Safe Sport Act of 2017

In 2018, Congress enacted a new Federal law, The “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017” (“Safe Sport Act”), which specifically requires applicable amateur sports organizations which are not part of national governing bodies to: 

1. Report Child Abuse by Covered Individuals–A covered individual is any adult who is authorized by an applicable amateur sports organization to interact with a minor or amateur athlete.
    
2. Limit One-On-One Interaction with Minors–Establish reasonable procedures to limit one- on-one interactions between an amateur athlete who is a minor and an adult (who is not the minor’s legal guardian) at a facility under the jurisdiction of the applicable amateur sports organization without being in an observable and interruptible distance from another adult, except in emergency circumstances.
    
3. Training for Adults and Minors – Must offer and provide consistent training to all adult members who are in regular contact with amateur athletes who are minors, and subject to parental consent, to members who are minors, regarding prevention and reporting of child abuse to allow a complainant to report easily an incident of child abuse to appropriate persons.
    
4. Prohibit Retaliation–Must prohibit retaliation against any individual who makes a report required under the Safe Sport Act.
    

An applicable amateur sports organization is one that is not part of a national sports governing body, participates in interstate or international amateur athletic competition, and includes any adult who is in regular contact with an amateur athlete who is a minor. However, even if a sports organization does not have a single team that crosses a state line to compete, the Safe Sport Act establishes a new standard of care that will likely be used in the future.