The Eugene, Cascades & Coast Sports Commission recently hosted its third quarterly Oregon Sports Summit Series session at Venue 252 in Eugene. The session, Creating a SafeSport Culture, was attended by sports planners, athletic directors and coaches from around the state.

Keynote speaker Eric Barreras, Training and Technical Assistance Manager for the U.S. Center for SafeSport, provided an overview of the Center's Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAP) and discussed how to implement policies and procedures for keeping minor athletes safe from bullying, harassment, hazing, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and sexual misconduct and abuse.

Implementing SafeSport best practices

Barreras discussed steps that can be taken to help make a sport environment safer, including:

  • Training your staff about proper boundaries.
  • Ensuring every one-on-one situation with a minor athlete is observable and interruptible.
  • Monitoring locker rooms and changing areas.
  • Ensure all social media and electronic communications are professional in nature.

These are just a few of the recommended practices covered in the session.

Baseball at Trainsong Park

U.S. Center for SafeSport training

Like the in-person training provided in the session, the U.S. Center for SafeSport offers an online training course geared toward coaches, athletes, team volunteers, officials or team staff members (athletic trainer, team doctor, etc.). The training is designed to provide an understanding of the core concepts behind creating a safe and positive sport environment and how to identify, prevent and respond to issues of misconduct.

Training is also available for parents of athletes of all ages at no cost. The online course, A Parent’s Guide to Misconduct in Sport, explains the issues of misconduct in sport and helps parents ensure their children have a positive and safe sport experience.

Together, we can create a SafeSport culture!

For more information about the MAAP policies, visit: https://safesport.org/

For training information, visit: https://safesport.org/training

For information on the Oregon Sports Summit Series, visit: https://www.eugenecascadescoast.org/oregon-sports-summit/