COLORADO SPRINGS– USA Swimming’s Safe Sport has launched a new online course to help parents and coaches identify and address bullying behaviors and further educate teams on ways to eliminate abuse. The Safe Sport program was founded in 2010 to help teams foster a fun, healthy, and safe environment for all members.
Bullying behaviors can, unfortunately, be alarmingly normal in youth sports settings.
“We have learned that education is arguably the most effective tool in athlete protection, including in bullying prevention,” said Susan Woessner, USA Swimming Director of Safe Sport. “We are committed to fostering a fun, healthy, and safe environment for all of our members. Part of the education process is to help our 400,000 members identify potential bullying, report questionable behavior and, most importantly, prevent it from happening in the first place.”
The online program is free for USA Swimming non-athlete members. It can be accessed here.
Lessons include:
· How to define bullying
· Why bullying is a problem
· What the different types of bullying are
· How bullying happens
· How to prevent an athlete from being bullied
· How to manage conflict between the individuals involved
“USA Swimming’s first priority is to protect our members. This is a partnership between our national office, clubs, coaches, parents and the athletes,” said USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus. “Safe Sport has demonstrated an organization-wide commitment to setting the standard for athlete protection. This anti-bullying course continues to further that commitment by providing valuable tools to reduce the risk of abusive situations.”
The success of USA Swimming’s Safe Sport program revolves around six core areas, which are expanded upon online.
USA Swimming has partnered with Praesidium, a leading provider in the field of child protection, to produce and distribute comprehensive athlete protection education programming. USA Swimming requires mandatory athlete education training programs for coaches and all non-athlete members.
Rhonda