Parents Oy Safe Sport for my 17 yr old

[Deleted member 18037]

So my kid is 17, will be 18 in January.

So for her to be on the floor at 18, she needs to be safe sport trained(or certified, whateve). Where ahe is learning how to groom children (calm down that’s sarcasm).

Seriously, this is their solution to Nassar and abusive coaches.

Ive been signing off on this crud for a few years. But that my kid, needs this to somehow prove her not to be a danger to younger kids.

Ugh, it’s a waste of time.

edited to add it 10:30 p, she says she is going fast as she can not even done with unit 1. She started this afternoon

 

[txgymfan]

How many units are there? And yes, it seems like a waste of time.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

3 units, she just finished after 1230 am after starting early this afternoon.

From the little I looked at it’s useless.

The mean girl stuff, bullying/hazing at 17/18 it’s too late. If they made it to 17/18 they are past it, part of it, or putting up with it.

If it’s about recognizing abuse again, too late to stop it. They are almost done.

What happened is a day of my kids summer was wasted

 

[Aussie_coach]

Wow, really. That seems so crazy that a gymnast in the team would need to do that because they turn 18.

Here in Australia, kids don’t go away to college, like they do in the US. Most stay living at home while they attend local universities, so many just continue on with their gymnastics training at their clubs once the graduate school for as long as they desire.

Senior teams can easily just be a mix of teenagers and adults up to early 20’s or later on some circumstances.

The only people who need to go through the training is the coaches.

 

[skschlag]

I get it, but once they are 18 they are adults. To do anything involving younger children means they have to go through trainings, including this. My daughter had to do it with robotics once she turned 18. D had to do it to do competitions, and judging. To coach, he had to do it earlier (I think he had to complete it at 16 when he was hired to coach).

He also has to do it yearly in college to compete at a couple of the meets they go to that have juniors there too.

It's really not a big deal to complete it. We all have to do some things like this that seem arbitrary and "stupid." I have to complete sexual harassment training yearly. I am 53, and know all of it, but have to do it. I also have to complete a similar training to the safe sport one every year to teach me how to not groom and abuse children.

And while I am sure your child knows all of this and is not a danger to younger kids, it is obviously not the case with all people. And it is one piece of what they have done. And, if it teaches one person how to recognize it, or stops one person from doing anything, it is worth it to me.

 

[skschlag]

I would add, that in one way you are right. Maybe we should be teaching them this younger. I know in our schools we do, at an age-appropriate level. Maybe there should be required safesport classes at different ages.

also, and I know people will not like to hear this, but I was a director of a business once, and I know you get this: Businesses have to cover themselves. This is one way....training. We may not like it, but that is the way of the world here.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I know you get this: Businesses have to cover themselves. This is one way....training. We may not like it, but that is the way of the world here.

That’s it exactly. This is wasting my kids time.

So USAG can cover their a$$. And go see we fixed it. It’s BS.

My kid is not employed by the gym. She is an athlete at the gym.

She does high school sports and volunteers at youth clinics. As a HS athlete she is on the field with younger kids. She doesn’t need to do this.

Yep I have to sign off and all kinds of cr@p as part of my job in healthcare I’m an employee. And I get paid to go through the CYA BS. This would be like asking the patient to go through the same nonsense before they could be treated.

This does nothing to protect anyone. These kids have already been through years at gyms. If there is abuse happening on any level. They have already lived it for years.
This is akin to closing the barn door after the animals have gotten out.

And mean/girls/horrible coaches/parents are still out there. We see the posts here weekly. A newly turned 17/18 year old is not going to slay any of this nonsense by doing this.

 

[skschlag]

I don't get paid to do the extra training. It is just required. They send it to me to do. Period. If I do not, I do not work.

No matter how you feel about it, it is one of the requirements that was agreed to by the people who went thru the abuse.

It hurts no one to do this training, and if it helps 1 person, it is worth it to me.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

@skschlag Are you an hourly employee? If I’m guessing you are salary in which case it’s just part of your job responsibilities. Can’t speak to other states but here hourly employees need to be paid to do those required trainings. I thought it was federally mandated but maybe not. Here even the shelf stockers and cashiers at the local grocery store get paid for mandatory training.

And we will just have to disagree. Even with those abused.

Their abusers were the grown ups in charge, and even if their teammates We’re involved it all happened long before the magic age of 18.

Making kids who have been doing gymnastics for over a decade because they are 18 serves not a single soul. We are talking a year max, but in reality a few months, after years in gym. For my kid it will be 6 months if she stays until the bitter end, long after the season is over. If she stays only until the end of the season it’s weeks.

Now if she was an employee of the gym, that would be completely different.

 

[skschlag]

I hear you. I guess because my son has done the training at least 5-6 times, it just does not seem to be a big deal to me. Nor to his teammates who have done it. It just is what you do.

I am a teacher. Salary but with contracted hours. We won't get into what that means lol. I can NEVER get my work done within my contract.

 

[txgymfan]

If can be done in one or two days that’s not too bad. As a professional working with children I have to complete the First Aid/ CPR training on my own time and dime. As a volunteer, I have annual training for the hospital. It takes an afternoon and 90 percent of it does not apply to me. Legally, I have to sign off that I’m aware of safety and HIPPA laws. It’s not my favorite but it’s ok.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Why does the same training need to be done so many times?

Yes, a refresher course makes sense, but the same training over and over again? Don’t they get issued with a certificate that says it’s college and they can then use that when the training needs to occur again?

(Note, I may be getting this wrong and I have not seen the rules, it is just what I am garnering from what I am reading, it seems like the sane course is being repeated frequently).

