USA Swimming Safe Sport Club Recognition Program

Helpful Hints to Clubs

Created by Wisconsin Swimming Safe Sport Chair, Dr. Monna Arvinen-Barrow (2023)

Purpose and Disclaimers

The purpose

• To provide Wisconsin Swimming Clubs some helpful hints for completing the USA Swimming Safe Sport Club Recognition Program Application.

Disclaimers

• The information presented is not exhaustive and is based on the author’s interpretation of the Safe Sport material presented by USA Swimming.
• Following the advice DOES NOT guarantee successful application outcome, as the author is not involved in application review process.

1. Getting Started: Watch the USA Swimming Step-by-Step Video on How to Complete the Safe Application.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PixUzxmFbTI

2. Email Wisconsin Swimming Safe Sport chair of your plans to get started.

• Your club does not have to go through this process alone! Wisconsin Swimming Safe Sport Chair is here to help you.
• Please email monna@wisconsinswimming.org – simply to inform of your intentions or to ask for help!

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3. Assign a Designated Person(s) to Lead the Safe Sport Club Recognition Application

3. Create a Timeline for Safe Sport Club Recognition Application Completion (an example below)

Application Components

• Business/Organization Success Planning
• Swim parent/Volunteer Development
• Coach Development/Education
• Athlete/Development/Performance

Mission and Vision

• Each Safe Sport Recognized Club must have a mission and vision statements that are visible on the club website, accessible without login.
• Completing the Safe Sport Club Recognition Application might be a good time to review club’s existing mission and vision statements to ensure they adequately reflect the club’s what, how, and why.
• There are many ways to write these statements, but here is a simple way to distinguish the two:
• https://www.masterclass.com/articles/vision-vs-mission

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Safe Sport Tab on Club Website

• Each Safe Sport Recognized Club must have a separate SAFE SPORT Tab on their website, accessible without login.
• The SAFE SPORT Tab needs to include all relevant Safe Sport hyperlinks, policies, and document downloads, modified to your club.
• There are different ways to organize this Tab, as one size does not fit all clubs.
• The key for success is to ensure your website is self explanatory, easy to navigate, user friendly, and reflective of your club.

Safe Sport Tab Content

• In general, Safe Sport Content falls under following categories:
• General information on what is Safe Sport and MAAPP
• Code of Conduct, Policy, and Best Practice Guidelines
• Permission Forms
• Reporting a Concern
• Safe Sport Training (including details on how to access training)

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• Target audiences for the content include:
• Swim parents and volunteers
• Coaches
• Athletes

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Examples of Existing Safe Sport Tabs in Wisconsin

• To get some ideas on how to organize your Safe Sport Tab and what to include, check out the following for inspiration.
• Please note you SHOULD NOT COPY OTHER CLUB’S PAGES, BUT RATHER BUILD YOUR OWN.
• Wisconsin Swimming Safe Sport Page for a general overview of what is Safe Sport, and useful links
• https://www.teamunify.com/team/czwilsc/page/wsi-programs/safe-sport-wi
• Other Wisconsin Swimming Clubs that are Safe Sport Recognized
• https://www.teamunify.com/team/wsesc/page/safe-sport
• https://www.teamunify.com/team/wsswat/page/swat-safe-sport
• https://www.teamunify.com/team/czwilsc/page/wsi-programs/safe-sport-wi

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Mandatory Safe Sport Training

• Three of the Application Components focus on swim parents, volunteers, coaches and athlete training in Safe Sport.
• Beyond the mandatory Safe Sport training completed by coaches, officials, adult athletes (18+), designated volunteers, and club board members, each club is required to have a certain number of parents and young (12-17) athletes Safe Sport trained.
• The number (10%) depends on the size of the club, and this information is available on the Application (SWIMS).

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Mandatory Safe Sport Training

• You must have at least 10% of your parents/athletes complete the Safe Sport Training to earn the minimum required point.
• To gain credit, the person taking the course must be logged into their USA Swimming account.
• Alternatively, clubs have the option to give a presentation by playing the courses for large groups of athletes/parents.
• Clubs must keep a list of people that attended the meeting and submit that list of names to USA Swimming at ssrp@usaswimming.org (Please be sure to identify people who participated).
• Another option is for Parents/Athletes to attend a zoom training session. For zoom trainings attendance is taken and points are given on the backend of the system. (Clubs do not receive a roster for zoom attendance).

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Mandatory Safe Sport Training Links

• You can find details of the upcoming training sessions for parents, athletes and coaches here:
• https://www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport/ssrp-training-resources
• The page also has useful links for email templates etc.

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• Please note that all adult athletes (18+) will also need to complete the Athlete Protection Training:
• https://www.usaswimming.org/resource-center/athlete-protection-training

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4. Identify the best way to complete mandatory Safe Sport Training

• When it comes to setting up training, be creative!
• There is nothing stopping you to host a huge pizza party – have everyone log into their own USA Swimming accounts for the ZOOM meeting, mute it, and play it on the big screen.
• You can also make training a compulsory part of registration process for athletes and parents
• Please note parents need to have their OWN USA Swimming non-athlete account – they cannot complete the training via their athlete accounts.

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6. Review and submit your Safe Sport Recognition Application.

Any questions?

• Contact Wisconsin Swimming Safe Sport Chair

monna@wisconsinswimming.org

• Happy to help with any questions, review and provide feedback on any content created on your website!

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• Contact USA Swimming Safe Sport Team

SSRP@usaswimming.org

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