New Coaches Pre-Employment Policies From USA Swimming

Today I recieved an envelope from USA Swimming with a stamp on it reading "Important Documents Enclosed."  This is the newly adopted guidelines which must be followed by clubs in their hiring process of coaches for child protection.  I own my own team and apparently I am grandfathered in until I leave my program and start a new coaching job.  Although if I decide to hire an employee not only do they have to take the "Foundations of Coaching" test within the first year, complete all safety training, cpr and first aid certifications, but now I have to run a full past (atleast 3 prior) work history verification, (highest level) education verification and a (federal agency approved) motor vehicle record check!  Oh yeah, don't forget the "State of the Art" criminal history and background screening.

All of this because there we're either cover-ups of past incidents of child abuse or poorly handled past incidents or maybe all of the people suing USA Swimming are just lying.

Clubs either have the ability to have an independent company screen their candidates, perform some of the tasks themselves or all, but either way there is a fee for verifying education and motor vehicle records.

Now wait don't get me wrong I'm all for professionalizing coaching, it's long over due.  So why don't we improve the educational requirements for coaching to include how to not be involved in situations that could allege issues with child protection.  

Why do I have a problem, I spoke with a past employee of USA Swimming about a year ago and here's the plan for coaches, you will become part of a very unique database which will include your current employment, education, past employment history, possibly any references you may have used in previous employment applications... the sky is the limit.  I don't put my past employer on my resume, why because I quit working for them because I didn't feel they were being ethical in dealing with their employee's, so do you think they have anything good to say about me?  Probably not!  In applying for a new job what happens when USA Swimming's database pops up an employer that I did not list?  No job, that's what!  Oh wait employers can't say anything bad about you right?  Ummm well does "no comment" sound like a positive response?

Well done USA Swimming, now you're passing the buck onto the clubs and the coaches!