Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Milwaukee-Area's Schroeder YMCA Achieves USA Swimming Safe Sport Club Recognition
The Schroeder YMCA swim team in the Milwaukee, Wisc. area has produced a number of Olympic Trials qualifiers and YMCA swim champions over the past few decades, and now the team can add another accolade to its collection after earning recognition as one of USA Swimming’s Safe Sport recognized clubs. Long-time head coach Dave Anderson and age group coach Phil Davies have made it a priority to implement USA Swimming Safe Sport programming within the team’s operations; they give an inside look at how those policies have affected their team in this month’s USA Swimming Safe Sport feature.
1. What are some ways your team has implemented USA Swimming Safe Sport policies and procedures for your coaches, parents and athletes?
Our families and athletes did a great job taking the USA Swimming Safe Sport training classes, this was very helpful in getting all of our members on the same page with updated policies and the importance of Safe Sport in swimming. Even in the COVID world, we have done our best to keep our practices and competitions open and observable to parents by using live streams at first, and then slowly adding parents’ ability to come back to the facility as local regulations allowed. We have also implemented a check-in person at our main facility to monitor who is coming in and out of the building. This person is also right outside the entrances to the locker rooms.
2. How successful do you feel these policies have been in protecting your swimmers and building your team culture?
I feel very good about our team’s culture and feel these policies work hand in hand with our “Schroeder Way,” a set of standards that we hold all of our athletes, coaches and parents to. The “Schroeder Way” has four parts - be great, act with integrity, expect success and team first. These standards are all about holding yourself to a high standard, doing the right thing and looking out for your teammates, which I think connects very well to the USA Swimming Safe Sport policies.
3. What advice would you give other teams in implementing Safe Sport programs within their team operations?
Athlete safety has to be the top priority with any activity involving children. I think teams can communicate the importance of these policies to their members and get everybody on board with implementing them.
For more on USA Swimming's Safe Sport policies, head to www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport. For more on USA Swimming's Safe Sport Club Recognition program, visit www.usaswimming.org/ssrp.
1. What are some ways your team has implemented USA Swimming Safe Sport policies and procedures for your coaches, parents and athletes?
Our families and athletes did a great job taking the USA Swimming Safe Sport training classes, this was very helpful in getting all of our members on the same page with updated policies and the importance of Safe Sport in swimming. Even in the COVID world, we have done our best to keep our practices and competitions open and observable to parents by using live streams at first, and then slowly adding parents’ ability to come back to the facility as local regulations allowed. We have also implemented a check-in person at our main facility to monitor who is coming in and out of the building. This person is also right outside the entrances to the locker rooms.
2. How successful do you feel these policies have been in protecting your swimmers and building your team culture?
I feel very good about our team’s culture and feel these policies work hand in hand with our “Schroeder Way,” a set of standards that we hold all of our athletes, coaches and parents to. The “Schroeder Way” has four parts - be great, act with integrity, expect success and team first. These standards are all about holding yourself to a high standard, doing the right thing and looking out for your teammates, which I think connects very well to the USA Swimming Safe Sport policies.
3. What advice would you give other teams in implementing Safe Sport programs within their team operations?
Athlete safety has to be the top priority with any activity involving children. I think teams can communicate the importance of these policies to their members and get everybody on board with implementing them.
For more on USA Swimming's Safe Sport policies, head to www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport. For more on USA Swimming's Safe Sport Club Recognition program, visit www.usaswimming.org/ssrp.