USFSA Safe Sport 2013

[FigureSpins]

The USFSA is introducing a new program called "SafeSport."

http://www.usfsa.org/shell.asp?sid=49066

U.S. Figure Skating strives to provide a safe environment for its members that is free of abuse and harassment. The association will not tolerate or condone any form of harassment or abuse of any of its members including athletes, coaches, officials, directors, employees, parents, volunteers or any other persons while they are participating in or preparing for a figure skating activity or event conducted under the auspices of U.S. Figure Skating. All forms of abuse and harassment are unacceptable and in direct conflict with U.S. Figure Skating rules.

The U.S. Figure Skating SafeSport Program addresses the following types of abuse, harassment and misconduct:

Sexual abuse and misconduct
Physical abuse and misconduct
Emotional abuse and misconduct
Bullying, threats and harassment
Hazing
Willfully tolerating misconduct

Looks like some of the endeavors will involve coaches training and registration.

[AgnesNitt]

I suspect it won't change the attitude of the russian former olympian now coach at my rink who looks at me with pain in his eyes every time he sees me skate.

[FigureSpins]

Too funny.  I was just discussing a similar situation involving a teenager at the rink who glares at everyone but her BFF, lol.

I registered for the training course.  No PSA educational credits have been offered as yet, which is surprising considering its a four-part, 90-minute course/exam!  Have to finish my last CER exam before I tackle this one.

[ChristyRN]

I was asked to be my rink rep for Safe Sport.  I wasn't told it was four parts with a 90 minute exam.  Guess I better get on that.

I used to skate with a six year old that glared at me every time she skated past.  To the point that I mentioned it to my friend the skate director.  She had no idea why she did.

[nicklaszlo]

Sort of on topic, I witnessed an awkward incident at the rink recently.  A coach smacked a girl of approximately 10 on the butt.  That is clearly unprofessional, and potentially illegal.  I could not hear what was said, so I have no idea of the context.  But the girl was clearly enjoying her lesson (she had a big smile) so it seemed to me she was not harmed.  I thought it was an ethically confusing situation.

[AgnesNitt]

Sort of on topic, I witnessed an awkward incident at the rink recently.  A coach smacked a girl of approximately 10 on the butt.  That is clearly unprofessional, and potentially illegal.  I could not hear what was said, so I have no idea of the context.  But the girl was clearly enjoying her lesson (she had a big smile) so it seemed to me she was not harmed.  I thought it was an ethically confusing situation.

Well, the butt slap for a successful move/win/score/whatever has a long history/media presence in American sports. And with a kid of ten this is more like what is called in my family 'a love tap'.  So, 'unprofessional'? Dunno. Had this coach been teaching the kid for years so she/he was more like an older sibling? Or even another parent figure? The observers perception of what's going on is not reality. It's perception. And I can tell you that perception is often wrong especially when you don't know the people or situation involved.

My experience is to stay out of it unless it's egregious. A butt slap in american sports culture is not egregious.

[nicklaszlo]

Can you tell I do not watch football?

[jjane45]

A coach at my rink is very touchy: patting on skater's shoulder, back, or head all the time. I felt uncomfortable in his group lessons because of the frequency.

But then everyone has different comfort level. I am sure my old coach was uncomfortable when I touched him, lol.

[FigureSpins]

Back on topic, I finished the first part of this training.  It's familiar material.  Each USFSA club is supposed to have at least three members certified, in addition to a chairperson.  This is a good volunteer opportunity, if anyone is interested.  Contact your local club.

[FigureSpins]

Just finished the final exam and received my certificate of completion.  The material is very comprehensive and details the various stages, steps, behaviors and issues involved with sexual, mental and physical abuse in sports. 

There are four sections, with sections 1 and 2 being the longest.  I think Section 2 is really too long - I spent 2 hours today doing sections 2-4 and most of that time was spent on Section 2, which is focused on the coach-athlete relationship and potential for abuse.