Our coaches have to do a variety of online courses to renew their accreditation each year. But once a particular course is complete they don’t repeat it, they do another one.

Ones we have so far have been things like.

1. Legal requirements to report abuse if we see signs.
2. The athletes voice - about listening to what athletes want and need
3. About body positivity

They are always a little mind numbing and for the majority of people, absolute common sense.

Things like -

Question- Should you swear at your athletes.
1. No
2. Yes
3. Only when they annoy you

Fortunately the courses don’t take long to complete. Maybe 10-15 minutes.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I have always found it interesting that the arbitrary age for adulthood is the day they turn 18.

At 17 years and 364 days, they are a child. They have to comply with parents instructions, are tried as a juvenile, can’t vote, drink, gamble etc. The next day they turn 18 and are an adult. With so much freedom and responsibility.

I know society does this, because really they do need a way to do this and they do need to identify a point in time when a child should have the rights and responsibilities of an adult. But it’s quite abrupt!

 

[txgymfan]

I have always found it interesting that the arbitrary age for adulthood is the day they turn 18.

At 17 years and 364 days, they are a child. They have to comply with parents instructions, are tried as a juvenile, can’t vote, drink, gamble etc. The next day they turn 18 and are an adult. With so much freedom and responsibility.

I know society does this, because really they do need a way to do this and they do need to identify a point in time when a child should have the rights and responsibilities of an adult. But it’s quite abrupt!

At 16 they can drive. Here the can’t drink alcohol until 21 ( which I think is dumb). That’s some gradation. They can also stay on their parents insurance until 26 I think.

 

[Aussie_coach]

@skschlag Are you an hourly employee? If I’m guessing you are salary in which case it’s just part of your job responsibilities. Can’t speak to other states but here hourly employees need to be paid to do those required trainings. I thought it was federally mandated but maybe not. Here even the shelf stockers and cashiers at the local grocery store get paid for mandatory training.

And we will just have to disagree. Even with those abused.

Their abusers were the grown ups in charge, and even if their teammates We’re involved it all happened long before the magic age of 18.

Making kids who have been doing gymnastics for over a decade because they are 18 serves not a single soul. We are talking a year max, but in reality a few months, after years in gym. For my kid it will be 6 months if she stays until the bitter end, long after the season is over. If she stays only until the end of the season it’s weeks.

Now if she was an employee of the gym, that would be completely different.

This is an interesting point. There certainly seems to be a grey area with things like this.

Should employees be paid to complete these courses? Should it be done during work time or after hours? What are the laws in this?

I think for us, the laws are difficult to interpret.

Technically if the gym is requiring a coach to do something they they should be paid to do it. Like attend a meeting, competition, complete a course etc.

But, what if it’s required by an outside party. Fir example if USAG requires it if all registered coaches, then is it the gym’s responsibility to pay the coaches to go it?

 

[Aussie_coach]

At 16 they can drive. Here the can’t drink alcohol until 21 ( which I think is dumb). That’s some gradation. They can also stay on their parents insurance until 26 I think.

We have a system of graduated responsibility when they learn to drive.

At 16 they can get their learners permit.

At 17 they can get their provisional list de and drive on their own but with restrictions. They get less points on their licence, can’t have any alcohol, limited passengers, have to drive with a P plate on their car.

At 18 they can get a different type of P license, so they can have more passengers.

After at least 3 years driving and a minimum of 21 years of age, they can get an Open license.

Perhaps adulthood itself needs a similar set of graduated steps.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

At 16 they can drive. Here the can’t drink alcohol until 21 ( which I think is dumb). That’s some gradation. They can also stay on their parents insurance until 26 I think.

In our state, they can’t drive at 16. Not by themselves. Not whenever.

In parts of our state they can get a permit at 16. Others not without a class in school. They can’t get a license until they have had a permit 6 months and a day.

My kid has had a license for a year. She can’t drive at all in 3 counties and the 5 bouroughs of NYC. Not even with me in the car. She can’t drive with more than 1 friend in the car by themselves. And she can’t drive after 9pm unless coming home from work or a school event. At 18 she gets a full license

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I have always found it interesting that the arbitrary age for adulthood is the day they turn 18.

At 17 years and 364 days, they are a child. They have to comply with parents instructions, are tried as a juvenile, can’t vote, drink, gamble etc. The next day they turn 18 and are an adult. With so much freedom and responsibility.

I know society does this, because really they do need a way to do this and they do need to identify a point in time when a child should have the rights and responsibilities of an adult. But it’s quite abrupt!

There will always be a line

 

[Deleted member 18037]

If can be done in one or two days that’s not too bad. As a professional working with children I have to complete the First Aid/ CPR training on my own time and dime. As a volunteer, I have annual training for the hospital. It takes an afternoon and 90 percent of it does not apply to me. Legally, I have to sign off that I’m aware of safety and HIPPA laws. It’s not my favorite but it’s ok.

The difference is you are working with kids, paid or volunteering your are the adult in charge.

This is something an athlete just training has to do. They are not assisting, coaching, working with other gymnasts in any official capacity. They just happen to be in the same building (which they could have been in for a decade)

Its as if a patient had to take all the courses you do before they can be a patient and be treated.

If a gymnast is also working a coaching capacity. I can see requiring it. My daughter has a few gymmie friends coaching.

My daughter is a gymnast being coached at a gym. We are paying customers. She is not in anyway acting in a coaching capacity. She has no power or influence to anyone in the gym.

It’s overkill box checking. It’s meaningless and a waste of time.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

And interestingly enough speaking with another IRL parent. A gym (they had direct experience at and had personal sanctioned). The coaches are doing the safe sport stuff for their gymnasts.

This helps/fixes no one.