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Risk Management

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

   

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.

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:

  1. Go to https://coachsafely.org/
  2. Click “Login” button on the top right corner
  3. Click “Sign up”
  4. Complete your account information & click submit
  5. You will be able to take the course immediately!
  6. 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 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.