As part of the recent National Youth Sports Week celebration hosted by the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS), leaders from multiple youth organizations participated in an online discussion about the future of youth athlete safety and how all stakeholders – program leaders, coaches, parents, and volunteers - can help to make a difference.
Ann Carpenetti, Vice President for National Teams, Safety, and High Performance at USA Lacrosse, was among the experts in the roundtable discussion.
“We work diligently to make sure that all members of the community are invested in providing a lacrosse playing environment that is free from physical and sexual abuse, harassment, and bullying,” said Carpenetti, who outlined USA Lacrosse’s stringent background screening policies and procedures. “As an organization, USA Lacrosse is very intentional in dedicating resources to this very important cause.”
Carpenetti encouraged parents to carefully assess the lacrosse programs, camps, and clubs that their children will be involved with to ensure that coaches are USA Lacrosse certified, meaning they have passed mandatory background screening and that the program is committed to athlete protection.
“Parents are a critical part of the equation,” Carpenetti said. “We have to do our homework before we select a program.”
Carpenetti outlined some of the checkpoints that parents should consider. These included:
● Does the program outline its athlete development philosophy, and do they post their governance structure online?
● If there is an issue, will you know who to go to?
● Is the program aligned with the best practices and rules of its national governing body?
● Does the program have coaching education and background check requirements for its coaches?
“Any organization that is not transparent in these areas would be a red flag to me, as a parent,” she said.
Moderator Trish Sylvia, co-founder of the National Center for Safety Initiatives, also stressed the import role that parents play in athlete safety. She shared a personal story to emphasize the point.
“I enrolled my son in a new program, and I went to the practice because it was important for me to understand the program a little better,” Sylvia said. “One of the coach-dads came over to me and said, ‘You don’t need to stay. The moms don’t stay.’ And I said, ‘This mom does.’”
The panelists, which also included Hannah Hinton of the U.S. Center for SafeSport and Adam Andrasko, CEO of USA Artistic Swimming, also shared their views about the future of athlete protection.
“Due to the increase in cases of emotional and physical conduct, the Center has started to place an emphasis on empowering NGBs to understand what that misconduct looks like and how to handle it,” Hinton said.
“The future is here,” Andrasko said, “and the work we are doing right now, today, will shape the future of sports. This work is the most important work in the history of sport. We are providing a place for our kids to learn and grow and become better human beings, while being safe.”
