Monday, September 20, 2021
Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics Joins List of USA Swimming Safe Sport Recognized Clubs
Pittsburgh Elite Aquatics in Pittsburgh, PA recently joined USA Swimming’s growing list of clubs who have made the commitment of protecting their athletes as the club achieved Safe Sport recognition.
“We’re honored to be featured by USA Swimming and are excited to be starting another season with an unwavering commitment to the protection of athletes’ physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing,” said the team’s Safe Sport chair, Carissa Howard.
Howard, along with head coach Dave Schraven, provide an inside look at how the team has chosen to implement Safe Sport policies as well as how it has benefited their team’s culture in this month’s Safe Sport spotlight.
1. What are three ways your team has implemented Safe Sport policies/procedures for your coaches, athletes and parents?
Our PEAQ parent-run board decided to dedicate resources to getting Safe Sport approved a few months ago. With that board direction, a small group of people started reviewing all of the necessary policies that had to be drafted, approved and communicated to the rest of the team, such as a coach code of conduct and an anti-bullying policy. All of our adopted policies were communicated to the club and made available on our team website. Next, we educated our athletes and parents on the benefits of Safe Sport and how our club was committed to earning Safe Sport Club Recognition and maintaining it. We did this in a series of emails, in our general membership meeting, informally during our long course meets, in our monthly newsletters and in our PEAQ handbook. Finally, we supported our coaches, parents and athletes through the online course requirements that were available through USA Swimming. The board of directors took the online classes ourselves and were available for questions on how to access and view them.
2. How successful do you feel these policies have been in protecting your athletes and building your team culture?
We implemented everything over the summer months and now the short course season has just started. We feel very confident that these efforts will now set the tone for a safe and healthy practice and meet season. Athletes and parents alike feel more educated on keeping our children safe and understand the priority the club has placed on these efforts.
3. What advice would you give other teams in implementing the Safe Sport policies within their team operations?
I would recommend hosting a team event and having the athletes participate in the required lessons together. With COVID, it was hard to get the kids together and do it as a team building exercise, so we did it all remotely.
For more on USA Swimming's Safe Sport Club Recognition program, head to www.usaswimming.org/ssrp.
“We’re honored to be featured by USA Swimming and are excited to be starting another season with an unwavering commitment to the protection of athletes’ physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing,” said the team’s Safe Sport chair, Carissa Howard.
Howard, along with head coach Dave Schraven, provide an inside look at how the team has chosen to implement Safe Sport policies as well as how it has benefited their team’s culture in this month’s Safe Sport spotlight.
1. What are three ways your team has implemented Safe Sport policies/procedures for your coaches, athletes and parents?
Our PEAQ parent-run board decided to dedicate resources to getting Safe Sport approved a few months ago. With that board direction, a small group of people started reviewing all of the necessary policies that had to be drafted, approved and communicated to the rest of the team, such as a coach code of conduct and an anti-bullying policy. All of our adopted policies were communicated to the club and made available on our team website. Next, we educated our athletes and parents on the benefits of Safe Sport and how our club was committed to earning Safe Sport Club Recognition and maintaining it. We did this in a series of emails, in our general membership meeting, informally during our long course meets, in our monthly newsletters and in our PEAQ handbook. Finally, we supported our coaches, parents and athletes through the online course requirements that were available through USA Swimming. The board of directors took the online classes ourselves and were available for questions on how to access and view them.
2. How successful do you feel these policies have been in protecting your athletes and building your team culture?
We implemented everything over the summer months and now the short course season has just started. We feel very confident that these efforts will now set the tone for a safe and healthy practice and meet season. Athletes and parents alike feel more educated on keeping our children safe and understand the priority the club has placed on these efforts.
3. What advice would you give other teams in implementing the Safe Sport policies within their team operations?
I would recommend hosting a team event and having the athletes participate in the required lessons together. With COVID, it was hard to get the kids together and do it as a team building exercise, so we did it all remotely.
For more on USA Swimming's Safe Sport Club Recognition program, head to www.usaswimming.org/ssrp.