Risk Management is a method for identifying risks in all areas, and developing and implementing a plan to protect an organization and prevent loss. ASA follows guidelines under US Soccer, USYS, and local governances to protect both our affiliated clubs and their players. Each seasonal year, our coaches, managers, and administrators within our ASA affiliated clubs are required to have a background check, SafeSport Certification, CoachSafely Certification, and follow Safe Soccer Framework.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an independent nonprofit committed to building a sport community where participants can work and learn together free of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and misconduct. For ASA, every adult who is working with children is required to take the SafeSport Core Course for the first year then a SafeSport Refresher Course the next year. Each year, a SafeSport Course is required to be taken in your Gotsport Profile.
Part of the US Soccer Framework is the Prohibited Conduct Policy for Alabama Soccer Association.
To Report an Incident of Abuse or Suspected Abuse Go Here
As an assigned coach or administrator, you can access SafeSport in your personal profile in GotSport under Requirements. Click the link in your GotSport profile under requirements to access the free course for all ASA members. First time users 18+ are required to take the SafeSport Core Course the first year and you are able to take the SafeSport Refresher the next couple of years then back to the Core Course. It is required to be taken each year. U.S. Center for SafeSport’s policies and procedures apply to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement organizations and affiliated individuals, based on the Center’s authority established by federal law.
Each year if you are a player turning 18 or over 18 or a coach or a manager, you will need to take the SafeSport Core course.
Directions For Coaches and Managers:
Go into your GotSport profile and click on the Requirements once you have been added to a club as a coach or manager. Click on SafeSport and Start Course button. You will be redirected to the SafeSport Website where you will need to create a profile with your SAME full name , and the SAME email address used as your GotSport account. Take the Core Course – ALL SECTIONS. It will take approximately 40 minutes from start to finish but you can exit and go back to it if needed. Once you have completed the course using the same name, date of birth, and email as your GotSport account you can go back into your GotSport profile after refreshing the page. Go Back to the SafeSport requirement, click on SafeSport and the orange button “Check Records”. If found, your status will change to Fulfilled. If your record is not found, refresh the page and click on “submit a record” and upload your final certificate with your name and date taken. It may take 24-48 hours to be reviewed and approved – do not upload another certificate if you are under “review”.
If you receive an “error” message, you probably uploaded the wrong certificate or an expired certificate. Check the Admin Notes in the requirements for a reason for the “error” message. If you receive an error message on your background check, you probably did not enter your social security number correctly or verify your birthdate correctly. Please email Jennifer for any questions.
The second year as a coach/administrator/manager, the same link will prompt you to a Refresher One course that only takes 20 minutes to complete. Use the same steps with the same login as the previous year to take the Refresher course. Only take ONE REFRESHER course each year to fulfill the requirements. After three years, SafeSport will prompt you to the Core Course to take again. DO not take more than one of the courses in a year, or you will end up taking the Core Course each year instead of a refresher. Each course is time stamped for one year only. After taking the Refresher course, see above for going back to your GotSport profile to update your SafeSport Requirement.
Directions for Players – if you are under 18 or turn 18 by the end of the seasonal year (August-July) :
You will need a parents permission to take the course. Use the same steps as above, but when you go into requirements under your player profile – it will have a parents permission, your account will have a “pending”when it is completed. The pending will stay on your account due to your age as a minor. You will need to go back into Safesport and take the Core course as listed above. Once you have a parents permission, you will have a “Take the Course “button in your Requirement page when you return to SafeSport. Click on Take the Course and it will redirect you to the SafeSport page and continue the steps above -same as a coach or manager. Once the certificate is completed, go back into your Gotsport account, refresh the page, hit check records – if it does not sync to your certificate -upload the final certificate to your GotSport profile page under SafeSport Requirements and it will change to Review.
GotSport ZenDesk Help-Instructions for Parents with players who need to take the SafeSport Core Course.
CoachSafely Requirement
The CoachSafely Foundation made history in 2018 when its advocacy, designed to create a new standard in youth sports safety, led to a breakthrough in public policy. The Coach Safely Act (Alabama Code 2018-496) – passed by the Alabama Legislature and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey – became the first law in the United States requiring youth coaches to be trained in a comprehensive course of injury recognition and prevention. The Foundation created the CoachSafely training course, which has been approved by the Alabama Department of Public Health, to meet the law’s mandate. While focusing on education and research to train youth coaches to keep their players safe, the Foundation continues to advocate for similar legislative mandates in other states in the Southeastern Conference footprint and beyond.
For ASA, CoachSafely is another layer of risk management required for our coaches, managers, and administrators in our clubs to help keep our players in a safe environment. Thank
We also collaborate with the UAB School of Medicine through the ARPA/CoachSafely Initiative. Through this collaboration with UAB, we hopefully will see branding opportunities for the ARPA and ARPF, as well as benefits to other ARPA/ARPF programs in the future.
You & your coaches will be able to access the course by going to https://coachsafely.org/
Please follow these steps:
- Go to https://coachsafely.org/
- Click on dropdown menu on the right corner.
- Click “Sign up”
- Enter your Alabama zip code
- You will be able to take the course immediately!
- Your certificate will be generated and able to print when you have completed the course (watched all videos & completed all quizzes)
Once you have completed the course and finished all the questions, you will receive the certificate of completion. Please upload the final completed certificate to your GotSport Coaching/Manager page under requirements for CoachSafely/Other. You will need to take this course each year due to the requirements of the Alabama Law.
U.S. Soccer has developed the Safe Soccer Framework as a foundation from which all participants in the soccer community, be they athletes, coaches, referees, administrators or volunteers, play an active role in creating an environment free from emotional, physical or sexual abuse. The Safe Soccer Framework is a comprehensive program of policies and process, screening, education and training, reporting, monitoring and enforcement designed to help participants detect and report abuse, respond to it, and prevent future occurrences.
On top of the Safe Soccer Framework, US Soccer has also developed the Recognize to Recover–US Soccer’s comprehensive player health and safety program. It was developed with the help of medical experts and aims to provide coaches, players, parents and referees with information, guidance and educational materials to improve the prevention and management of injuries.
Andrews and Encore Sports Medicine are the official sports medicine partners of Alabama Soccer Soccer Association.