The USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Board of Directors met on January 30, 2022 and several important topics were discussed. A brief recap of the meeting can be found on our website, but we wanted to call out a few important highlights below:
SafeSport Training A proposal was made to amend the SafeSport training requirement for a select group of individuals. Action Item – Update Page 90 in the Policies & Procedures Manual and within the SafeSport Handbook on who needs to be SafeSport Trained to (changes in red): “All USA-WSWS active members 18 years old and older who compete or participate in sanctioned tournaments or have regular contact with any amateur athlete or other Participant who is a minor;” What this means: If you do not compete in tournaments and just ski within your own club with other adults and have no regular contact with minors, then you will not need to complete the SafeSport training as a membership requirement. Your status will remain in a “Pending-Safe Sport” status in our membership system, but since you do not compete in tournaments, it will not be monitored. If you ski in a club and have regular contact with minors, SafeSport training is recommended even if not competing. Members in the “Pending-Safe Sport” category are covered for any participant accident insurance claims that may occur within a sanctioned practice (if all other practice sanctioning criteria is met). Background Checks for Judges After discussions and an agreement with the USOPC, a proposal was made to amend the USA-WSWS background check requirement for all judges. Action Item – Background Checks for Judges: insert updated language for background screening requirement (changes in red): “USA Water Ski & Wake Sports requires criminal background screening (‘background screening’ or ‘background check’) for individuals involved with its programs as part of a greater effort to promote a safe environment for members. Background screening must be completed for all certified instructors/coaches, participants and staff of national/international teams, show ski team show directors and assistant directors, USA-WSWS judges (who are 18 and older) who are selected and approved by USA-WSWS or one of its Sport Disciplines to officiate at a National Championships event, or any IWWF World Championships or Multi Sports event (e.g. World Games), or Pan American Confederation Titled Event, junior development coaches and leadership, and any volunteer, third-party vendor or contractor who are (a) in position of authority over or (b) in regular contact with athletes. In addition, background screening must also be completed for all staff members, USA-WSWS and Sport Discipline Board Members, and other members/individuals designated by USA-WSWS in its sole discretion.” What this means: Only judges who are 18 and older who are selected to judge a National Championships event or IWWF World Championships or multi-sport events or Pan Am titled event will need to pass a background screen – all other judges at local and regional events do not need to be background screened. Lastly, there were minor edits made to the current “Membership Statuses” that you see in your new membership profile or that your club administrator sees on your club’s roster. For those members who still need to complete SafeSport training, your membership status will display as “Pending-Safe Sport” instead of “deactivated.” We encourage all members 18 and older who plan to compete in a tournament or ski show as a member of a team to complete the SafeSport training if you have not done so already. Kudos to the more than 2,300 of you who have already taken the core and/or refresher SafeSport training. To access the training, log on to your membership dashboard, click on “SafeSport Training/Background Screening” and follow the prompts to set up a SafeSport account (first-time users) or log into your existing SafeSport account (refresher users). If you have any questions along the way, we are here to help. Please email [email protected].
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