PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN WITH SAFE SPORT
Alberta Alpine is partnering with Alpine Canada Alpin to introduce Safe Sport, a program for members that will protect every sport participant – Athlete-Coach-Parent-Official-Volunteer
Need to Know: “Safe Sport” refers to our collective responsibility to create, foster and preserve sport environments that ensure positive, healthy and fulfilling experiences for all individuals. A safe sport environment is one in which all sport stakeholders recognize and report acts of maltreatment, including all forms of harassment, and prioritize the welfare, safety and rights of every person at all times.
This commitment by AASA and ACA will protect and benefit every club and sport participant in the province. By partnering at the national level, AASA has ensured total protection for all participants.
The program to be rolled out over the next year will include the following elements:
- Education – Educating everyone in Alpine about Safe Sport to create a common base of knowledge and understanding to form a foundation of respect and prevention
- Policy – Harmonising policies that cover maltreatment, harassment, and return to sport (post injury) nationally to ensure that regardless of where you choose to play, you are covered by policies that are consistent and national in scope.
- Response – Pooling our efforts into a national response framework ensures that every athlete, parent or club, can be assured that there is independent third-party reporting mechanism available when needed
This is the most significant advancement to date to keep Alpine safe and free of maltreatment. Special thanks to the Lake Louise Ski Club, Tara-Leigh McHugh, and Kelly VanderBeek for being the driving force behind this initiative.
Members can expect a dedicated safe sport section on the AASA website with additional resources contained therein. There will be more details about the roll out to follow. Direct and immediate impacts that members should note:
2020/21 Season impacts
Effective immediately all volunteers for FIS level races and all coaches MUST take the Safe Sport training offered by the NCCP. If you are not a coach you will have to set up a NCCP locker account and the instructions are on the landing page for the training.
Effective immediately every athlete, coach, parent, and club has access to ACA’s response framework IF ANY ATHLETE, COACH, PARENT, VOLUNTEER IS A VICTIM OF MALTREATMENT OR HARRASMENT OR HAS WITNESSED MALTREATMENT OR HARRASMENT, FOLLOW THE GUIDELINE – IT IS IN PLACE TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITY
