Friday, July 1, 2022
San Diego-Imperial Swimming Furthers its Commitment to Safe Sport by Requiring SSRP for Meet Hosts
USA Swimming is committed to providing a healthy and positive environment free from abuse for all its members. San Diego-Imperial Swimming (SIS) has shown its commitment to go above and beyond mandated Safe Sport practices by requiring Safe Sport Recognition approval for any club who hosts a swim meet in its Local Swimming Committee (LSC). Read more from the Safe Sport Chair, Melissa Eisenhamer, and the General Chair, Sally Taggart, on how this has affected a positive culture within North Carolina Swimming.
How has the Safe Sport Recognition Program helped create positive culture in your LSC?
The SSRP is helping us to create a culture where swimming is fun. “Fun is First” is one of our values and if you have everyone aware of what a positive culture is then we are one step closer to living our values. The Safe Sport tools have allowed more conversations and awareness of expected and appropriate behavior that is required by everyone. This knowledge in turn allows our swimmers to just enjoy the amazing sport of swimming.
Why did your LSC decide to require SSRP approval to host swim meets?
The SIS board first started talking about this idea in Spring of 2021. We realized it would take time and a commitment by a large number of our teams to make SSRP a reality. We wanted to do this to ensure that swimmers and families at our meets understood the USA Swimming requirements for participation and that teams knew what was expected from them to conduct a fun and safe meet. Having the same expectations for all teams ensures that our swimmers feel safe participating across all aspects of USA Swimming, whether it is a practice, a team hosted event or a swim meet. It also gives the right tools to our athletes to speak up when they see or hear something that needs to be addressed.
What is some advice you can give other LSCs who want to make this requirement?
It takes time and patience, and it is a process. By starting the conversation a year before implementation, it gave our teams sufficient time to implement successfully. To help with implementation, our Safe Sport board chair checks in with all teams hosting meets. Eisenhamer’s goal is do this on a monthly basis to see if anyone needs assistance. At our championship meets, we have a Safe Sport table set up for swimmers and parents. Additionally, SIS has a yearly club support program and SSRP is a component of this program.
What we have found is that having multiple reasons for teams to implement SSRP has encouraged them to implement and now renew. Although we know we have made progress, we also recognize that achieving a positive culture that SSRP programs envisions takes continual effort and a commitment by everyone.
Great job to San Diego-Imperial Swimming for leading the way for other LSCs!
To learn more on USA Swimming’s Safe Sport Recognition Program, please visit https://www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport/safe-sport-recognition-program.
How has the Safe Sport Recognition Program helped create positive culture in your LSC?
The SSRP is helping us to create a culture where swimming is fun. “Fun is First” is one of our values and if you have everyone aware of what a positive culture is then we are one step closer to living our values. The Safe Sport tools have allowed more conversations and awareness of expected and appropriate behavior that is required by everyone. This knowledge in turn allows our swimmers to just enjoy the amazing sport of swimming.
Why did your LSC decide to require SSRP approval to host swim meets?
The SIS board first started talking about this idea in Spring of 2021. We realized it would take time and a commitment by a large number of our teams to make SSRP a reality. We wanted to do this to ensure that swimmers and families at our meets understood the USA Swimming requirements for participation and that teams knew what was expected from them to conduct a fun and safe meet. Having the same expectations for all teams ensures that our swimmers feel safe participating across all aspects of USA Swimming, whether it is a practice, a team hosted event or a swim meet. It also gives the right tools to our athletes to speak up when they see or hear something that needs to be addressed.
What is some advice you can give other LSCs who want to make this requirement?
It takes time and patience, and it is a process. By starting the conversation a year before implementation, it gave our teams sufficient time to implement successfully. To help with implementation, our Safe Sport board chair checks in with all teams hosting meets. Eisenhamer’s goal is do this on a monthly basis to see if anyone needs assistance. At our championship meets, we have a Safe Sport table set up for swimmers and parents. Additionally, SIS has a yearly club support program and SSRP is a component of this program.
What we have found is that having multiple reasons for teams to implement SSRP has encouraged them to implement and now renew. Although we know we have made progress, we also recognize that achieving a positive culture that SSRP programs envisions takes continual effort and a commitment by everyone.
Great job to San Diego-Imperial Swimming for leading the way for other LSCs!
To learn more on USA Swimming’s Safe Sport Recognition Program, please visit https://www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport/safe-sport-recognition-program.