Members,
Regular and frequent training reminds us about the impact that we
have on our athletes and the kids in our sport. No matter your role
in the organization, your work and connection with our athletes is
incredibly important, and we are all responsible for ensuring their
experience is safe, positive and free of abuse.
You will notice some changes this year to the USA Swimming required
Athlete Protection Training (APT). The U.S. Center for SafeSport
(“the Center”) is the separate, independent,
organization that responds to reports of abuse in the Olympic and
Paralympic movements. In addition to that responsibility, the
Center also sets policies for national governing bodies (NGBs) such
as USA Swimming to follow and provides educational tools and
resources. As a policy, the Center is requiring every USA Swimming
member or individual with authority over, or frequent contact with,
athletes to annually compete its “Core Center for SafeSport
Training” educational resource or its refresher course.
Starting February 4, 2019, the Core training will be live on the
USA Swimming LEARN platform.
This will be a change from how APT was completed in previous years
both in substance and in the annual requirements. First, while each
member’s current APT training expiration date will be
honored, members will no longer have a two-year USA Swimming APT
certification. In the first year following expiration or upon new
registration, only the Center’s Core training course will be
required to obtain APT certification. Thereafter, every year, every
non-athlete member will be required to complete the Center’s
refresher course and also to take a USA Swimming elective APT
course in order to obtain the required number of points for APT
certification.
Thank you for your continued commitment to Safe
Sport.
Abby Howard
USA Swimming Associate Counsel & Director of Safe
Sport
