| Dear Friend,
Athlete sexual abuse and other forms of misconduct by coaches or others is a serious problem that has not been effectively confronted by local and national open amateur sports organizations. The damage to athletes who have been abused goes well beyond their inability to reach their potential as athletes. The impact is life changing. We are just beginning to realize from recent media reports that we have a flawed or non-existent athlete protection environment. Safe4Athletes is working to make sure that sports organizations make athlete welfare their #1 concern.
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What Every Parent Should Know About Athlete Abuse
|  Abuse of an athlete can take many forms ranging from failing to act to prevent harm when a dangerous situation is recognized in a sport environment to sexual violence such as when a coach rapes an athlete. There are also many subtle and not so subtle forms of mistreatment that athletes and parents need to recognize as misconduct. Abuse is not always easy to define, especially when it appears to be normally acceptable behavior. It is also important to recognize that abuse can be inflicted by coaches, adult volunteers, staff members or teammates of the athlete. Sexual abuse is almost always committed by a person known to the athlete who takes advantage of a position of power, is older or bigger or intentionally manipulates the immaturity of the athlete, often enticing the athlete into what appears to be a consensual situation. Click here to learn more. |
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Why Safe4Athletes is Needed...
|  The world of sports has been riddled with sexual abuse and harassment of young athletes by their powerful and publicly respected coaches (respected for producing performance results) for many decades, across all sports, regardless of sex. While there is no consistently collected data on the prevalence of these transgressions, there is reason to believe that news reports and limited data from national sport governing bodies represent the proverbial "tip of the iceberg". Athletes are often drawn into keeping sexual abuse secret against their better judgment for the sake of protecting the team from public embarrassment. As a result, such silence reduces greatly the amount data available to truly understand the scope of the problem. Find out more about the scope of the problem. |
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What Does a Model Athlete Protection Policy Look Like?
| All Safe4Athletes model resources are available as free downloads at Safe4Athletes.org
It is the responsibility of each coach, volunteer, staff member and parent associated with a sports club to act in positive and respectful ways to enhance the health and well-being and increase the sport performance skills of all participating athletes. Responsible adults are committed to providing a safe participation environment, being fair, open and honest in their relationships with coaches and others, expecting every coach to act ethically and model exemplary professional conduct. The purpose of an athlete protection policy is to clearly state beliefs and expectations with regard to the instructional environment sport program leaders intend to create for children and older athletes who are members of the club. Click here to see a model athlete protection policy. |
 Thanks for following our progress and programs. Please consider passing this newsletter on to your friends. Whether you are contacting sports clubs to urge adoption of strong athlete protection policies, encouraging friends to become more informed or donating to help us make a difference, your support is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Katherine Starr
Founder & President
SAFE4ATHLETES |
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Perspective
| Restrictions in Order to Prevent Harm
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It is very important for every sport program to emphasize to coaches, athletes, employees, volunteers and parents that athlete safety and welfare policies do not imply distrust and are not intended to portray coaches or others as "villains." The appropriate analogy is to liken these policies to what we all have to endure when taking an airline trip and tolerating airport security measures. We suffer these restrictions on our personal freedoms because we know that one terrorist can cause terrible harm. Similarly, athlete safety and welfare policies restrict the actions and behaviors of coaches and others in order to maximize the possibility that we will be able to protect program participants from the harm caused by one person with malicious intent.
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