U.S. Soccer Safe Soccer Initiative
TSSAS Prohibited Conduct and Athlete and Participant Safety Policies
TSSAS has released a set of policies outlining prohibited conduct as well as safety for athletes and participants for member leagues. These policies can be viewed on the TSSAS About Page.
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. This Framework applies to U.S. Soccer national level programs. Please refer to the U.S. Soccer website's Safe Soccer site for full details on this program.
TSSAS has put together several documents from that website as reference points for member leagues.
U.S. Soccer Athletic and Participant Safety Policy - Standards for Organization Members
U.S. Soccer Athlete and Participant Safety Policy (252 KB)
Q&A Document Responding to Affiliated League Questions Regarding the Safe Sports Requirements and Implementation
Safe Soccer Q&A Document Regarding Requirements and Implementation (76 KB)
U.S. Soccer Athlete and Participant Policy Template for Member Leagues
Download for your league use:
U.S. Soccer Athlete & Participant Safety Policy Template for Member Organizations (56 KB)
A message from Claudella Wright, Vice-President, TSSAS
The Word Document above is the U.S. Soccer Athlete And Participant Safety Policy and Templates that was reviewed in the 2019 Annual General Meeting. Member Leagues can use this document and templates to create your own Athlete And Participant Safety Policies. The first six pages are really about U.S. Policy 212-3 and the purpose of the Athlete And Participant Safety Policy. The sample templates for the required components are on page i-viii. Remember this needs to be your Policy remove the references to U.S. Soccer's Policy in your document.
Every TSSAS League must have a Prohibited Conduct Policy as a part of their Risk Management (sample pages i-v Appendix).
Every TSSAS League with under 18 year old players must create and implement a Athlete And Participant Safety Policy which includes: Background Screening, SafeSport Education & Training (page 3-4), Reporting (page 5), Limiting One on-One Interactions (page 5-6) and Enforcement of the Athlete And Participant Safety Policy consistent with the Safe Sport Act (page 6) and the U.S. Soccer Athlete And Participant Safety Policy in addition to the Prohibited Conduct Policy by September 1, 2019 or be in violation of USSF Policy 212-3.
Please submit your new Safe Sport Policies for review to registrar@tssas.org, Attention: Harmony Smith
If leagues have questions about this, please contact Claudella Wright at vpresident@tssas.org or call 512-680-7410.