Every Parent's Nightmare
It is every parent's nightmare that their child might be a victim of a sexual predator while participating in youth sports. This has become a very high profile issue in sports as well as in other segments of society. Unfortunately sexual abuse of young players has occurred in youth sports leagues of all kinds, as well as with individual coaches in individual youth sports.
Background Checks: A Powerful Tool
Many sports leagues now require that all adults involved in youth sports pass a background check Performing background checks on all volunteers is a powerful tool for protecting each player in your league. While there are many different organizations, each sport league will determine the cost and depth of the background check that is best for their situation. This safety measure is so important it needs to be required in all youth sports leagues.
Background checks are effective in the sense that most sexual predators are not willing to have their background checked. Administrators hope that adults who should be around kids will not apply and thus they will be able to weed out potentially harmful people.
Online Information
As a parent it is appropriate to ask the administrators of your sports league if they have done background checks on all adults involved in their league. If the answer is yes then you know the foundation for safety has been established and the league understands the importance of the issue.
If the answer is no, then help the administration to seek opportunities for providing this important service to your league. One place to start is to look at www.NSCAA.com, which is the largest coaching organization in the United States. This is one organization that can help your youth sports protect your players by performing background checks on adult volunteers.
