Month: June 2018

Have you taken your SafeSport course, yet?

The upcoming 2018-19 Alpine ski race season is NOT the season to wait until the last minute to renew your coach, official or club volunteer license.

Folks who fall into those categories should have been notified by U.S. Ski and Snowboard already about the new Safe Sport requirements and course that coaches, officials and club volunteers must complete as part of their membership renewal. If you missed that email, here is your chance to recover.

Go here to visit the U.S. Ski and Snowboard SafeSport pages

One of the drivers behind the changes is the U.S. Congressional law called ‘Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017’.
Here are two key points on this legislation.

  1. Failure to report suspected child sexual abuse to police is a violation of federal criminal law.
  2. Federal law now requires adults who have frequent contact with, or are in positions of authority over athletes, must receive consistent education on prevention and reporting of all allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying, hazing and abuse of all forms.

Q: Who is impacted by this legislation?
A: All U.S. Ski & Snowboard member clubs, coaches, officials and club volunteer members

Q: What changes are taking place that may impact your membership?
A: Below is a list of changes that have been implemented for the 2018-19 membership season and beyond.

SafeSport Training
SafeSport Training will now be required every two years with a refresher in between. If you’ve completed SafeSport training within the past season through another organization, you may submit your certificate to member services by email to membership@ussa.org.

If you no longer have the email with instructions and code for taking the SafeSport course, contact membership@ussa.org. You must take this course to renew your membership.

Members are reporting that the course takes approximately 60-90 minutes to complete. However, you may complete as much of the course at one time as you’d like and log back in to pick up where you left off. Once you renew your U.S. Ski & Snowboard membership, member services will be able to see that you’ve completed the training.

Background Screening
Criminal background screening will now be required every two years. The new minimum age requirement for all U.S. Ski & Snowboard coaches, official and club volunteer members is now 18 years of age. This requirement has been established because only those 18 or over may be legally background screened.

Membership Cards
As a reminder, membership cards for those with certifications will be mailed beginning mid-December to include updates from the fall and early winter clinics.

Membership cards for coaches, officials and club volunteer members without certifications will be mailed when all of the above requirements have been met. Please allow approximately 2-3 weeks for your card to arrive.