It's nice to know that the PSA and USFSA guidelines are directly in line with these recommendations.  Their suggestions of eliminating one-on-one "private time" (ie. closed-door meetings, traveling, lessons, tutoring, etc.) were all identified by this training as things to avoid at all costs.  The issue of adult coach : adult athlete relationships were touched on as well as teammate abuse, which is good: abuse isn't just between adults and children.  I think that will be eye-opening to parents who take the training. 

Tons of great statistics in this training: 90% of all sexual abuse victims know their abusers. 1/3 of all abusers are women.  (will finish later - gotta run)

[Neverdull44]

Pedophiles don't just immediately rape the child.  First, they try to see which kid doesn't mind being touched and will not tell mommy. And, perverts gravitate towards jobs that work with children.

My daughter was inappropriately touched by a school teacher she didn't know while at a lunch table.  He decided to put her hair in a pony tail, with his bare hands (no comb).  He told her that he was good at doing hair.  My daughter wasn't eating lunch (hair wasn't in the food), as she came to school late and had just eaten.   Another mom at the lunch table, thought it was my husband because he was touching her so much  One lunchroom monitor saw what happened, and told me privately she didn't like it.  My daughter was a competition dancer, and she said that he did  the ponytail tighter then I do her updo's and buns!  It hurt her, but she didn't speak up as she didn't want to hurt his feelings.  She was 8 years old.  The next morning, we went to the school Principal, who did an investigation, and the School Board reprimanded him.  The first thing the Principal did was to thank her profusely for speaking up and being open about the incident with mommy.  We have to listen to our kids, and don't dismiss what happens.  It starts "innocently."

That being said, skating instructors have to touch the skater.  Three turns, mohawks, brackets . . . all require someone to hold when they first learn.  When I was a kid, my male coach wanted me to do pairs because I was tiny.  He tried to teach me pair holds, star presses. It didn't work as I am afraid of heights.   It wasn't inappropriate.  It was in context of skating.

[FigureSpins]

That scenario was covered in the material.  It's a great example of appropriate responses.

As I mentioned before, every USFSA Club is supposed to have four people complete this training, a coordinator and three members.  Any interested members should talk to their board members to see if they could use some help.  The more trained adults, the better.


The material focuses a lot on team sports, moreso than the individual.  Not that they ignore it, but swimming, soccer wrestling and gymnastics are mentioned far more than figure skating, likely because the program was initiated by the USOC.  It might have grown out of material for the last summer Olympic games.

Sometimes, the material doesn't quite hit the spot for our sport, for example, it discusses "private workouts" and "private lessons" as potential "grooming" for abuse, yet figure skating does require that type of training.  So, you have to use your head when you review the material.

One great comment was about physical abuse in the form of punching, kicking, hitting, etc.  They pointed out that sports like wrestling and boxing (plus martial arts) require physical contact between coach and athlete, but sports such as gymnastics and figure skating should not have punches and kicks.

I think Brandon Mroz is the male figure skater shown in the slide shows.  I could be wrong, though; I didn't bother to stop the video to enlarge the image. 

(I root for Mroz, which explains why he's not at the top of the podium.  Poor Rohene Ward, too.  I'm such a jinx.)

[FigureSpins]

I "attended" the US Olympic Committee (USOC) webinar today for SafeSport - tons of information about identifying predators and how easy it is for them to get past screening.  I appreciated the definitions of psychopaths and the differences between the different types of offenders.  All in all, far more than I really wanted to know about predators, but such is the age we live in today.  This is separate and optional from the USFSA training.  Given the choice, I'd go with the USFSA's model.

Read on:

The July 11th USFSA webinar on the mission and purpose of SafeSport is now available online:

Powerpoint Slides: http://www.usfsa.org/content/SafeSport%20Webinar%20July.pdf

YouTube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q5VocNgM744

Pretty much everything in that presentation is covered in the online training class.
http://safesport.org/take-the-training/