Soccer as the national governing body and the SafeSport center as well.

And, if you don’t do those things, you are, you are potentially guilty of a misdemeanor. Or even potentially a felony violation of the law, and you could face up to a year in jail.

I would say probably 95% of the people in youth soccer, probably in youth sports in general, have no idea of all the requirements of this new law. 

So rather than just publicize this and hope that people are going to educate themselves, we just thought — and, our board was unanimous on this — we thought that it was critically important that we require it. We have almost 75,000 staff members who register with us. Now, in addition to having the most stringent background checks in youth soccer, they are now going to have the Sideline Sports course to help them. 

Diane Scavuzzo: How much is the cost of the course?

Kevin Payne: It’s free.

Diane Scavuzzo: Is US Club paying for the course?

Kevin Payne: No, U.S. Soccer worked a deal out with the SafeSport center which gets federal funding. SafeSport is the official clearinghouse for this information, and also it’s the official collection point for reports of issues. 

Every member of U.S. Soccer is entitled to take advantage of the course for free. 

U.S. Soccer’s done a great job of staying on top of these issues. Greg Fike, Senior Counsel  – United States Soccer Federation, has been involved in the process, and actually met with the people that were drafting the law. 

This law is aimed at the kind of veil of silence that has surrounded these issues … And, let’s face it, this was a direct response to Larry Nassar and a somewhat indirect response to Jerry Sandusky and some of the other similar kinds of issues that have occurred.

I think that there’s still a significant number of youth soccer organizations that are, in my view, pretty irresponsible in their approach to background checks. You know, there’s a lot of organizations that simply say to their members ‘you have to have background checks’ but that’s the extent of it. And there are several background checks which are pretty useless.

Diane Scavuzzo: What type of background checks do you recommend? National ones or regional/local ones? 

Kevin Payne: National background checks are useless. There’s only a limited number of offenses that are reported to the national databases. 

For instance, our background checks go back seven years and up to the last seven counties where a person lived. And that’s really where things turn up. So if a coach had a DUI conviction or domestic abuse conviction, it is not usually going to make it to a national list. 

Diane Scavuzzo: What about the theory that if someone who’s committed an offense in Maryland moves to California, a local background check would not pick up the offense? 

Kevin Payne: Well, no. National background checks do not check the database in every state in the country. If you had a DUI in Maryland and a DUI in California, neither one is going to make it to a national database.

You know, there’s the levels of background check that are very cursory but in our case, we pay for a high-level background check which checks the last seven addresses that a person has had and checks the county records for all those locations.

Diane Scavuzzo: Who has to have a background check in your organization?

Kevin Payne: Everybody that comes into contact with children. 

Diane Scavuzzo: Do you think that this awareness and concern for background checks has been brought about because of the unfortunate incidences that have occurred? Or do you think that there’s just a general deeper awareness of this issue now?

Kevin Payne: Unfortunately it’s probably more the former. I don’t think anybody willfully says we don’t want to create a safe environment, but it does become more cumbersome and it is more expensive to conduct the higher quality background checks. 

And, I think that some organizations have said we want to have a marketplace advantage by charging less for our coaches to register.

Diane Scavuzzo: I’ve been looking at the ability to finally have everyone realize that coaching is a profession. And that there are certain requirements for this to be a respected profession ….

Kevin Payne: Yes, obviously we feel very strongly that coaching is a profession. I think that actually is part of kind of the DNA of U.S. Club Soccer. 

It’s sort of implicit within our focus on club development — we expect clubs to support the further development of their coaches.

Coaching is a profession and that coaches have an obligation to continue to learn and to improve themselves throughout their careers. And clubs have an obligation to support them in that.

That’s part of the reason that we feel so strongly about the value of coach training and education outside the licensing pathway. So that’s why we committed so much effort to our LaLiga courses, for instance.