Resources
The Safe Sport Act: Protecting Young
Athletes from Abuse
In 2017 the “Protecting Young Victims From Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of
2017” was passed by Congress and signed into law in February 2018 by President Trump. The
law expands mandating youth reporting laws and also requires abuse awareness for youth
sports organizations. The Safe Sport Act was passed with the intent to educate and protect
today’s youth from sexual, emotion, and physical abuse. Key provisions of the act are:
Mandatory reporting — Individuals that see any suspicious type of child abuse (sexual or
physical) must report it to appropriate law enforcement within 24 hours.
Prevention training — Non-National Governing Bodies (Non-NGBs) must offer and provide
training to adults who are in contact with youth participants. Training needs to include
methods on how to recognize “grooming”. “Grooming” is where a predator develops over time
a relationship with a victim and over time gaining their trust.
Recognizing the Warnings Signs of Abuse
One-on-one contact
self-esteem
Dropping out of group activities
Coaches providing special attention to individual participants
Youth being afraid of adult coaches/staff
Prevention Methods
Limit one-on-one contact with adult/youth
Make sure that there are always two adults to one youth
Picking up/Taking home is discouraged due to the desire to limit one-on-one contact
Have backgrounds checks performed on all volunteers and paid staff
No sleepovers
An individual should be removed from coaching if a background check executed on them
shows that they have been involved in child abuse
An individual should be removed from coaching if they are accused of an incident until
the incident can be settled
Protecting Athletes: The Essential Role of
the U.S. Center for SafeSport
Safe Sport is the nation’s first and only independent nonprofit dedicated to eliminating all
forms of abuse in sport—including bullying, harassment, hazing, physical abuse, emotional
abuse, and sexual misconduct. Safe Sport provides sport organizations with prevention
strategies, policies, and programs, and maintains a confidential reporting system for abuse
within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movements.
Every volunteer, parent, and adult in sports should familiarize themselves with Safe
Sport’s resources. Visit their Response and Resolution and Education and Outreach
pages to learn more.
Receive FREE online training through Safe Sport’s Athlete Safety program
Need to get a Background Check? Connect
with Chappell Insurance’s partner for
youth safety, JDP Services, at jdp.com/chappell. JDP background checks meet the
requirements of the Safe Sport Act.