USA Swimming Athlete Protection Information

We can all help foster safe and positive environments by educating ourselves on the tragic issue of abuse. USA Swimming offers training for all members with specific free training for parents and athletes.

U.S. Center for Safe Sport: The U.S. Center for SafeSport has updated their reporting phone number. Please call 833-5US-SAFE (587-7233) to report a concern. To learn more about reporting, including mandatory reporting, please visit our website here. 

ATHLETE PROTECTION EDUCATION

This is an important notice for all USA Swimming members who need to renew their Athlete Protection Training. 

The Athlete Protection Training (APT) course completion certificate is valid for 1 year from the date you completed the course.

All athlete members ages 18 and over and all non-athlete members must complete the APT course requirements as a condiction of membership in USA Swimming. The times for any adult athlete member achieved at a swim meet when the adult athlete did NOT have a current APT certificate will not be uploaded into the SWIMS times database.

Athlete Protection Training Requirement for Adult Athletes with Cognitive Disabilities

USA swimming issued new guidelines for APT for adult athletes with cognitive disabilities in July 2020. The information is here   PDF.

Here is how to access the Athlete Protection Training (APT) courses in the new SWIMS platform:

  1. Log into your account in the hub.
  2. Click on the Education tab at the top of the page.
  3. You are now in the USA Swimming Univeristy. All courses can be accessed through this page.
  4. Coaches, officials, other non-athletes, and athletes 18 and over must take the APT.
  5. 18 and older athletes: click on athletes and then 18+ requirements. New athletes 18 and older must take the main APT Course that is 90 minutes long. In subsequent years you will take refreshers 1, 2, and 3 and then start over with the original APT course. Certification is good for 1 year. 
  6. Coaches and Officials: click on the Safe Sport tab and scroll down to the APT courses. You must take the main 90 minute APT course to begin and then in subsequent years take Refresher 1, Refresher 2, and Refresher 3 followed by the original course. Certification is good for 1 year. 
  7. Parents and Volunyeers: click on the Safe Sport tab and scroll down to the APT courses. You must take the main 90 minute APT course to begin and then in subsequent years take Refresher 1, Refresher 2, and Refresher 3 followed by the original course. Certification is good for 1 year. 
  8. Once you have completed your courses, your membership record will update with a new APT expiration date within 24 hours.

Renewing Your APT:

Need to renew you APT? Can’t figure out what course to take? Your APT is expired? Perhaps this will help.

  • Log into your USA Swimming hub. If your APT has expired (or any of your other credentials or registration has expired) you’ll see that you are “not in good standing”.
  • Click on “View” in the “My Actions” section on the screen.
  • This will take you to the USA Swimming University. Select Safe Sport then select APT. (If you are a coach or official select the course for officials and coaches. 18 and older athletes go to the athletes tab, then 18+ requirements to select your APT course.)
  • You’ll see the base APT 90-minute course and the three refresher courses. If it shows that you don’t have credit for any of the courses, the option will be to start the 90-minute base course.
  • After clicking start, you’ll get a message that the system is “checking your status in SWIMS”.  This will cause your status to update in all the courses. It should now show which courses you have completed with the option to download certificates.
  • Go to the first course that does not show as completed which should now give you the “start” button. Click on start, complete the training.
  • (The 90-minute base course actually takes longer than 90 minutes to complete.)

Congratulations on completing your APT course. Your account should update within 24 hours, usually.

The USA Swimming Athlete Protection webpage with more information, answers to your questions, contacts, and more: https://www.usaswimming.org/resource-center/athlete-protection-training

The USA Swimming Safe Sport home webpage: https://www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport

The USA Swimming Minor Athlete Abuse prevention Policy home webpage: https://www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport/minor-athlete-abuse-prevention-policy

USA Swimming is committed to raising awareness about prevention of abuse in sport.  We believe that the first step to creating an empowered team environment is education.  We are proud to partner with Praesidium, an industry expert in abuse prevention, to bring the swimming community customized and comprehensive training tools for coaches, athletes, volunteers, and parents.

Our training will help you:
- Understand the scope and effects of abuse in sport
- Recognize the signs of grooming behavior and boundary violations
- Understand how to establish boundaries and protect against false allegations
- Know how to react and report suspected abuse

APT RENEWAL FOR NON-ATHLETE MEMBERS

The APT Renewal is here!  All non-athlete members who need to renew their Athlete Protection Training are required to complete this brand-new course.  The course is free of charge and should take about 40 minutes to complete.  

Please access the course by reading the above material and follow the prompts.  .

 

 

The Safe Sport Committee has developed the attached fliers which give information about the free parent and athlete on-line training regarding safe sport.

Safe Sport Flyer  -  Athlete Education flyer

Teams are encouraged to include this information in our meet programs.  Please include one or both in empty pages of heat sheets.  USA swimming is working on versions of these that would fit into ½ and ¼ page versions.  We should also posting them in the results area at our swim meets.  We recognize that there are costs associated in doing this, but we hope everyone will recognize the importance of spreading the Safe Sport message within our membership.

I would also like to ask all of us to promote safe sport training in our clubs and with our families.  We need to encourage all our parents to have their swimmers participate in this free training.  The parents should consider participating in the athlete training as well as the parent training so they know what message is being said to their children.  The athlete training was designed for athletes 13 years old and up.  I feel it is important for parents and their swimmers under the age of 13, if the parents deem it appropriate to also participate in the safe sport training together so both parties can open up a dialogue about this important topic.